WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THE HOLY SPIRIT

WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES YOU • 1 John 2: 20 (NKJV) — 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. • 1 John 2: 27 (NKJV) — 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. • All have been anointed, not only the prophets and holy men who lived in their days but also and especially all those who later believed in the great and only true anointed one (Christ), our God and Savior, along with those who continue to believe in him. For in the divine washing of regeneration and baptism when we are anointed with myrrh, we receive his inheritance by the Holy Spirit and his rich gifts, by which we know that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. • St. Severus of Antioch, Catena

THE HOLY SPIRIT COMFORTS YOU • John 14: 26 (NKJV) — 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. • John 16: 7 (NKJV) — 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. • We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. However, this was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit. And the most fitting and appropriate time for the mission and descent of the Holy Spirit to us was … the occasion of our Savior’s departure to heaven. As long as Christ was with them in the flesh, the believers would have thought that they possessed all the blessings he had to offer. But when the time came for him to ascend to his Father in heaven, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshiped him and to dwell in our hearts through faith. Only by his presence within us in this way could he give us the confidence to cry out, “Abba, Father, ” and enable us to grow in holiness and, through our possession of the all-powerful Spirit, strengthen us to become invincible against the traps of the devil and the assaults of our fellow human beings

THE HOLY SPIRIT REBUKES YOU • John 16: 8 (NKJV) — 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: • The mission of the Holy Spirit to the Church fulfills the Lord Jesus Christ’s care for the Church. When the Holy Spirit comes He will grant people the life of repentance and a return to Him through the Cross. He alone can enter the heart, reveal sin and unveil it to a person so that he may return to the delightful communion with God. The Holy Spirit can convince the heart, mind, and the entire depth of a man that his happiness, safety, joy, eternal life and incorruption are in his steadfastness with the Savior, not with sin. He will persuade him that the pleasure of life with God is far greater than the pleasures of sin. • The plea of the Holy Spirit is powerful, able, and glorious. Nevertheless, it is an argument in truth for He does not advocate for us falsely or with contrivance. He is the Spirit of Truth whose testimony is for Truth. He is Truth Himself.

• He is just in His defense; • He does not hide our sins and mistakes: in His intercession for sinners (Phil 1: 20), • He does not conceal our sins or cover up their stains with fig leaves as Adam did and as Adam’s sons do. • He does not show preference, nor does He ask for association of light and darkness, or righteousness and corruption. • His work and advocacy for us is that He ‘cuts to the heart’ of the individual before he believes and before the Spirit dwells in him. • He changes his nature, so that He may grant him faith and acceptance of the gift of the Holy Spirit as on the day of Pentecost. • Fr. Tadros Malaty

THE HOLY SPIRIT SANCTIFIES YOU • Romans 15: 16 (NKJV) — 16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. • 1 Peter 1: 22 (NKJV) — 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, • “The Holy Spirit is the source of sanctification, and therefore the offering of the Gentiles which is made by Paul, in the role of priest, is said to be made acceptable to God by the Holy Spirit and not by the observance of the law. ” • Origen the Scholar, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. • “…that Your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts set forth, and purify them, change them, and manifest them as a sanctification of Your saints. ”

HOLY SPIRIT INTERCEDES FOR YOU • Romans 8: 26 (NKJV) — 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. • Just as a sick man does not ask the doctor for things which will restore him to health but rather for things which his disease longs for, so likewise we, as long as we are languishing in the weakness of this life, will from time to time ask God for things which are not good for us. This is why the Spirit has to help us. The weakness which the Spirit helps us with is our flesh. … Whenever the Holy Spirit sees our spirit struggling with the flesh and being drawn to it, he stretches out his hand helps us in our weakness. • Origen the Scholar, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS YOU • 1 Peter 5: 10 (NKJV) — 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. • Act 1: 8 (NKJV) — 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ” “Power”: They will have a divine power, that does not stop at performing signs and miracles in the name of the crucified Jesus, but they will have the power to draw the soul with all its energies to believe in the Lord Christ, and to enjoy the experience of the new life, the resurrected from the dead. It is only the Holy Spirit who can penetrate the heart and thought, and work in the soul, declaring war against sin (Acts 2: 37), and shining in it with the splendor of the Holy Trinity, to receive joyfully the work of God. (St. Augustine)

THE HOLY SPIRIT REMINDS YOU • John 14: 26 (NKJV) — 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. • The Holy Spirit reminds you of God’s promises, resurrection, ascension, Pentecost, and gifts of the Spirit • The text says the Spirit will, “Suggest, ” that is, “bring to your remembrance. ” Every wholesome hint to remember that we receive is of the grace of the Spirit. • St. Augustine of Hippo Tractates on the Gospel of John 77. 2

THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDES YOU • John 16: 13 (NKJV) — 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. • Psalm 73: 24 (NKJV) — 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.