What is the Holy Spirit? (Jesus, blood, experience, bible)

[tomspug]

I doubt a lot of Christians can answer this question, but for me, it is a vital aspect of my faith, one of the realest evidences that not only is the Bible true, but its God is also true.

The Holy Spirit has been called a counselor and a helper. That is exactly what it does: gives you the strength and ability to overcome obstacles that no human would ever do/want to do. For example, who do you know that would spend 24 hours a day doing nothing but serve people? No one, right?! But when I feel one with God, I not only WANT to serve, I feel like I can do ANYTHING! Now, I don't have faith to walk on water, but the Bible tells me I can move mountains, that NOTHING is impossible with God... That still baffles me and I don't accept it in my heart, but I do have faith that love conquers all. I really CAN love my enemies, those that hurt and betray me, if I allow God to control my life.

The prerequisite for the Holy Spirit is, I think, Passover, either through Communion (metaphorical sacrifice) or an actual, conscious sacrifice (though I don't see much of a difference). I suppose it is hard to explain WHY I believe in the Holy Spirit other than saying that I experience it every day and know that it is not me. I look back on the things I've accomplished over life... I would feel stupid for giving all the credit to myself. I've gone through periods of time where everything felt like it was going wrong, nothing was what I wanted, and everything was hard. I experienced suffering and heart-ache, and yet, JOY STILL REMAINED! I still experienced what Jesus called: the Fruits of the Spirit.

I think that's how you recognize that it is real, when these things endure, in spite of circumstances: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. Man, I wish I could say that all of those belonged to me 100% of the time. But every point that my faith was strong, all of these belonged to me. And it had no bearing what my circumstances were...

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by tomspug

The prerequisite for the Holy Spirit is, I think, Passover, ...

That went right over my head.

[tomspug]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker Soule

That went right over my head.

Did it "pass over" you?

(cricket noises)

Anyways! The theme of Passover is sacrifice, the blood of the Lamb taking the place of our blood. Communion is simply acceptance of Christ in place of the Passover. In my mind, personal sacrifice is necessary in order to truly accept Christ, because it acknowledges that we NEED God, not simply WANT Him. When we draw God near, we experience his Might, which is the Spirit.