Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Come Holy Spirit- Transform the Creation
(Feast of the Pentecost)
John.20:19-23
He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” ((V.22)
Tomorrow, we will celebrate the feast of the Pentecost- it is the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples of Jesus and later they turned the world upside down. The confusion of languages at Babel was dramatically reversed on the day of Pentecost.  The way of Pentecost unites people also it’s a way of new life in the Holy Spirit. 
In John.20:22, Jesus' breathing on the disciples is clearly linked with His words in V.21, so that the gift of the Spirit is presented as that which empowers the community to continue Jesus' work. The verb “to breathe” occurs only here in the New Testament and this usage clearly evokes the description of God's breathing the breath of life in to the first man in Gen.2:7. It also recalls the description of the breath of life in Ezek.37:9. Jesus' breathing the Holy Spirit on His disciples thus is described as a new second creation. This is the new life promised by Jesus for His believers, and the Holy Spirit is the breath that sustains that new life.
The first step in being filled by the Holy Spirit is understanding, that is, there are certain things or truths we must know and understand about the Holy Spirit. God has already given us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We may not feel His presence but that does not mean that He is absent. It is a fact that He is present within us because we belong to Christ. It is also God's will that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit and if we refuse to be filled with the Holy Spirit it means that we are acting contrary to the will of God.
The second step to receive the Holy Spirit is submission. Submission means to renounce our will and our way and submit ourselves to Jesus, and allow Jesus to rule every facet of  our lives. It is the renouncing of our will and our way and embracing the will and way of Christ. We need to submit ourselves to Christ so that Christ may control our lives.
The third step in the infilling of the spirit is to walk in the faith. As believers we are to walk in the given truth with the full assurance that God has already filled us with the spirit. We have to live in this world as agents of transformation, filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: O Lord Almighty, Father our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us, we pray to you , to be grounded and settled in Your truth by the coming of the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we will be a new creation ........Amen
Thought for the day: “Count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ”(Rom.6:11)


                           Rev. Shibu Mathew, Epiphany MTC New York 

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