While the Spirit is walking with us and fighting for us, He is leading us (Gal. 5:18). He will never lead us to the theater, but He will always lead us to the meetings. We get to the meetings by the leading of the Spirit. We can sense the leading of the Spirit by the inward peace. When we come to the meetings, we have peace. If we went to the movies, we would not have peace. Not having peace means that the Spirit does not lead us that way.
The Spirit also has the function of bearing the fruit of virtues (Gal. 5:22-23). The Spirit who walks with us, who fights for us, and who is leading us, helps us to bear the fruit of all kinds of human and divine virtues, such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control (vv. 22-23).
According to Galatians 6:8, we need to sow unto the Spirit. Whatever we do in our human life is a sowing, and whatever we sow, we will reap. Whether we have the positive reaping or the negative reaping depends upon our sowing. If our sowing is in the flesh, that is negative. If our sowing is in the Spirit, that is positive. God wants us to have the positive sowing all day long. This is only possible by the Spirit.
The Spirit ushers the believers to the Father (Eph. 2:18). We have access to the Father in and by the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit ushers us. In ourselves we do not have access to the Father. The Spirit is our access. He is our usher.
In Ephesians 3:16, Paul prayed that God would strengthen us with the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the strengthening Spirit and also the empowering Spirit. His strengthening and empowering is altogether in our spirit.
Ephesians 4:3 speaks of the oneness of the Spirit. The oneness is the result of uniting. For example, the electricity in all the lamps makes them one because the inner electricity unites them together as one. We Christians are all united together as one Body by the uniting Spirit.
The Spirit functions as the essence of the Body. Ephesians 4:4 says, “One Body and one Spirit.” This indicates that the Spirit is the essence of the Body. The Body of Christ is composed of all the believers, but when all the believers are not living in the Spirit, they are not the members of the Body in actuality. But if they all live in the Spirit, they are living members of the Body. The Spirit is the essence of the Body.
According to Ephesians 6:17, the Spirit as the sword has the function of slaying. The Spirit today kills the negative things within us by slaying them. The Spirit slays our flesh and our opinion.
The Spirit within us is the supplying Spirit. Philippians 1:19 speaks of “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit of Jesus Christ is the very realization of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. His very person together with His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension are the riches of the Spirit’s supply. The Spirit supplies us with the incarnation, with the death of Christ, with the resurrection of Christ, and with the ascension of Christ.
When we are down and disappointed, the Spirit within us can supply us with ascension. If we feel dead, we can pray and the Spirit within us will supply us with resurrection. Resurrection is typified by the calamus in the compound ointment in Exodus 30. It is a reed that shoots up out of the muddy situation into the air. We need to experience the resurrection of Christ and the ascension of Christ in the Spirit. The Spirit also supplies the killing death of Christ. We may have a negative thought about a certain brother or sister, but the indwelling Spirit supplies us with the killing of Jesus to kill this thought. If we are proud, the indwelling Spirit can supply us with Jesus as our humility. This supply causes us not to seek our own glory but to give all the glory to Him. The indwelling Spirit supplies all these things within us. When Paul wrote concerning the bountiful supply of the Spirit, he was in prison. How could he endure that kind of situation? He could only endure it by the inner supply, the bountiful supply, of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Thank the Lord for this wonderful, bountiful supply.
The Spirit also has the function of serving. In Philippians 3:3, Paul said that we serve by the Spirit of God. We serve as priests by the Spirit of God, not by the ordinances of the law; we boast in Christ, not in the law; and we have no confidence in the flesh, but in the Spirit.