Jesus with the Spirit
Devoted to addressing our adversities
Dealing with adversity? Stressed out? Weary of pain? Tired of Platitudes? Wonder if there’s a God? Whatever your plight! Ready to give the Spirit a shot? Not only the Spirit; but Jesus with the Spirit. But why italicize Jesus with the Spirit? Jesus was led by the Spirit. That’s why! He’s the rock upon which my story of relief is built. Why not consider my proven story and experience relief?
The framework for my story is set forth by Francis Chan. He gets right to the point. His frankness is astounding. Consider his best selling title: “FORGOTTEN GOD: Reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit.” He boldly states that “for some reason we don‟t need the Holy Spirit. We don‟t expect the Holy Spirit to act.” I found this idea to be true in my life. My talk about the Spirit was rhetoric.
I believed in my head slightly. I didn’t give it girth in my gut. Until intense pain shackled body and spirit in Sheol. I will explain Sheol as we get into the book. Simply, it refers to pain gone wild. Overwhelming like a living death. Some just call it a living hell. Sheol isn’t encountered only in the 16th Psalm. It’s a part of your life and mine during pain. Check out my story against your own. Okay!
Are you ready to embrace Jesus with the Spirit? It’s already seeded in your soul through your difficult pain. “My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!! I would fly away and be at rest” (Psalm 55:4-6). Praise God. The Spirit gives us wings like a dove to find rest from our pain.
The Book of Hebrews states that chastening isn’t pleasure, “but is painful.” Then it says with perfect assurance: “Nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness [restoring peace and praise to body, soul and God] to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).
My story throws helpful light upon the liaisons of Jesus with the Spirit within the narratives of the Gospels. It’s the prevailing custom of evangelicals to use apostolic letters to interpret the Gospel narratives. My approach in this piece is just the opposite. I use narratives to interpret the letters—starting with Jesus with the Spirit in Matthew and proceeding to Jesus with the Spirit in Romans, as an example. I employ Jesus to discern apostles; not apostles to discern Jesus.
I consider each narrative as an episode. Episodes are single parts of a series. For instance, the narrative about Jesus’ conception by the Spirit precedes the one that deals with Jesus’ intent to be baptized by John. So what do I include in an episode? I provide the complete biblical text for each narrative followed by an interpretation of the event. I employ the bed-rock and age-old grammatical- historical-contextual approach to understand Scriptural. It means what it says.
There are zillions of books that deal with Jesus and the Spirit. This essay does not deal with such scholarly studies. That’s covered by books listed in the bibliography. My unique approach is based upon real events in encounter of Jesus with the Spirit. First, there’s Part One. It covers my traumatic contact with the Spirit during an extremely painful stretch in Sheol. David wrote of it in Psalm 16. I fully explain it for readers. In a sentence: My massive encounter with visceral death and darkness changed my mindset forever. It will yours also.
Part Two: It covers my study into the Gospel narratives—especially Matthew’s– dealing with Jesus with the Spirit This exciting pursuit was the norm for my study style. Wading into God’s Word became my passion since seminary. You might check some of my biblical studies posted on this site. As part of this section, I reference the excellent work of Gerald F. Hawthorne, The Presence and the Power. It provided support for my insights into Jesus with the Spirit. Authors who are teachers benefit from the input of students. Those without that interaction rely on the works of others—rendering validity in the search for truth. That’s the supportive role that Hawthorne played, as you will see.
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