Some people, both Christian as well as non-Christian, find it easy to understand God and Jesus, but struggle to understand quite how and where the Holy Spirit fits into the picture. Who exactly is he? And how does he work in our lives?
Silence can mean many things to different people; some love it, while others fear it, some fight against it. I am sure that it is no co-incidence that the level of noise has increased, as the separation between God’s ways and the world’s ways, are becoming further apart. Noise clouds judgment, overwhelming the still small voice, causing further confusion. Is it easier to fill your life with noise, than to be still in silence? If I asked what you could hear right now, what would it be? I am not just talking about the voices from those who need us, calling for our attention, or the noise from traffic, radio, TV, phone …. But also the words we repeat over in our minds, our worries, the words we carry around in our heart, the endless list of things we need to accomplish!
The Bible tells us that we need to be led by the Holy Spirit (see for example Romans 8:12-14 and Galatians 5:16-25). Therefore, it must be possible for every one of us to hear and discern the promptings and guidance of the Holy Spirit within us! So that should mean that we can hear the voice of God. But If God were to speak out loud to us all the time so that we know it is God speaking to us, then we wouldn't need faith to hear Him. On the other hand, if God speaks so softly to us that we need to get into the habit of listening closely to the Holy Spirit and drawing closer to God in order to hear Him better, then there is a lot of faith involved, and it requires cultivating a deeper, more personal, more intimate relationship with the Lord and being guided by his Spirit. But where does the Spirit fit in and how can it help us?
How does the Spirit relate to the Bible?
Hearing the Spirit by Christopher Ash is for those who are 'thirsty for a deeper experience of the Spirit of God'. There is much confusion about how Jesus relates to the Holy Spirit, how Jesus the Eternal Word relates to the Bible. People say, 'You have too much Bible and not enough of the Spirit' or it "It's all very well talking about the Spirit but where's the Bible?' Whatever our background, we tend to fall back on untested prejudices or worry about unexamined doubts. This careful biblical argument, drawing mainly from John's gospel, helps us to see the answers to these questions in a firmly Trinitarian understanding. Hearing the Spirit is the way we know the Father through the Spirit. By asking where the Bible fits in this process, helps us listen more deeply to the words of God.
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Dean is the Sales Manager at The Good Book Company. He engages with churches, organisations and individuals to provide them with useful resources for their varying ministries. Dean attends St John's Church in Woking, where he lives with his family.
