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Shavuot is about God the Father and God the Son giving us Their Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force. He is a person. He has mind, emotion and will. He is a person without a body.
When we are saved, this great, holy and eternal person takes up residence in us. He lives in us. He dwells in us – now and forever.
He does many wonderful things for us.
He unites us to the Father and the Son.
He unites us to the other sons and daughters of God. He makes us into a new, united humanity, an eternal, loving fellowship.
He enables us to be obedient to God – something the Law can’t do. The Law is a great blessing, but it’s weak. Lawmakers can pass the best laws, but that doesn’t mean the people will have the desire or the ability to obey them. Congress may pass a law that all crimes must end tonight at midnight – but crimes will still take place tomorrow morning.
The Spirit enables God to write His teachings on our hearts. At the core of who we are, we know God and want to do what He wants us to do. We want to obey Him. We want to please Him. We don’t want to do anything that displeases Him. And the Spirit gives us the power to do what God wants us to do, and the power to not do what He doesn’t want us to do.
The Spirit guides us into the truth. He teaches us everything we need to know about God and about salvation and how to live for God. He helps us understand the Word of God and apply it to our lives.
The Spirit gives us a new nature. We come into this world with a sinful nature, a nature that is in rebellion against God, a nature that is twisted, corrupted, perverted; a nature that is inclined to do wrong; a nature that is incompatible with God.
The Spirit creates a new nature in us, a nature that is like God’s nature.
The Spirit produces fruit in us. Live in Me, and I will live in you (and Yeshua lives in us by His Spirit living in us). For a branch can’t produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you can’t be fruitful unless you live in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who live in Me, and I live in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
The old nature produces bad fruit: sexual immorality, false religion, occult practices, hatred, quarreling, division, envy, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, drunkenness and other addictions.
The Spirit working through our new nature produces good fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self‑control.
Because He is the Spirit of Yeshua, and shares the nature of Yeshua, the Holy Spirit transforms us into the likeness of Yeshua. He helps us love what Yeshua loves, want what Yeshua wants, value what Yeshua values. We are able to use our time, talents and treasures on the important things, on the things that will be rewarded in Heaven.
The Spirit transforms us so we love and serve God the way we should. The Spirit transforms us so we continue Messiah’s ongoing mission of world evangelism and building His Community.
The Spirit gives us confidence that we belong to God. Now we call God, “Abba, Father.” For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. The Spirit assures us, in His still, small voice: “You really are a child of God – even when you sin. You’re not perfect – yet. You have missed the mark. You have made mistakes. Nevertheless, God is your Father and you are His child.”
The Spirit helps us pray – pray good prayers that God will hear and answer. That’s what “praying in the Spirit” is.
And the Spirit helps us pray without words since we don’t always know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that can’t be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
We’re sad, upset, suffering. We sigh. We moan. We groan. The Spirit of God feels our pain. He suffers with us. He groans with us. And He tells the Father: “Your child is suffering. Please do something about it.” The Father understands and works to end the suffering – but in His time and in His way.
We live in a satanically controlled world that is in rebellion against God and under a curse. We need help to arrive safely at our glorious destination. The Holy Spirit does that for us. He seals us.
When someone seals something, it shows that thing is under his authority. When someone seals something, it prevents that thing from being tampered with.
We have been sealed by the Spirit of Almighty God! There is no force in the universe able to break that seal! The Spirit’s wisdom and power guarantee that we will arrive safely at our destination. How assuring!
When we are saved, we receive the Holy Spirit. After that, we need to be filled with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, live in the Spirit – every day, every hour, moment by moment.
When we are filled with the Spirit, we are aware of God, alive to God and dead to sin.
When we are filled with the Spirit, we resist temptation.
We will want to read the Bible. We will understand the Bible.
We will want to pray without ceasing. We will want to talk to God, and thank Him and praise Him and ask Him to help us and others.
We will be concerned for the people who are part of a lost and dying world. We will be bold and courageous and take control of interactions and direct people to God and salvation.
We will love Messiah’s people and want to give our time, talents and treasures to help our brothers and sisters in the community of Yeshua-believers God places us in.
Christianity/Messianic Judaism is so simple – be filled with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, live in the Spirit.