Spiritual growth is possible because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit actively works in our lives to make us more like Christ. He accomplishes His sanctifying work in a number of different ways:
He Intercedes for Us – Ro. 8:26-27
There are times when we simply do not know what we should pray for. Life becomes so overwhelming that we feel like we can’t even find the words to pray. In those moments, we can take heart in the fact that the Spirit overcomes our weakness by praying on our behalf. With full knowledge, wisdom, and power, He prays for those things that perfectly match God’s will for our lives. As one Bible teacher notes, “Our failure to understand God’s purposes and plans, to ‘see the beginning from the end,’ does not mean that effective, powerful prayer for our specific needs is absent.”[1] Knowing that the Spirit is praying for us gives us quiet confidence in the power, presence, and purposes of God in times of uncertainty or suffering.
He Assures Us – Ro. 5:5; 8:15-16
Through His assuring ministry, the Spirit makes us increasingly aware of God’s unwavering love for us in Christ. He plants within our hearts a love for the Lord and a growing understanding of His love for us. The Spirit confirms the genuineness of our salvation by the fruit He produces (Gal.5:22-23) and the power that He supplies for holiness and service (Acts 1:8; Ro.8:13).
The Spirit assuring us is part of His teaching ministry. He enables us to lay hold of the precious promises of God’s Word. As our minds are renewed through the Scriptures, He assures us that we are indeed God’s children.
He Comforts Us
The Spirit gives believers a joy and peace that the world cannot understand (Jn. 14:27; 15:11). In times of trouble and distress, the Spirit ministers His life-giving presence, peace, and comfort as we draw near to the Lord through prayer and the Word. In fact, one of the names of the Spirit is Comforter / Helper (Jn. 14:26; 15:26). The Spirit not only provides comfort, but also joy in the midst of our struggles. Because of the Spirit’s work, we can confidently declare that the “joy of the Lord is my strength” (Nehemiah 8:11).
He Illuminates the Scriptures – I Cor. 2:11-16
As we study the Scriptures, the Spirit gives us the grace to see and understand the importance, significance, and application of God’s Word. An unbeliever can, or course, understand the words he is reading from the Bible. He fails, however, to grasp the importance of God’s Word because he doesn’t have the Spirit within him.
It’s important to note that the Spirit illuminates our minds and hearts as we prayerfully study the Scriptures (2 Tim. 2:15). If we are not diligent to read, study, and meditate on God’s Word, we should not expect this ministry of the Spirit to take place in our lives.
He Teaches Us – Jn. 14:26; I Jn.2:20,27
The Spirit is referred to by Jesus as “the Spirit of Truth” (John 16:13). One of His primary ministries is to teach us the truth and guard us from error. There are a number of ways that He does this. For example, He convicts us of sin so that we might repent and be restored to fellowship with God. As mentioned earlier, He enables us to see the meaning, significance, and application of Scriptures as we study God’s Word.
I’ve heard some folks wrongly misconstrue this truth by arguing that believers don’t need pastors or teachers since the Spirit is our teacher. That argument, however, completely contradicts the clear teachings of Scripture. In the wisdom and kindness of God, the Spirit uses faithful teachers and pastors to teach us the truth of Scripture (Ro.12:7; Eph.4:11-16). God calls, gifts, and empowers pastors and teachers to faithfully, skillfully, and wisely teach the Scriptures to God’s people.
Guides Us
The book of Acts is filled with examples of the Spirit guiding faithful believers in their ministry endeavors (for example, Acts 8:29; 10:19-20; 13:2-4; 16:6-7; 20:22-23). These examples, however, do not necessarily mean that the Spirit guides us in the same way that He guided believers in the early church era. According to the Scriptures, the Spirit guides us through His Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17), godly counsel (Pr. 15:22; 20:18), providential circumstances (Acts 16:17), and godly desires that line up with Scriptural principles (Ps.37:3-5).
He Empowers or Fills Us – Eph. 5:18-21
To be “filled” with the Spirit is to be “under the influence” of His power. The Spirit empowers us so that we might live in obedience to God’s Word and bear the fruit of Christlikeness (Gal. 5:22-24). According to the Scriptures, there are two essential ingredients (for lack of a better term) for the filling of the Spirit:
- God’s Word (Col. 3:17): God’s Spirit influences us through God’s Word. The more God’s Word “dwells richly within us,” the more the Holy Spirit empowers us to know and obey God’s commands.
- Prayerful dependence (Eph. 3:14-21): God is the One who gives us the desire and the power to do His will (Phil. 2:13). Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). To be filled with the Spirit, we prayerfully depend upon God to do in and through us what we cannot do on our own.
Concluding Thoughts:
Because the Spirit is at work in our lives, we can become more like Christ. His work, however, demands a response. We must renew our minds with Scripture, submit to the wisdom of God’s Word, and prayerfully depend on God’s Spirit to empower us to grow in grace.
[1] Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary of the New Testament. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishers, 1996), 526.
