But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

• John 16:13-14

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

• Luke 3:22

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

• Acts 2:3

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,

• Isaiah 7:14-15

“There are two descents of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible: the first is at the baptism of our Lord, the second on the Day of Pentecost, when the Paraclete came to this earth. The power of the Holy Spirit and His personal presence are not the same; the power of the Holy Spirit was mightily present in the world before His personal advent. In this dispensation we not only have the power of the Holy Spirit, but His personal presence moving amongst us.”

• Oswald Chambers, He Shall Glorify Me

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, we will look at Oswald Chambers’ book He Shall Glorify Me.  The first several chapters are about the Holy Spirit.

At one time, the YMCA stood for Young Men’s Christian Association.  It was a combination of a youth hostel lodging and Christian outreach.  Few YMCA have any overnight boarding allowed anymore.  The Village People hit song YMCA was the “fun staying at the YMCA.”  Note: Corrie ten Boom stayed at the YWCA whenever possible during her years of evangelism.

But these days, membership in the YMCA is all about exercise, a pool, or more than one pool, and exercise classes.  Cheaper than most gym memberships.

Oswald Chambers spent the last two years of his life training YMCA missionaries in Egypt.  Most of his books were published by his wife after his death.  She used his teaching notes and some sermons to create My Utmost for His Highest and Daily Thoughts for Disciples.  The latter is compiled from the various books published under the name of Oswald Chambers.  The chosen book is one of those used in the compilation.

Discussion

I hope this series works out.  I have looked at a variety of books on the Holy Spirit.

In this introductory paragraph, Oswald Chambers points to the Holy Spirit descending twice in the history books of the New Testament.  The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove.  The Holy Spirit descended upon those in the upper room on Pentecost about ten days after Jesus ascended into Heaven.  Jesus said that He had to leave so that the Holy Spirit could come.

Rev. Chambers speaks of the Spirit being present in the Old Testament in a powerful way.  Very few people in the Old Testament had the Spirit come to reside for their lifetime.  Usually, the Holy Spirit came upon someone to have something accomplished.  But it seems that the Holy Spirit remained upon such prophets as Elijah and Elisha.  It is mentioned that the Spirit stayed with David.

But there is much discussion about when Jesus was aware of His divinity.  I used the Isaiah quote above to show my point.  I think that if Jesus was unaware, He might sin early in life.  Thus, pretty much from the beginning.  He definitely understood at twelve.  And He probably had some power.  Jesus had become “less” in order to take on human form.

But regardless of what the Holy Spirit did through descending upon Jesus at His baptism, His ministry started after that point and the miracles hardly let up.

Some people argue that if Jesus could perform miracles prior to the Holy Spirit descending, why was nothing written about it?  But the first miracle, turning water into wine at Cana, Mary, mother of Jesus, went to Jesus and then instructed the wait staff to do what Jesus commanded.  Mary was confident, because Mary had probably seen evidence of what Jesus could do.  But that is just my idea.  There are many ideas floating around.

Then, the second descending of the Holy Spirit is the promised Advocate from John 16 and other places.  In this case, the people in the upper room, possibly the 120 mentioned in Acts 1, were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit worked miracles through ordinary people like you and me.

Now again, there are those who call upon miracles all the time.  There are others that say the major “on demand” miracles ended within the time of the Scriptures due to there being no need for any further revelation of God to prove His power.

Yet, miracles still occur.  I lean toward the “miracles by demand” being dubious.  I agree with the late Charles Stanley when he asked the question that if a faith healer could heal anyone at any time, why do you never here of faith healers visiting hospitals?  If they can, then we should not have need of hospitals.

I think there are people who are healed by the power of God today, but there are a lot of charlatans out there also.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  Descend Your Holy Spirit upon us.  Help us understand this important person of the Holy Trinity.  And let us welcome Him into our lives.  Any true believer has the Holy Spirit working within them, but many Christians admit they know little about Him and in many cases, they are a bit afraid.  Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.