Under the InfluenceSample

Day 5: What Does the Holy Spirit Do?:

Welcome to day 5! Today, we’re focusing on what the Holy Spirit actually does and how He assists followers of God.

He Is Your Friend – John 14:15-17:

The Holy Spirit is primarily your Friend, someone you can know and love. When people describe the Holy Spirit just in terms of how people respond to His presence—with a shout, goose bumps, a tingle up the neck, a tear—they miss the Person. These are all effects of His presence, but we should relate to Him as a Person, not merely as a power source or a heavenly vending machine. Like any friend, He doesn’t want to be ignored, taken advantage of, or forgotten. He wants to interact with each believer. He promises to listen, respond, and always act in our best interests.

He is always a positive, healthy influence and never a bad one.

Only when you have a vibrant relationship with Him personally will you appreciate all He does in your life. Only then will you experience His comprehensive comfort.

He Brings Order from Chaos – Genesis 1:2:

He organizes and uncomplicates our lives. He brings order out of any level of chaos. We know this because the first time He was mentioned in Scripture, He was hovering above a formless creation, preparing to bring order to it (Gen. 1:2). The law of first mention, a way to interpret things in the Bible, tells us this is the key to His nature. He takes messes and makes miracles. He turns problems into purpose. If things seem tangled up, He’s the one who can bring order out of your situation. In fact, the Holy Spirit does His best work when things are all jumbled up.

He Is Your Helper – John 14:15-17:

He doesn’t grab the wheel of our lives. He comes alongside us and influences and guides us through the crooked passages. He says, “Don’t go over there because it’s too shallow, and the boat might run aground. Make sure you turn here a little bit to avoid that sandbar. Now, come here and catch this current. You’ll get where you’re going a lot faster.” This is the essence of supernatural living. It is most often subtle and internal, not flashy and external. The Holy Spirit is our riverboat captain on life’s otherwise treacherous and unpredictable journey.

He Teaches You – John 14:15-17:

Jesus also said, “The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.” God is the supreme expert in everything. Why wouldn’t we ask Him about everything in our lives? We have the option of being His students. When we invite Him to, He will teach us all things. But it starts with our humbly becoming His students every day.

He Testifies Through You – Acts 1:8:

Think about it: A witness testifies of what he has seen. There are no secondary witnesses. So, in what way are Christians today witnesses of Jesus? Nobody alive today was present at the resurrection. None of us saw firsthand the ministry of Jesus or heard His teaching—nobody, that is, except the Holy Spirit. That is why it is His job to testify through us. I didn’t see Jesus rise from the dead—but the Holy Spirit did. I didn’t hear the Sermon on the Mount—but the Holy Spirit did. When we teach and share the gospel, the Holy Spirit affirms it powerfully in the hearts and minds of listeners, just as He did through the Book of Acts when Peter and others preached as witnesses of the risen Christ.