{"id":148,"date":"2007-03-26T06:56:16","date_gmt":"2007-03-25T19:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newchurchlife.com\/index.php\/operation-global-rain\/welcome-holy-spirit\/"},"modified":"2015-12-23T21:18:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T10:18:58","slug":"welcome-holy-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newchurchlife.com\/welcome-holy-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome, Holy Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">In his daily devotional, <em>Welcome, Holy Spirit<\/em>, Garrie Williams surveys the life and activity of the Holy Spirit by looking at reference to Him in the Bible. I love the title of this book &#8211; <em>Welcome, Holy Spirit. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Why not stop right now and speak to Him? <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Just stop for a moment &ndash; and meditate upon His presence. God &ndash; the very God of the universe &ndash; is with and in you! Isn&rsquo;t this amazing &#8211; awesome? Just stop and rejoice in this reality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><strong><font color=\"#000000\">Just say to Him: &ldquo;Welcome, Holy Spirit. You are welcome in this place. You are welcome in my life. Thank you for living with and in me!&rdquo; <\/font><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><font color=\"#009900\">We easily visualize<\/font> the Father and Son as personalities, but many are unsure of the Holy Spirit.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>He remains &ldquo;the displaced person of the <font color=\"#000000\">Godhead.&quot;&nbsp;<\/font><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><font color=\"#009900\">We take care<\/font> of how we speak of Him &ndash; for He is here, present with us! (We are always more careful of how we speak of a person when that person is present!) <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><strong><font color=\"#990000\">HE BRINGS THE PRESENCE OF JESUS into our lives!<\/font> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">In John 14:16 &#8211; Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would take his place!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">In John 14:16, 17 &ndash; He added that this would lead to a more intimate relationship.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Jesus was not suggesting that the Holy Spirit would be a substitute or stand-in for himself.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>He was describing to his disciples a new relationship &ndash; something very special.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>He was saying, &ldquo;I am going away.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I will ask the Father to send the Spirit to you.&rdquo;<span>&nbsp; <\/span>But, he then described a deeper relationship with them. Check out &ndash;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Jesus said: &ldquo;I will not leave you as orphans.&rdquo; John 14:18<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Jesus said: &ldquo;You will realize that &hellip; I am in you.&rdquo; John 14:19-20, 23<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Later Jesus said &ndash; &ldquo;I am with you always.&rdquo; Matt 28:20<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Later Mark recorded &ndash; &ldquo;Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.&rdquo; Mark 16:19, 20<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Pause again. <font color=\"#ff0066\"><strong>&ldquo;Welcome, Holy Spirit. I welcome you into my life!&rdquo;<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><font color=\"#990033\"><strong>THIS IS FOR YOU. HE BRINGS JESUS into your life?<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><font color=\"#009900\"><strong>An early Adventist pioneer wrote:<\/strong><\/font> &ldquo;Even here (in this present life) Christians may have the joy of communion (close fellowship and conversation) with Christ; they may have the light of His love, the perpetual comfort of His presence.&rdquo; (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">Steps to Christ, <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">p. 125)<span> What is meant by &ldquo;the perpetual comfort of His presence&rdquo;? This is spelt out in an earlier chapter entitled, Growing Up Into Christ. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><strong><font color=\"#009900\">This is what Jesus was speaking about.<\/font><\/strong> Stop and&nbsp;pray about this &ndash;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><strong>&ldquo;When Christ ascended to heaven, the sense of His presence was still with His followers.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>It was a personal presence, full of love and light.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><strong>&ldquo;Pentecost brought them the presence of the Comforter, of whom Christ had said, He &lsquo;shall be with you.&rsquo; &hellip; Henceforth through the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of His children.<\/strong><span><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong> <\/span><font color=\"#990000\"><strong><em>Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The light, and love, and power of the indwelling Christ shone out through them, so that men, beholding, &lsquo;marveled: and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.&rsquo;<\/em>&rdquo;<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\">This experience was not to be limited to apostolic times.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>For &ldquo;all that Christ was to the disciples, He desires to be to His children today.&rdquo; (Ibid., 73)<span>&nbsp; <\/span>The Holy Spirit brings the presence of Jesus into our lives. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 9pt; font-family: &#39;Century Gothic&#39;\"><font color=\"#ff0066\"><font color=\"#000000\">He is here! Jesus is here. The Father is here.<\/font> <strong>&ldquo;Welcome, Holy Spirit!<span>&nbsp; <\/span>You are welcome in my life!&rdquo;<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his daily devotional, Welcome, Holy Spirit, Garrie Williams surveys the life and activity of the Holy Spirit by looking at reference to Him in the Bible. I love the title of this book &#8211; Welcome, Holy Spirit. &nbsp; Why not stop right now and speak to Him? Just stop for a moment &ndash; and&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newchurchlife.com\/welcome-holy-spirit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&#8594;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Welcome, Holy Spirit - NewChurchLife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newchurchlife.com\/welcome-holy-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome, Holy Spirit - NewChurchLife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his daily devotional, Welcome, Holy Spirit, Garrie Williams surveys the life and activity of the Holy Spirit by looking at reference to Him in the Bible. 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