The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in Our Daily Lives
By Ron Jones
©Titus Institute 2009 Updated August 2022
In the last article, we learned that the Holy Spirit has a very important ministry in our lives as believers. This ministry can be divided into two categories, the Holy Spirit's work at salvation and the Holy Spirit's work in our daily lives. We have seen that at salvation, Jesus Christ baptizes and regenerates us by his Holy Spirit and sends his Spirit to indwell us. From that day on, the Holy Spirit indwells us in order to work in our lives.
So, what does the Holy Spirit do on a daily basis in our lives? In Romans 8:14, Paul says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Here, Paul is telling us that the sons of God are led by the Spirit in their daily lives. Many Christians see this verse and think that this means that the Holy Spirit is leading them to discover God's will in the non-moral areas of their lives that the Bible does not address. They ask the Spirit to lead them into the job God wants them to have, the man or woman they are to marry, the schooling or degree they should achieve and things like that. But, this is not what Romans 8:14 is talking about. The Holy Spirit leads us to trust and obey what God says in his Word which is his will morally.
He leads the Christian to be righteous in their daily lives through the Scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul writes, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Believers read or hear the Word of God about a particular issue and the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God in them. Paul says the Scriptures are profitable for four things: teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God in our lives by helping us experience these four activities in our minds and hearts. He helps us as we are taught the Bible to understand what we are being taught. He helps us in reproof (recognizing what we are doing wrong) as he convicts us of sin based on the Scriptures. He helps us in correction (recognizing what we need that is right) by prompting us to be godly and follow the Scriptures. This whole process is the Holy Spirit training us in righteousness through the Scriptures.
The Spirit also encourages our minds and hearts when we read and hear the Scriptures. Paul says in Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." It is the Holy Spirit that encourages and strengthens our minds and hearts through the Scriptures and gives us hope which is simply faith in God's promises for the future.
As the Holy Spirit leads us to righteousness, he also empowers us to live righteously. The Holy Spirit is available to empower the believer to turn away from sin and obey God when he is tempted. When we submit to the leading of the Spirit, we are empowered to obey the Lord. This empowering is called the filling of the Spirit or walking by the Spirit. The Filling of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit leading and empowering the believer as the believer submits to and trusts in God. Ephesians 5:18 says, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." At any given moment that a Christian, trusts the Lord and submits to his revealed will in the Scriptures, he is filled with the Spirit. This is the same as "walking by the Spirit" in Galatians 5:16.
When the believer is filled with the Spirit or walks by the Spirit or is led by the Spirit, he manifests in his life the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 states, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." The fruit of the Spirit are the characteristics of Christ that the Spirit produces in our lives as we trust and obey the Lord and thus are filled or walk by the Spirit. This love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is supernatural and does not depend on any circumstances. In fact, we can experience these characteristics in the midst of the most difficult circumstances.
In Acts 16:22-25, when Paul and Silas were arrested in the city of Philippi, the magistrates beat them with rods and threw them into prison and fastened their feet in the stocks, but, Paul and Silas did not get angry and curse them, but rather trusted the Lord and submitted to the Lord's will in these circumstances and thus were led and empowered by the Holy Spirit to manifest the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. V.25 says, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." There is no human explanation for Paul and Silas' love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that they displayed in their lives only the divine explanation.
Paul tells us how he was able to trust and obey the Lord in Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." As we face trials and tribulations, we should not allow anxiety to fill our minds and hearts, but rather to pray and ask God for what we need by faith with thankfulness for all that God has done for us. The result will be the peace of God in our minds and hearts which is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul focuses on peace in this verse, but the other fruits will be there as well.
The filling of the Spirit and walking by the Spirit relate to our daily experience as believers, not our salvation. It is not an emotional experience in and of itself but can be experientially verified by the fruit of the Spirit it produces. It is something that must be continually repeated on a daily basis in our lives. So, we have learned that we need help to live out God's righteousness in our lives. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit has broken the power of sin in our lives so that we are now able to turn from our sinful desires from the flesh and follow God's way of living as revealed in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit leads us toward righteousness and empowers us to live out God's righteousness in our daily lives. We must trust and submit to the Lord daily to walk by the Spirit.
