Devotional #53

Question 53. What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit?
Answer: First, that He is true and coeternal God with the Father and the Son (a); secondly, that He is also given me (b), to make me by a true faith, partaker of Christ and all His benefits (c), that He may comfort me (d) and abide with me for ever (e).

(a) 1 John 5:7-8: For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

(b) 2 Cor.1:21-22: And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

(c) 1 Pet.1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

(d) John 15:26: But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

(e) 1 Pet.4:14: If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

 For your personal reflection:
When Jesus was on earth, what was His aim?  Did He seek to glorify Himself?  Was it to draw attention to Himself?  Christ sought to glorify the Father.  Likewise, a genuine move of the Spirit brings glory to Christ.  To the glory of Christ we are saved by the great work of the Spirit.  He brings this about by imparting to us the gift of faith.  He empowers us to live by opening Scripture and indwelling us with His very presence.
When does one receive the Spirit?
How does one receive the Spirit?
What do you know of the presence of the Spirit?