18. Spirit is the member of the Trinity who is most active in my spirituality.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
When you think of the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what role do you sense that Spirit plays in our relationship with God?
Specifically, how does Spirit help us connect with God and share a relationship with Jesus?
What role do you sense Spirit plays in our desires?
Would you say that you have a relationship with Spirit that is separate and distinct from your relationship with the Father or Jesus?
Our spirituality, the unique way that God created us to be able to connect with Him, is the “spiritual” part of our soul. In other words, our spirituality is not material. We may use our bodies to express our spirituality, and our spirituality sometimes manifests itself in our bodies, but our connection to God, who is spirit, is from our spirit.
The member of the Trinity that does the connecting with our spirit is God’s Spirit, or simply, Spirit. It is important to be aware, then, that Spirit plays a significant role in our spirituality. The work of Spirit in our lives would take far more space to describe than we have space or time for, but we can mention a few ways He is active in our lives.
One way that Spirit works in our spirituality is in those “big moments” in our lives when we simply know that we have encountered God. It may not include a spiritual activity, it may instead be some significant event in our lives, good or bad, that triggers our hearts to look upward, and we experience Spirit in a profound way that validates our belief in God.
Another way that Spirit works in our lives is when He connects with our hearts or spirit and instructs, confirms, or communicates to us. On the day of His resurrection, Jesus meets two disciples and walks with them towards the town of Emmaus. Though they did not recognize Him as the risen Lord, the men later exclaim, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32, NIV). The work of Spirit is often like this “burning of the heart.”
The Spirit also teaches us about ourselves, facilitating our self-awareness, especially in our relationship with Jesus. Spirit shows us the parts of ourselves that we may tend to avoid or ignore and reveals to us the deep desires of our heart.
The role of Spirit in our desires is especially significant. First, He helps us come to know and understand what it is we truly want. Secondly, Spirit can help us to purify these desires, deepen our desire for God, and grow in our ability to desire well. Finally, since we know that Spirit lives in us, in our hearts and spirit, we can even assume that
the good desires that we have actually come from the Spirit and are evidence of Spirit in us. Paul says in Philippians, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Philippians 2:13, NIV). We see here that God the Spirit works in us to help us first desire, and then do, what God knows is good for us. Perhaps more than anything else, the growing quality of our desires, our spiritual longings for God, are an indication of Spirit’s presence in us.
We might even ponder the possibility that when we sense deep and good desires, ones that align with God’s desires, that these desires are not just from God, but they are God, they are Spirit living within us, becoming one with us.