Did You Receive the Holy Spirit?
The Spirit intercedes, opposes our own wanting and transforms us. Perhaps it is in the critical moment that we learn to recognize His work and not get in the way.
Airton Humber · 16/09/26 · 4 min de leitura
Paul found some disciples and asked:
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
Perhaps this question still deserves to be heard.
Not only to remember when we received the Holy Spirit or to argue about how it happens.
Perhaps it is better to observe:
What does the Holy Spirit do in us?
And what do we do when we notice His work?
The Spirit acts
James speaks of the Spirit that God made to dwell in us:
“Is it with jealousy that the Spirit, whom He made to dwell in us, yearns for us?”
It is a strong expression.
But perhaps we should not understand this jealousy as possession.
It is not the jealousy of someone who wants to possess.
It is the zeal of someone who cares.
The Spirit yearns for us.
There is care.
There is grace.
He does not remain indifferent to what happens inside us.
Paul says that when we do not even know how to pray, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
And he also writes:
“The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit, what is contrary to the flesh.”
And he adds:
“So that you do not do what you want.”
There are moments when we want something and find an opposition within us.
We want to answer back.
We want to retaliate.
We want to defend our being right.
We want to do right away what we think is best.
But there is another movement happening.
The Spirit acts.
Perhaps even this opposition is grace.
Do not get in the way
Paul also wrote:
“Do not get in the way of the work of the Holy Spirit.”
Other translations say:
“Do not quench the Spirit.”
The image is strong.
We are not the ones who light the fire.
But we can put it out.
Perhaps an important part of the journey is learning to recognize what the Spirit is doing in us, and not getting in the way.
Offer your body
Paul makes an appeal:
“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.”
And he continues:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
I offer myself.
I do not conform.
And I am transformed.
In another letter, Paul says:
“We are being transformed, from glory to glory, into His own image, as by the Lord, the Spirit.”
The transformation happens.
But we are not the ones who produce it.
The critical moment
All of this seems simple while we are reading.
Until the critical moment comes.
Someone offends us.
We are contradicted.
We receive an unjust word.
The same person does again what we had already forgiven.
We receive evil.
And immediately our own wanting appears.
It is precisely there that we can learn to contemplate the work of the Spirit.
In the critical moment.
My first impulse says one thing.
But there is another movement happening inside me.
It is at that moment that familiar words begin to come alive:
“Offer the other cheek also.”
“Forgive seventy times seven.”
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil.”
“Overcome evil with good.”
As long as no one does us harm, these words can remain only teachings.
When we receive evil, we can experience them.
The living Word
The letter to the Hebrews says: “The word of God is living and effective.”
It penetrates deeply and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Perhaps I imagined that I knew how to forgive.
Until I needed to forgive again.
Perhaps I imagined that I did not need to defend my being right.
Until I was accused unjustly.
The situation reveals what is inside me.
But it can also become the place of transformation.
From situation to situation
James says to consider it a reason for joy when we go through various trials.
Because trial produces perseverance.
And perseverance must finish its work.
Paul writes something very similar:
“Tribulation produces perseverance; perseverance, experience; and experience, hope.”
And right afterward he speaks of God's love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
There is effort.
Sometimes, enormous effort.
But it is not the effort of producing our own transformation.
It is the effort of remaining.
Of not immediately following our own wanting.
Of not quenching.
Of not getting in the way.
Then comes another situation.
And another.
And another.
“From glory to glory” does not literally mean “from situation to situation.”
But perhaps this is how we experience this transformation in everyday life:
from situation to situation, from experience to experience.
I want more
The transformation reaches also what we desire.
Paul calls greed idolatry.
And he warns about those who imagine that godliness is a means of profit.
But he immediately adds:
“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Perhaps the difference can be seen in a very simple way:
Greed says: “I want more.”
Contentment says: “I have enough.”
Then Jesus tells of a man who found a treasure hidden in a field.
He sold everything he had to buy that field.
But there is a precious detail:
He did this full of joy.
He had found something that changed the value of everything else.
Greed says: “I want more.”
Contentment says: “I have enough.”
The one who found the treasure says: “I found it.”
Perhaps the renewing of the mind reaches our treasures as well.
What once seemed indispensable begins to lose importance.
Not only because we learned to renounce.
But because we found something worth more.
Follow me
Jesus said: “Follow me.”
Paul wrote: “Walk in the Spirit.”
And John says that the one who remains in Him must: “walk as He walked.”
A path is not traveled all at once.
There is a step.
Then another.
Then another.
Each situation presents a new step.
And perhaps it is precisely in the critical moment that we can notice:
What is the Spirit doing in me right now?
Do not quench. Do not get in the way. Take the next step.
Did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Perhaps Paul's question can be heard again:
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
Perhaps the answer can be contemplated along the way as well.
In the opposition to our own wanting.
In the forgiveness that seemed impossible.
In evil answered with good.
In perseverance in the midst of trial.
In the day when we manage to say:
“I have enough.”
Paul wrote: “The one who calls you is faithful and will do it.”
Jesus said: “Follow me.”
As we walk, He transforms.
