This guide overviews partnership with the Holy Spirit. This concept is based on Jesus’ description of the Spirit in John 14-16.
There are three parts:
- Recognize God’s work
- Remember the gospel
- Respond to God’s work
Here’s how these parts fit together: Recognize, Remember, Respond: How the Holy Spirit partners with me
By recognizing, remembering, and then responding, Christians grow, develop, and experience God’s power and presence in their lives. Here’s some thoughts on What it looks like to daily grow with the Holy Spirit.
Partnering with the Spirit is all about engaging with what God is doing in your life. Here are 3 Reasons to partner with the Holy Spirit.
1. Recognize
How do you recognize God at work in your life?
Read a story: Recognizing the Spirit in the rearview mirror
It’s easy to miss out on what God is already doing in your day-to-day life when you aren’t paying attention. Or when you’re only looking for miraculous works.
So to help you notice him, here are six ways in which people tend to experience the daily work of the Spirit:
- Relationship
- Effectiveness
- Conviction
- Awareness
- Leadership
- Life
You can use the acronym RECALL to remember these categories. Of course the Holy Spirit is not limited to these specific descriptors, but they can help you look for the breadth of his work.
Read more about RECALL: The Holy Spirit is at work in you; can you recognize him?
Questions to help you recognize
Here are some reflection questions to help you notice and pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is at work in you.
How is the Spirit:
- helping you to experience your relationship as a child of God?
- empowering you to be effective for Kingdom purposes?
- bringing a sense of conviction that you’re living in opposition to his truth?
- helping you become more aware of his presence and work in your life?
- leading, guiding, or helping you?
- giving you life as you walk with Jesus?
2. Remember
What do you need to remember about what Jesus has done?
Jesus is the hero and centre of our story. Always.
Remembering the gospel can be difficult if you aren’t familiar with the many ways the gospel is good news. There are many “gospel themes” that together give a fuller picture of how Christ is our hero. Some of these themes come from the overall story of the Bible, such as
- rest
- justice
- peace
Some come from God’s character, such as remembering his
- goodness
- faithfulness
- protection
The Bible Project is a great resource for exploring the gospel through the themes of scripture and through the character of God.
Whatever model you choose, the goal is to answer this question:
What has Christ done (in his life, death, and resurrection) to be the hero of your story, circumstance, or experience?
Questions to help you remember
- How is Jesus making all things new?
- Who are you now because of what Jesus has done?
- How is Jesus transforming you?
- How does Jesus’ life and ministry save the day?
- How did Jesus make it possible to experience the Spirit’s work?
- Why does God want you to experience his work?
3. Respond
What does it look like for you to respond to the Spirit’s leading?
Now that you have been reminded of the gospel and what Christ has already done, you can respond out of the overflow of his work. When you try to respond to the Spirit’s leading without first remembering the gospel, you end up relying on yourself. Remembering the gospel helps you to continue walking in step with the Spirit.
The Spirit is always pointing to Christ so that you obey God not out of obligation or fear but out of love.
Questions to help you respond
- What might God be asking you to do?
- keep in mind that this could include waiting and resting
- What might God be asking you to stop or start believing?
- What might God be asking you to receive from him?
- e.g. comfort, love, assurance, forgiveness, courage, strength, hope
- What kingdom activity might the Spirit be leading you to begin?
- What activity might the Spirit be leading you to stop?
- What does it look like to disobey or not follow the Spirit?