Benefits of the
Holy Spirit
While the Holy Spirit is
omnipresent and fills all space, we may each enjoy all His
fullness; and while His universal work is so great, His
personal and practical benefits to each individual in whom
He dwells are many. He is the third person in the Trinity,
and a part of the universal God; He leads and guides each
and every Christian and dwells in the heart of every
sanctified man and woman.
In former chapters we have
considered the Holy Spirit mostly in a general way, but we
will now turn our attention, for a short time, to some of
His practical and personal benefits. Among the many other
things the Holy Spirit blesses us with is:
POWER. "Behold, I give you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt
you." Luke 10:19. "Power over all the power of
the enemy." How much more could we need or ask? When
Jesus ascended on high and left His disciples to contend
with the powers of darkness and sin He did not leave them
comfortless and powerless; "but," says He,
"ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8. How often in
daily life do we need the power of the Holy Spirit to
sustain us and strengthen us in being a witness for Jesus!
Dear reader, do you feel the need of more power with God?
If so, you can obtain it only by the help of the Holy
Spirit. He it is who strengthens us in the hour of
temptation and trial. "He giveth power to the faint;
and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength." Isa. 40:29. Through His gracious
assistance the weak can say, "I am strong"; and
the weary traveler can mount up with wings as an eagle.
BOLDNESS. "The wicked flee
when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a
lion." Prov. 28:1. The righteous are bold because
they have nothing to make them afraid, and nothing of
which to be ashamed. To do right is commendable, and to
follow Jesus is honorable; but sometimes Satan would try
to intimidate us and keep us from doing our duty. It means
much to be bold enough to acknowledge Jesus under all
circumstances. It is easy enough to own Him when
circumstances are favorable; but it takes boldness to do
so when we know it will bring censure. Many who profess to
know Jesus would be ashamed to mention His goodness to the
unsaved, except in a religious meeting, and some would
blush to do so even then.
"Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far,
Let evening blush to own a star;
He shed the beams of light divine,
O'er this once darkened soul of mine.
"Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon,
Let midnight be ashamed of noon;
'Twas midnight with my soul till He—
Bright morning star, bid darkness flee."
I know no better example of the
boldness imparted at the reception of the Holy Spirit than
that manifest in the case of Peter. Before the day of
Pentecost, when he had not as yet received the Holy
Spirit, Jesus told him that he would soon deny Him; but
Peter, thinking himself able to stand, asserted that he
was willing to follow Jesus even to death. But after a
while the test came, and when a little maid asked him if
he were Jesus' disciple, he denied his Lord. This he did
because he lacked the fearless fortitude with which he was
afterward endued. The next time we see Peter in public is
at the notable scene of Pentecost. Here before devout men
out of every nation under heaven, Peter proclaims Jesus to
be the Son of God, and further than this, he accuses them
of slaying Him by cruel and wicked hands. Mark the
difference in the once timid and fearful Peter. Why is he
now so bold and fearless? He has now received the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which has banished his
timidity and made him "bold as a lion"; he has
now come in possession of perfect love which "casteth
out fear."
Mother Sarah Smith, who lives at
Trombley, Ohio, in testimony of what God had done for her
in giving her the Holy Spirit once said, "When God
sanctified me He took all the shrink and all the fear of
death and hell, men and devils, out of me. I received the
boldness of a lion and the meekness of a lamb."
WISDOM.—When we are in possession
of power and boldness, to use them we need much wisdom.
Many people have boldness, of a certain character, and yet
lack wisdom; but when we become in possession of the Holy
Spirit we have power from God, holy boldness, and divine
wisdom equally balanced. When the Holy Spirit comes in
with power we receive the baptism of fire, which
illuminates our entire spiritual being and sheds abroad
the blessed light of purity. "Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all
truth." John 16:13. The Holy Spirit illuminates our
minds and leads us to understand and know the truth, and
in combating the spirits of the devil, He gives us wisdom
and prudence, shows us when and how to deal the death blow
to all ungodliness and come off more than conquerors
through Christ.
He also shows us how to escape the
wiles of the wicked one, leading us to the strong fortress
of the name of Jesus and stationing us behind the walls of
salvation. He assists us in using the sword, which is the
Word of God, in such a way as to ward off every foe. Paul
calls the Word of God "the sword of the Spirit."
Eph. 6:17.
This world by wisdom cannot find
out or understand God. If this had been possible surely
the wisdom of the Greeks would have found Him long before
the Holy Spirit revealed Him. Thank God! the least child
of God in possession of the Holy Spirit can put to shame
the wisdom of Plato, Demosthenes, or Cicero, in spiritual
things. As it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God." 1 Cor. 2:9,10
Oh, the wisdom and knowledge of God
which we behold when the Holy Spirit floods our hearts and
minds with His eternal fire! The wise men of this world
may boast of their knowledge; and sages may climb to the
heights of honor, and carve there what men call an
immortal name: but "as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord" and delight ourselves in the wisdom
of God. Many suppose that we never know much of God in
this world; but God reveals to us through His Spirit that
which has never entered the heart of man; that which his
eyes have never beheld, nor his ears heard. Praise God for
the wisdom revealed through the Holy Spirit! Oh, how sweet
it is to bask in the sunlight of the glory of God and
drink from the fountain of wisdom things unheard of by
natural ears!
The wisdom imparted by the Holy
Spirit is not an outward manifestation of human knowledge,
but an inward illumination, revealing the deep things of
God. Paul says, "And my speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power." 1 Cor.
2:4. The Holy Spirit does not send us to some theological
school to learn this wisdom, but leads us to God and His
Son Jesus Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge." Col. 2:3.
þ"For the fruit of the Spirit is in
all goodness and righteousness and truth." Eph. 5:9.
The fruits of the Spirit we are unable to bear without the
tree upon which they grow; viz., the Holy Spirit. A man to
grow apples must have an apple tree; and a man to grow
peaches must of necessity have a peach tree. So with the
spiritual fruits—to grow them we must have the tree on
which they grow. For a man to try to produce the fruit of
the Spirit would be like trying to gather grapes from a
bramble bush, or figs from thistles. We are in our natural
state corrupt; and "a corrupt tree cannot bring forth
good fruit" (Matt. 7:18), hence in our natural state
we cannot bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, which
"is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth."
Being destitute of any means
whereby we might come into possession of the Spirit, God
uses the grafting process, by which we are grafted into
the true and fruitful vine, Jesus Christ. "I am the
true vine." John 15:1. There is a peculiarity about
this grafting, in which it differs from natural grafting.
Paul says concerning it: "For if thou wert cut out of
the olive tree which is wild (sinful) by nature, and wert
grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how
much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be
grafted into their own olive tree?" Romans 11:24.
"Contrary to nature." To
understand this we must first understand the natural law
which governs grafting. In natural grafting the fruit is
always according to the nature of the scion, and not
according to the root or stock. In spiritual grafting we
are grafted into Christ, and, "contrary to
nature," we bear the fruit of the Spirit, or the
fruit of the true vine, Jesus Christ. Christ says, "I
am holy" (1 Pet. 1:16); and Paul says, "If the
root (Christ) be holy, so are the branches (His
people)." Again Christ says, "I am the
root." Rev. 22:16.
Here is formed a syllogism which
proves conclusively, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we
may become holy, and be enabled to bear the fruit of the
Spirit. "If the root be holy, so are the
branches." Rom. 11:16. Christ the root is holy (Rev.
22:16; 1 Pet. 1:16), and men in him are the branches (John
15:6); consequently men who are in Christ are holy.
