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But it is the Spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
- Job 32:8
Trusting the Spirit of God
- "...so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. " - 1st Corinthians 2: 5-10 (NIV)
So that we know where to place our faith and trust, let us examine this Spirit of which the Apostle Paul writes. To aid in this understanding we shall discuss it in four parts; namely: Spirit, - Holy Spirit, - Spirituality and Trusting the Spirit.
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Webster's Dictionary tells us that the word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus meaning "breath". It is defined as:
- an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms : HOLY SPIRIT; the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person; the activating or essential principle influencing a person.
Charles Fillmore (co-founder of the UNITY Movement) defines spirit as:
- "God as the moving force in the universe; Principle as the breath of life in all creation; the principle of life; creative intelligence and life.
- We sometimes discover
within ourselves a flow of thought that has been evolved
independently of the reasoning process and we are puzzled
about its origin and its safety as a guide. In its
beginnings this seemingly strange source of knowledge is
turned aside as a day-dream; again it seems a distant
voice, an echo of something that we have heard and
forgotten. One should give attention to this unusual and
usually faint whispering of Spirit in man. It is the
development in man of a greater capacity to know himself
and to understand the purpose of creation.
When one concentrates all the faculties on Truth ideas, the conscious mind and superconscious mind blend, and there is a descent of spiritual energies into soul and body. Then the faculties receive new power to express Truth and the body is renewed.
Spirit of truth--The Mind of God in its executive capacity; it carries out the divine plan of the originating Spirit. It proceeds from the Father and bears witness of the Son."
Revealing Word -S
Ernest Holmes (former dean of the Institute of Religious Science and Philosophy) describes Spirit as the "Power that knows Itself " i.e. Conscious Intelligence; the Eternal Creative Principle.
- -- Spirit is the Father-Mother
God because it is the Principle of Unity back of all
things. The masculine and feminine principles both come
from the One. Spirit is All Life, Truth, Love, Being,
Cause and Effect, and it is the only power in the
Universe that knows Itself."
- The Science of Mind, Ch.3 - P.82
In my book , Lifestream - Your Flow of Creative Living, spirit is defined as:
- Spirit is the
“Stuff of the Universe” - the material out of
which Divine Mind creates, i.e. the fundamental
intelligent substance of the universe. We are unified
with the One Living Substance which is God, for we were
created from this substance. In it we live, and move and
have our being. By it we are fed and prospered. Spirit is
God, the essence of all manifestation.
Lifestream... (Spirit)
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This Spirit then is Holy because it is the All knowing God of the Universe
- Holy Spirit--The activity of God in a universal sense. The moving force in the universe taken as a whole. Revealing Word - H
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
- The Spirit is the infinite "breath" of God, the life essence of Being. Revealing Word - H
God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and Man became a living soul.
- "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).
Where then do we begin to search out the Holy Spirit, the Source of all knowledge? What must we do to receive its understanding? We know of course that She exists in all creation, but we are told in the Scripture that we can only come to know Spirit through Spirit.
- " For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ." - 1st Corinthians 2: 11-16
This seems paradoxical. On the one hand it is saying that we can only know Spirit by way of Spirit, and on the other hand it is telling us that the material man rejects spiritual things and cannot discern them. There is yet hope for us human beings. God in the act of creating us in His/Her own image and likeness, left a portion of Itself within us. And so there is much more to us than simply flesh, bones, organs, muscles and nerves limited by material sense perceptors. We are indeed Spiritual Beings because we have Spirit within us, the Power which knows Itself. This is further verified for us in the Bible:
- Don't you know that
you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit
lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will
destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that
temple.
1st Corinthians 3: 16-17 - Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20
We should therefore glorify God in our body and in our Spirit because they belong to God. This is a perfect affirmation for us to practice in our living: "I glorify God in my body, and my Spirit belongs to God."
Now we have the key - The Holy Spirit is the all knowing Mind of God that dwells within each one of us. We cannot look outward with our physical sense faculties and expect to find and understand Spirit. We must turn within to the very core of our being. Spirit there awaits us, eager to guide and instruct us according to our own receptivity to Her, according to our Spirituality.
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- Holy Spirit is the love of Jehovah taking care of the human family. The Holy Spirit is in the world today with great power and wisdom, ready to be poured upon all who look to it for guidance. Its mission is to bring all men into communion with God; to guide men in order that they will not mistake the way into the light.
- The Holy Spirit is authority on the gospel of Jesus. It is the only authority that Jesus ever recognized, and whoever attempts to set forth His gospel from any other standpoint is in the letter and not the spirit. No man can know what Jesus' doctrine is except he gets it direct from the one and only custodian. It is not to come secondhand, but each for himself must receive it from the Holy Spirit, which is sent by the Father in the name of the Son. Revealing Word - H
As expressed above, Holy Spirit lies within us. She is our source of knowingness, but we can understand and appropriate Her knowledge only to the degree of development of our own Spirituality - the consciousness that relates us directly to our Father-Mother God. Spirituality is a Holy frame of mind that allows us to become aware of the Holy Spirit that indwells us.
How then do we develop this Holy frame of mind?
- "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." - John 14: 15-17
Let us first examine what hinders the development of Spirituality so that this mental posture can be overcome or avoided. The Apostle John admonishes us
- "Do not love the
world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and
does--comes not from the Father but from the world."
- 1 John 2: 15-16
Metaphysically, this refers to the focus of the natural man who looks to the outer material world for satisfaction and completeness of the soul. This of course, is a futile effort.
- "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; [Their thoughts are directed outward to the physical world] but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [They focus their thoughts upon God within.] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God..." - Romans 8: 5-7
This enmity, this hostile opposition against God which the carnal mind holds will lead one to blasphemy. Jesus taught that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven save one:
- "And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. " - Matthew 12:31-32
- "...For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." - Matthew 12: 34
What is there left for anyone who turns utterly against one's own Godliness? And as long as this mental posture is maintained, it shuts out one's receptivity to the forgiving love of God. This is our choice, not God's. Thus the first and most important step toward developing Spirituality (Holy frame of mind) is to recognize that Holy Spirit indwells our body temple.
Next we must learn to focus our attention inward to attune with this indwelling Spirit. With the inward focus of our mind, we come to know who we really are.
- "...those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, <"Abba,> Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." - Romans 8: 14-17
When we feel confused and are not even sure how to pray ... Holy Spirit prays for us just as a mother prays for her children.
- " In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8: 26-28
With this inward focus we begin to bear spiritual fruit in our lives
- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5: 22-23
Let us therefore live in the Spirit and surrender our trust to the Holy Spirit within. By trusting the Spirit of God we gain wisdom from God:
- "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." - James 3:17
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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The manifestations of Spirit are given to everyone as a help to each of us. There are diversities of spiritual gifts but only one Spirit. We each have our own gifts to assist us in our living. There are gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, diverse languages, interpretation of languages. To each of these gifts we must bring something of ourselves. We must bring our faith, out hope and our love. No gift of the Spirit is of any value unless it is applied with love.
- "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1st Corinthians 13
We grow spiritually by placing our faith, hope and love in the Spirit of God within us. It quickens and grows through...
- Prayer and meditation
- Practicing the presence of God
- Affirming that there is only One Presence, One Power and One Activity in the Universe and in our lives. That is God, and God is only good.
- Allowing ourselves to be inspired by music, fine art, beautiful scenes of nature, poetry, books and of course - the Scriptures.
- Stir up the gift of God that is within you.
We come to know this by turning inward to the Spirit of God - within ourselves, within others and within every situation in our lives. Seek and you shall find God. Find God and you will find the highest and the best in all things.
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© 1997 - Carolyn Odom Burleson, Ph.D.
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