Genesis 8: 11-12. Luke 11: 11-13

Why don't people ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as desired by God? Is it because they are afraid to receive a stone instead of bread. Bread is used to feed our body whereas a stone cannot do so. Jesus is the Bread of Life who gives life to the world and the One who communicates this life is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who fills our heart with God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. In the course of His conversation, Jesus said that the excessive fear that we nurture in our heart urges us to believe that God would give us a snake or a scorpion instead of something that would fortify our soul just as fish and eggs strengthen our body. Jesus exhorts us to banish all fear from our heart. God is a present help in all our struggles in this life. If evil as we are, we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

The Holy Spirit is useful, beneficial and indispensable to us. It is He who brings revival in our souls and in the church. When the Spirit takes over marvelous things happen to us. He is like a fire that burns and does not consume but reaches out to our hearts. We feel like transported into the Kingdom of God. After Jesus' crucifixion, two of his disciples were going to a village named Emmaus. They were discouraged because they had hoped that Jesus would deliver Israel from the Roman domination and yet three days had elapsed since he had been buried and nothing had happened though they had heard rumors of His resurrection from some women of their community. Jesus drew near to them and explained to them everything that concerned Him in the Scriptures. He then disappeared. These disciples were upset by His conversation and said to each other: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” When the Holy Spirit acts on God's Word our heart burns within us. He is a Devouring Fire. We are no longer the same, we are convinced of sin and we repent of our infidelity. He is stronger than us and He leads us in the path of divine truth because He is the Spirit of Truth. If you feel unhappy, ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit, He won't give you a scorpion, He will give you the Holy Spirit that will reveal to you that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life. He will bring you to repentance and obedience of the Word of God. Three thousand people were touched by the Fire of God on the day of the Pentecost. They repented and gave themselves to God. The same thing can happen to you if you ask God for His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit also acts as an impetuous wind. He destroys all barriers erected on His way by the human beings to stop you from approaching heaven and make you one body in Christ. Every nation has its own customs and traditions that cause division. Each of these nations has its own gods whereas there is only one God. The Jews believed they had the monopoly of God. They believed that God was only the God of the Jews and not the God of Pagans. They disliked those who were not of their race and they never ate with Pagans. Peter had these same prejudices but one day while he was praying on the roof of the house where he lodged, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and he fell into a trance. It was like an impetuous wind that broke all the religious norms that he had imposed himself. In his trance he clearly saw the heavens open and something like a great tablecloth descending upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. A voice told him: “Rise Peter, kill and eat” But Peter said: “No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” This happened three times and the tablecloth was taken up to heaven. All the prejudices of Peter were annihilated. He understood that God shows no partiality. At the same moment the men sent by Cornelius who was a God-fearing man came. Peter welcomed them and accompanied them to Cornelius’s house where he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As he was preaching the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word and they spoke in tongues and extolled God. Only the Holy Spirit can unite all Mauritians and remove all the ethnic barriers that separate them.

The Holy Spirit is also the Master of the harvest. It is He who said: Let Barnabas and Saul do the work for which I have called them. His desire is to spread the knowledge of Jesus throughout the world so that all men can be saved. Then the end will come

What can we say? The Holy Spirit does not always act in the same way–at one time He is a Fire, another time He is the Wind and another time He is the Dove. The dove is the most gentle creature in the world and it is precisely a dove that Noah set free from the window of his ark after the flood. The dove left and returned to him carrying an olive leaf. What a joy and what a blessed hope that olive leaf represented for Noah. It was the proof that water had decreased on the surface of the earth and that soon a new earth would appear - washed of all its sins and illnesses - an earth where there would be no more violence. It is precisely a dove that came down on Jesus on the day He was baptized by John the Baptist who proclaimed: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away all the sins of the world.” This dove represents the Holy Spirit who brings us all the hope of a new world in Christ Our Lord. The Holy Spirit is not only a burning fire or an impetuous wind, He is also as the soft and gentle whisper that echoes in our hearts. “What are you doing here Elijah? “or “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” When God spoke to Elijah in the cave and let him see His glory, there was an impetuous wind, an earthquake and a fire, but God was not in the earthquake, nor in the impetuous wind nor in fire. He was in the soft and light whisper that followed.

God gives the Holy Spirit to whoever asks Him. Open your heart to Him and He will come to you Himself by His Holy Spirit. He will burn the straw that is in you. He will crush down your inhibitions and your prejudices and He will win your heart by His soft and light whisper. May God bless you!


Pastor N. Blackburn