To Fall in Love – A Pentecost Letter to My Children

My Beloved Kiddos!

Recently, we remembered the birth of the Church of Christ during Pentecost Sunday. For the past few years, you have seen and heard me grow increasingly excited when this time of the year rolls around as the significance of the meaning and message of Pentecost grows on me. I have tried to share the insight behind my excitement with you, but I understand that you will, by the grace of God, grow into the full knowledge of it in your own time.

For a while now, I have been asking you continually to cultivate  an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. I can’t say it enough – Cultivate the friendship of the Holy Spirit with the goal of eventually falling in love! You know all the things you would do, if you were interested in a serious relationship with a girl/boy friend. Seek out; Ask and learn about their interests; Begin to adopt their interests; Begin to engage in frequent, casual, small talk; Begin to do things together with them. Yes, like any relationship worth it’s while, it will take an investment of time and effort, but wow!, the return on that investment will blow your minds out. I will explain in the simplest terms that you can relate to.

You see, I only just began to do this a few years ago, and now I realize that my entire life before my relationship with the Holy Spirit began to blossom was, well, blah! Let me begin with two points as I go into how this relationship has benefited me on a personal level. First, I must emphasize that the primary and most important goal of this love affair is to glorify God in everything and to be transformed into a walking, bold witness of Christ’s gospel message. The Spirit’s presence helps us to know, love and serve God more and to reflect that love of God plus the victory of Christ in the lives of others. So, while the paragraphs below may be personal, keep in mind that everything the Holy Spirit does in me, for me and through me, must ultimately be for God’s glory.

Secondly, I must emphasize that a tight friendship with the Spirit will not turn you into a bore, far from it!! Your joy will always be unexplainable. I know for a fact that you do not consider me to be a boring person, in fact, you frequently label me as being crazy in a good way, with a great sense of humor. And you know that I will hold my own against you guys anyday when it is time to dance to Childish Gambino’s This is America. So I repeat, the Spirit cannot turn you into a boring person if you were not boring before, but it can make you alive with joy if you were boring before! Think about it, part of the goal of the relationship is to witness to Christ, how can you attract anyone to a message if you  have no joy in you??

And no, the Spirit does not stop you from having an active social life. We know Jesus went to a wedding party and drank wine, and did you know that those Jewish wedding parties back in those days were multi-day events? You have not yet partied that hard back-to-back to the best of my knowledge!!! So do not be afraid that a vibrant relationship with the Spirit will make you miss out on anything, you can only be wiser and therefore smarter; funnier and therefore cooler, while glorifying God as you seek His glory always. Closer to home, I must remind you about my beloved friend and brother, Father D, an ordained priest who would have been a hugely successful comedian, had God not had a higher purpose for his personality. Can you remember his latest dance steps the last time he was in our house for dinner with his fellow priests? Yet, this is the man that God used to help me deepen my practical awareness of His Spirit.

How do I explain this love? Let me sum it up by stating that with the Holy Spirit in my corner as my new best friend, I feel so powerful, so knowledgeable, so discerning and perceptive, so intuitive. I could go on and on, but I’m sure you can recognize the gifts of the Spirit from the adjectives above. The power comes from the boldness and courage that the Spirit imparts, the same boldness that turned Peter from a whimpering disciple, (who was so afraid of a maidservant that he denied Jesus three times), into a bold preacher of the gospel. This power enables me to shamelessly share my love of God; keep my cool when I am offended, harassed or oppressed and face the trials that God allows me to undergo with strength and faith. Imagine what such a  power that enables you to control your reactions and emotions, would do for you when you have to deal with antagonistic colleagues or supervisors in the work-place or educational setting.

Knowledge and understanding; discernment and intuition – Seeking the Spirit intimately opens up a deeper understanding of  God’s Word and therefore God’s character. That depth of understanding begins to help you understand the people around you as your mind is broadened and you begin to see them the way God would see them. Again I ask you to imagine being so broad-minded in the work-place or with your social acquaintances. Because you have been blessed with a deeper understanding of people,  you can always be ten steps ahead of any potentially adversarial situation, thereby keeping your calm and remaining at peace in almost every circumstance. This is one of the clearest indications of the active presence of the Spirit, a calmness that often befuddles those who interact with you. Having said that, the discernment that goes with this is to propel you into becoming a selfless intercessor, praying for others as the Spirit enables you to understand their personal pains, weaknesses and challenges.

The fear of God and Wisdom – These have to be my favorite blessings from the relationship with the Holy Spirit, the former bringing about the latter as scripture teaches. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! – Ps.111:10. A reverent and holy fear keeps you from doing evil and helps you to make wise choices and speak wisely. The key is to consciously decide that your goal in life is to ultimately glorify God’s name in everything. This will not happen overnight, but will begin to fall in place as your relationship with the Spirit progresses. At some point, you will find that you are asking yourself – how does this glorify God? – before embarking on a course of action or choice of words.

My beloved children, I have often shown you the bible verses that ask us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and to fan into flames the gifts that we have been given. It is God’s Spirit that enables us to carry out these two instructions and  whilst doing that, enables us to live in a spiritually victorious way in our everyday tasks and interactions in this challenging world. I earnestly urge you as I have been doing for a few years now, don’t miss out on this active power and blessings of God’s Spirit in your youth. Don’t wait until you are older to experience a wisdom and understanding that can make you wiser than your years and give you an advantageous edge in all that you do. Do allow the Spirit to bring more joy into your  already vibrant and unique personalities and begin to use you to attract your peers to your faith and inner strength, thus turning you into effective witnesses of the gospel of Christ. May the grace of God give you an unending hunger for His Spirit and the accompanying life of victory. Amen!!

Your Loving Mother, Always…..