Nov. 20 The Holy Spirit

November 20 - The Holy Spirit

God revealed Himself to the world as the Holy Spirit several times.

In Matthew 3:16, we read, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him."

John the Baptist told others about this event in John 1:32, "Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.'"

In Acts 2:3, the Spirit doesn't come down as a dove, He shows up as tongues of fire. "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

I don't know about you, but I love the fact that God reveals Himself to us in so many different ways. We see Him in the form of Jesus, in varying forms of the Holy Spirit and in many different forms as God Almighty.

During both of the Comparative Religion courses, there seemed to be a point where everyone in the class was questioning the need and appropriateness of the various denominations, feeling as if this was more of a dividing issue than it needed to be. However, there was no one that could offer anything that each of us could actually fully accept. No one doctrine, no one form of worship. They varied in how people should dress when attending church, what the building should look like, on and on. Yet, even through all of that, they could not see how diversity was healthy.

I'm grateful for a God who presents Himself to me in many forms. I still know that He is one God, the same God. But, when I need to be prodded and pushed, I don't need a gentle dove. I probably need tongues of fire under my butt! Sometimes I need to see God as the mighty King, ruler of everything, because I need to understand that even in my weakness, He is strong.

Our God chooses to continually be creative in the ways that He reveals Himself to mankind. For this, I can only offer praise and thanksgiving.