Tuesday, June 2, 2009
John 15:26 When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me.
PRAISE GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
Some have described the Holy Spirit as "the forgotten Person" of the Holy Trinity. We often address prayers to our heavenly Father and to His Son, Jesus our Savior. But how often do we send prayers heavenward to the Holy Spirit? Let us be encouraged to do so!
Who is the Holy Spirit? Some teach He is not a distinct person of the Triune God but only a divine influence or energy. Others mistakenly believe He is just an emotion of the human heart. Scripture clearly shows, however, that the Holy Spirit is the third person of our Triune God, true God with the Father and the Son. The Bible ascribes names to the Holy Spirit that only God can have (Spirit of truth, Spirit of God). It ascribes qualities to Him which only God can possess (He is present everywhere, He knows all things, He's been in existence from eternity). "That the Holy Ghost is a Person distinct from the Father and the Son is also sufficiently indicated by the fact that Jesus says: 'The Comforter, whom I will send' (John 15:26). Again: 'Which proceedeth from the Father.' Yet He is the same true, real, one God, because He is to do works which God alone does, such as enlightening the hearts within, bringing people to true knowledge, beginning, arousing, and strengthening faith in them, comforting consciences and keeping them undismayed against the terror of the devil . . . This is strong and certain enough--without other and additional passages--to uphold the article of the divine Being of the Holy Ghost" (What Luther Says, Vol. 2, p. 661).
Let us send up prayers of thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit for His gracious work in our behalf. Let us petition Him to continue His work in us, for Jesus' sake: O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful, visit us, we pray, with Your love and favor, enlighten our minds more and more with the light of Your everlasting Gospel, graft in our hearts a love of Your truth, increase in us true religion, enable us heartily to choose that good part which shall not be taken away from us, nourish us with all goodness, and of Your great mercy preserve us for the heavenly kingdom, O blessed Spirit, whom, with the Father and the Son together, we worship and glorify as one God, now and forever. Amen.
