Tuesday, January 20th

This week we are going to look at two questions; who is the Holy Spirit and why does it matter.

We are going to build a foundation of those questions by looking throughout all of Scripture, there are over 400 references to the Spirit of God, in some form or fashion.
I would encourage you to reread many of the passages we are going to look at this week, because I want to give you an overview. Also, there are two fantastic resources that have been encouraging to me I referenced one already, Familiar Stranger by Tyler Staton and Holy Spirit by John Bevere.

Let’s start at the beginning. Genesis 1:1-2- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

We see this at the end of Genesis one when God creates humanity, he created humanity in our image, the Triune God. But the first instance of seeing God at work, is yes, at creation, but it is His Spirit. The Spirit is the first to be at work.

That word Spirit in the Greek is ruakh. Say that … Ruakh means spirit or breath or wind. We see that there was chaos, formlessness and the Spirit of God, the breath of God, created, brought forth life, animating life.

Genesis 2:7- 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. God’s breath, breathing into us, to give us life, energy, spirit. Let me affirm this with one more passage.

Job 33:4- The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
The ancient writers needed to describe what they were experiencing as they wrote the Bible and this is what they came to. The Spirit, is life, breath of life, fills, animates, creates, sustains.

What does that mean for you, beginning to see that the Holy Spirit, before creation is one who hovers over chaos to bring life? Who breathes into you and gives life? That the Almighty is breathing into you so much more? How can you live with that in life today?