THE ESSENTIAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

As we have seen in previous articles, the Holy Spirit is a part of the Godhead. He is just as much a person as God the Father and God the Son.  From the beginning, He has always worked in concert with the Father and our Lord Jesus to establish the will of God in the earth.
Why then, in so many churches, is so little said about the Holy Spirit?  As I was growing up in church, the only time I remember hearing about the Holy Spirit was when we were baptized in water.  During baptism, the minister would say, "I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son and Holy Spirit," 
I've met many Christians who've had a similar experience.  This concerns me especially in light of Romans 8:14. In this passage, the Apostle Paul wrote, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."  How can I be led by someone I do not know?  How can I know someone I've heard little to nothing about?  How can I fulfill the will of God in my life if I know nothing about the one God has sent to lead me?
I doubt any Christian, in the pulpit or the pew, would dare speak ill of the Holy Spirit.  I've never heard a minister say that the Holy Spirit was irrelevant or insignificant.  Yet, Sunday after Sunday, week after week, month after month, year after year little to nothing is said about the person or work of the Holy Spirit.  Two of the three persons of the Godhead, God the Father and God the Son, are mentioned regularly.  Yet, God the Holy Spirit, is rarely mentioned at all.  There is an unintended consequence that occurs by virtue of this silence.  When virtually nothing is said about the Holy Spirit, the unintended message conveyed is that the Holy Spirit is irrelevant.  And if the Holy Spirit is irrelevant, He is certainly not an essential part of our lives.  This is disturbing in light of Romans 8:14 which declares, as a son of God, I should be led by the Spirit of God.
What was Jesus' perspective concerning the Holy Spirit?  At the outset of His ministry, He stood up in the synagogue in His hometown and read from the prophet Isaiah a passage concerning Himself.  It read, "The SPIRIT OF THE LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel...heal the broken-hearted...to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."  From the scriptures, Jesus was underscoring the fact that His ministry would be under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit.
Further insight comes from Luke's gospel where Jesus taught, "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:11-13)
Notice that the son in this passage asks for bread, a fish and an egg.  What do these three things have in common?  They represent a staple part of our diet.  In Jesus' day, these were foods that were eaten regularly and made up a major portion of a person's energy and nutritional needs.  In short, they were an ESSENTIAL part of a person's diet, NECESSARY to sustain growth, development and life.  Jesus mentions the gift of the Holy Spirit within this context.  The Holy Spirit should not be treated as "dessert".  He should be treated as a relevant and essential part of our lives.
Jesus brought attention to this as we see in the passage that immediately follows this teaching.  Luke records that Jesus cast out a devil, and it was dumb. "And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered." (Luke 11:14) In Matthew's rendering of this account, the Pharisees (Jewish leaders) accused Jesus of casting out a devil by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. (Matthew 12:24) Jesus, knowing their thoughts, responded, saying, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself: how shall then his kingdom stand?  And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out...But if I cast out devils BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."
How sad that the religious leaders of the day did not recognize the work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, cast a devil out of a man, setting him free from a blind and dumb condition, and the leaders of God's people attributed it to the work of the devil. Why was this?  No doubt, they were unfamiliar with the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Being unfamiliar with the work of the Spirit in their own personal lives, they were unable to confirm to the people that what they had witnessed was a work of God.
Should the Holy Spirit be a relevant and essential part of our daily lives?  According to Jesus, this gift should be as essential as the staple part of our diet. He demonstrated this as, through the power of the Spirit, He cast out a devil from a man, delivering him from a blind and dumb condition.  
Lord willing, our next articles will help acquaint us more fully with the person and work of the Holy Spirit so God's plans and purposes can be fulfilled in our lives.