God’s Gift to Us of the Holy Spirit
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.
John 14:16
The Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life: fully God working in the world bestowing life, empowering for service, purifying our hearts, providing God’s presence, bearing godly fruit, and guiding God’s people.
God gives the Spirit; we receive him. Indeed, the greatest gift the Christian has ever received, ever will or could receive, is the Spirit of God himself. He enters our human personality and changes us from within. He fills us with love, joy, and peace. He subdues our passions and transforms our characters into the likeness of Christ.
Today there is no man-made temple in which God dwells. Instead, his temple is his people. He inhabits both the individual believer and the Christian community. ‘Do you not know’, asks Paul, ‘that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?’ Again: ‘Do you not know that you yourselves [plural, corporately] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?’ (1 Cor. 6:19; 3:16).
John Stott, What Christ Thinks of the Church (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw, 1990).
Good quote (I love Stott), and an interesting site, Glenn. I came over here from today’s J.C. Ryle Quotes post recommending your blog. This is my first visit.
I consider myself both reformed and cautiously charismatic. I’m also fairly well informed, but I was unfamiliar with your denomination until today. Many of my favorite authors have come from the Anglican tradition, and I look forward to following and exploring your blog. Many blessings!
Thanks. The Charismatic Episcopal Church (C.E.C.) is a three streams convergence movement communion in the tradition of the writings of Robert Webber, Thomas Oden, and John Wesley. We have never been a member of the worldwide Anglican communion, however, our ethos is very much Stott, Packer, and the Book of Common Prayer. We are committed to preaching the gospel (Evangelical), walking in the Spirit’s gifts and fruit (Charismatic), and celebrating the Cross/Resurrection at the Lord’s Supper (liturgical and sacramental).