Another aspect of the Spirit’s work in the believers is His comforting them. Acts 9:31 says, “The church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.” This indicates that the church was suffering affliction through the persecutions, in which she feared the Lord and enjoyed the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit’s work in comforting us is a matter of the divine dispensing. We are comforted by the Spirit, and encouraged by Him, through His dispensing. The Triune God is dispensing Himself into us, and this dispensing is the Spirit’s comforting. Genuine comfort, therefore, involves the divine dispensing, the dispensing of the riches of the Triune God into our being.
The indwelling Spirit gives joy to the believers. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” First Thessalonians 1:6 tells us that the believers “accepted the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.” Because the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy, daily we should be joyful in the Lord.
Romans 15:13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Here we see that the Spirit empowers the believers to abound in hope in God.
The Spirit also gives love to the believers. Romans 15:30 speaks of the love of the Spirit, and Colossians 1:8 refers to the believers’ love in the Spirit. In these verses the Spirit is revealed as the source, the element, and the sphere of the believers’ love toward all the saints in Christ. According to our natural understanding, the matter of love is common. But according to the divine fact it is not common. Colossians 1:4 refers to the love which the saints in Colosse had unto all the saints; verse 8 reveals that their love to all the saints was the love in the Spirit. In ourselves we cannot have this kind of love. This love is in the Spirit. The Spirit is the source, the element, the very essence and sphere of such a love.
Our natural, human love is not universal. However, the Spirit works in us to give us a love for all the different members of the Lord’s Body. We love the brothers in the Lord from all cultures, races, and countries. This is not possible by our natural love, but there is this kind of love in the all-inclusive Spirit. He is the source, the element, and the sphere of this love. If we live in Him, He will give us the universal love that causes us to love all the saints.
Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This verse reveals the work of the Spirit in pouring out God’s love in the hearts of the believers. Often in our Christian life we need encouragement and confirmation. As we pass through periods of suffering, we may have questions and doubts. Although doubts arise, we cannot deny that the love of God is within us. From the day we first called on the Lord Jesus, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This means that the Spirit confirms and assures us with the love of God. The indwelling Spirit assures us that God loves us. Therefore, although we may be afflicted, we cannot deny the presence of God’s love within us. Christ died for ungodly sinners such as we. Once we were enemies, but Christ shed His blood on the cross to reconcile us to God. What love is this! Through the work of the indwelling Spirit we realize afresh that God loves us and that His love has been poured out into our hearts.
The best way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is first to make a thorough confession of our sins, failures, and weaknesses. Then we should ponder God’s love, considering how much He loves us. If we do this, the Holy Spirit will pour out God’s love into our hearts, and we shall be filled with the Spirit.
Second Corinthians 4:13 indicates that the indwelling Spirit mingles with the believers in their faith: “Having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, therefore I spoke; we also believe, therefore also we speak.” The “same spirit” refers to the same spirit as set forth in the quotation from Psalm 116:10. Concerning the spirit in 2 Corinthians 4:13, Alford says, “Not distinctly the Holy Spirit,-but still not merely a human disposition: the indwelling Holy Spirit penetrates and characterizes the whole renewed man.” Vincent says, “Spirit of faith: not distinctly the Holy Spirit, nor, on the other hand, a human faculty or disposition, but blending both.” This means it is a mingling of the Holy Spirit with our human spirit. We must exercise such a spirit to believe and to speak, as the psalmist did, the things we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection. Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit, not in our mind. Doubts are in our mind. The “spirit” here indicates that it is by the mingled spirit that the apostles lived a crucified life in resurrection for carrying out their ministry.
If we would have the boldness to speak concerning Christ and of our experience of Christ in His death and resurrection, we need the spirit of faith. This means that in order to testify of what we have experienced of Christ, we need such a mingled spirit. As long as we have this mingled spirit, we shall have faith. Then we shall have the boldness to speak to others about our experience of Christ in His death and resurrection. As those who love the Lord Jesus, we need to practice being one spirit with Him. If we do this, we shall have the spirit of faith, for the indwelling Spirit will be mingled with our spirit in our faith.
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