The work of the Holy Spirit - Part 3

In my previous posts, I've shared thoughts on the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Acts, and touched on the 21st century.
Below are some thoughts on the work of the Holy Spirit in the 21st Century after salvation.


The Spirit maintains our salvation.

• The Spirit indwells the believer permanently (John 14:16)
• The Spirit seals every believer until the day of redemption (Eph 2:13-14, Eph 4:30)

  The Spirit helps us maintain our fellowship with God.

• He helps us daily to gain victory over the of sin before God (Romans 8:2, Romans 8:12-13, Galatians 5:16-17, Galatians 5:22-23) and Praise the Lord for that. 
• The Spirit gives us strength to obey God (1 Peter 1:22)
• He strengthens the inner man before God (Eph 3:16)
• He fills us with qualities that help us to properly fellowship with God (Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13)
• He helps us to worship God properly (John 4:24, Phil 3:3)
• He assists us in our prayers to God (Romas 8:26-27, Eph 2:18). One thing I've been thinking about lately is whether it's right to be praying to the Spirit as he is the one who actually intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). We don't see Christ praying to the Spirit, but rather, we see Him teaching us how to pray to the Father.We likewise, don't see anything else in scripture about praying to the Spirit.
• The Spirit comforts (John 14:16, Acts 9:31)
• The Spirit teaches (John 14:26, 1 Cor 2:13)
• He leads and guides us into all truth (John 16:13, Romans 8:14)
• He also reveals, interprets and applies to us the things of God from his word. (1 Cor 2:10-13)

The Spirit helps the body of Christ - the church. 

• The Spirit supervises the leadership of the church (Acts 20:28)
• The Spirit directs the worship of the church in preaching (1 Cor 2:3-5, 1 Thess 1:5-6, 1 Peter 1:12), in prayer (Eph 6:18, Jude 20) and in singing (Eph 5:18-19) 
• He directs the missions outreach of the church by empowering (Acts 1:8), and calling and sending forth believers (Acts 13:1-4).
• The Spirit enlarges the church (by convicting sinners of their need to repent and saving their souls - John 16:8)
• He binds the church together (2 Cor 13:14)
• Note that for any of these to happen, the believer needs to be solely focused on God and to actively spend time praying to the Father and reading His word that He has blessed us with. We need to be in tune and ready to obey God's will and not our own desires. 

 How can we be so sure that it's the Holy Spirit working and not a demon or the anti-christ or something else? John 16:14 puts its clearly and plainly when Jesus says "He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." The Holy Spirit GLORIFIES CHRIST! The Spirit will also never contradict what is written in scripture.

My next post to come: the filling and baptism of the Spirit.