I Believe in the Presence of God

Ancient Creed, Living Faith Blog Series Part 4

I invite you to take time to read the scriptures today.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Luke 24:49

Look, I’m sending to you what my Father promised, but you are to stay in the city until you have been furnished with heavenly power.”

We have been on this journey of looking at the Apostle’s Creed to see what meaning it still has for our lives. I believe we get into the habit of simply reciting this, or any other creed, scripture, or even saying “I love you” to our spouse and can forget or not even think about what it is we are saying.

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

When you read these words, what do you think about. For many of us, the Holy Spirit has become the “Cousin It” of the Trinity simply because we don’t know what to make of this person of the Trinity.

I think the book, The Shack, gives an interesting viewpoint and picture of the Holy Spirit for us: a blurry, fast moving, colorful person.

One of my favorite questions to ask is “where have you experienced God this past week (today)?” God’s presence is all around us and is with us everywhere we go and in everything we are doing. When we ask this kind of question, we invite the Holy Spirit within us to show us were and how God is part of our life and giving us new life each day.

The attribute most commonly connected with the Holy Spirit is comforter. We get to experience God’s peaceful presence and his comfort especially in times of grief, tragedy, or even the in most devastating situations and circumstances of our lives. But this is not all the Holy Spirit gives or does. This person of the Trinity also convicts us when we have strayed from God and have sinned against him and other people, draws us back to God to once again experience grace and forgiveness, convinces us in the reality of God through Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead, converts and gives us the gift of faith, consecrates us and sets us apart as God’s children, and even calls us to a higher purpose in life (giving glory to God in everything and calls people into vocational ministry).

Think of the life you are living. It is the Holy Spirit whom Jesus Christ has sent that empowers us to live our life, to be on mission, to be in ministry. I believe the one of greatest callings everyone has on their lives is to tell of God’s presence and activity in and through our lives. The Holy Spirit reminds us and even helps to give us words when we need to speak.

There is so much about God’s presence in our lives and the work of the Holy Spirit than we can fit in this post. I pray you get to experience or continue to experience the reality of God’s presence in our lives through the gift of the Holy Spirit that is given to us.

Where or how have you experienced the presence of God through Jesus Christ this past week?

You are invited to print this out, place this creed in a spot you’ll see every day and recite daily.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

 *Adapted from a sermon series idea “Ancient Creed, Living Faith” on www.seedbed.com