The Other Key

There is one other major key to this transformation. It is the Holy Spirit. We need to Holy Spirit to help us to understand and apply the Word of God.

John 14:26
"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 that I said to you."

John 16:13-15
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

Now, if you are like me, you just skimmed over those verses and quickly moved on to this paragraph. As much as I love reading the Word on my own I often skim over it when it is written in a book or on a blog. (Why I would want to know what a person says more than what God says, I can't explain, but that is what I tend to do, and I doubt that it is very unusual.) What I want you to do right now is go back and read, Read, really READ those verses above. (I would strongly recommend reading all of John 14-17. This is Jesus' last discourse to his disciples.) Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot benefit from the full impact of the Word. The Holy Spirit TEACHES us. He is the Spirit of Truth. Much of the Word of God is a mystery...foolishness to the world. We need the Holy Spirit to make it clear to us.

Yes, I am talking about being "filled with the Holy Spirit." Frankly, I haven't studied much about the Holy Spirit, and I feel rather unqualified to write about this. I wouldn't even approach this subject if I didn't feel that it was so vital. I may not have much "head knowledge" on this subject, but I was filled with the Holy Spirit at a young age with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and I know that the power I have had to live my life has come through the power of the Holy Spirit. I speak in tongues daily, and I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and to reveal truth. I cannot imagine living my life in any other way.

I realize this a controversial topic, and I definitely believe that you can be saved without being filled with the Holy Spirit, but I also know that the Bible teaches that these are two separate experiences that are still relevant today. When I read about the ministry of the Holy Spirit (comforting-John 14:16, John 15:26; leading us into truth and teaching us-John 16:13, John 14:26; revealing the things of God to us-I Cor. 2:10-14; giving us power-Acts 1:8, I Cor. 2:4, Rom. 15:19; giving us hope-Rom. 15:13; teaching us what to say-Luke 12:12; empowering us to speak the Word with boldness-Acts 4:31; etc.), I definitely don't want to be left out of any of it!

Here is an article (and also a free mp3 download) by one of my favorite ministers that explains more http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/holy_spirit

I would encourage you to look into this for yourself if you have not experienced it. Please feel free to ask me if you have questions. I'll do my best to answer them or point you somewhere that you can get the answers.