By John A. Huffman Jr.
You see, when we discover this biblical principle, we have a corrective to our tendencies to over-emphasize the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, or go to the other extreme of never talking about this One who is the enabler of all spirituality and has as His primary function the task of pointing the way to God Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
Some of us are old enough to remember Corrie ten Boom. This magnificent Christian woman, who rescued so many Jews from Nazi extermination, was herself sent to a concentration camp for her efforts. She watched her sister starve to death. It was only God's miracle that saved her to, for so many decades, tell her story. This beautiful, Spirit-filled, Christian woman was illustrative of Dave Howard's point. She, and so many others who have had the deepest experiences with the Holy Spirit, exudes a lifestyle and message that points to Jesus Christ — not to the Holy Spirit.
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II.
Every sincere Christian yearns for a deeper experience of Jesus Christ.
This inner yearning is healthy and good. It is a sign that one is desirous of growing in the faith.
The Bible promises abundant life.
Jesus declares that we can have abundant life. He puts it in these words: "'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly'" (John 10:10).
Some seem to have this life. Others of us find it eludes our grasp. Some of us seem to have a great reservoir of spiritual resource that floods through our life with energy. Some of us only experience a small trickle of this resource. We are like a faucet when the water pressure is low — and little comes out.
Tuesday night Anne and I were at home from work about nine o'clock only to discover that when we turned on the faucets, we had only a few drops of water. We could have spent the next several weeks lamenting the fact that what we yearned for simply wasn't there. Instead, we called the City of Newport Beach, and within a half hour a technician was at our house, diagnosing the problem. He found that someone had inadvertently shut off our water supply. Very quickly, we were back in business.
The Bible describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
This fruit is available to every believer. Don't ever forget that. Whereas the gifts of the Holy Spirit vary from one to another, all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is available to each believer. Galatians 5:22-23 declares, ". . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." Several years ago, I did a whole series. Each sermon concentrated on one of these fruits. What a privilege it is to experience love — that deep, inner sensitivity to God and our fellow human beings. Another is joy — that upthrust of life that runs so counter to the periodic depressions of life. Another is peace — divinely produced inner serenity that is not the result of self struggle. The Bible declares that God will keep you in perfect peace as your mind is stayed on Him. The Apostle Paul writes, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians. 4:7).
