Pneuma Life: Holy Spirit in YouSample

Receive the Holy Spirit...

And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
John 20:22

When Jesus emphatically spoke of the Holy Spirit as the source of living water to the thirsty soul in John 7:37-39 (Day 1), He gave us a glimpse of living our lives daily in the Spirit. He significantly spoke these words on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, where the priests daily poured water on the temple altar as a symbolic remembrance of the water supplied from the rock in the wilderness (Ex. 17:6).

As we carefully consider the Lord’s words, we realize that the swift current of a flowing river—its strength, cleansing, and sustaining properties—applies perfectly to the work of the Holy Spirit to satisfy our lives and reveal Christ through us. And who has ever stepped into the midst of a river and not experienced its continual and constant movement? What refreshing, what energy, what power!

Paul takes this a step further when he describes Jesus as the Rock from whom the river flows…

…and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:4

However, let’s look back…

We read in the gospel accounts that Jesus appeared behind closed doors to His disciples who gathered in fear of reprisal for being His followers. Yet only John’s gospel notes that Jesus breathed on them, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. Knowing that the Greek word pneuma used here for the Holy Spirit means breath or to breathe, and remembering what we’ve read about the breath of life, this seldom quoted verse is rich with meaning (Gen. 2:7).

As we think this through, we realize this wondrous incident is the first opportunity that Jesus’ followers have to experience being born again of the Spirit. He had only just fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies regarding the death and resurrection of the Messiah for humanity’s salvation. Jesus then breathed on those gathered and initiated the working and indwelling of the Spirit in their lives that was present throughout His earthly ministry.

And the same is true for us who have received Christ by faith. His very same powerful, healing, saving, and delivering ministry is now available to us through the Holy Spirit living within.

What are your thoughts regarding the availability of the Holy Spirit’s miraculous ministry in your life?