Our Need for the Holy Spirit
As people of God, we are not alone. God knows our weakness to sin. Before becoming children of God, we were slaves to it (Romans 6:20). Sin used to have control in our lives. After we become a Christian, God gives us a gift that is the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit gives a believer power. The power is used to help us (John 16:7).
Why do believers need the Holy Spirit's help? The answer is clear from the Scriptures that there is no way we can do anything “good” on our own. According to Romans 3:10, “There is no one who always does what is right, not even one.” Romans 3:23 states that “Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard.”
Because of this sinful nature of ours, we need God’s power to do what is right and He kindly steps in to help. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to sin less, helps us to remember what we were taught in the Bible, and intercedes on our behalf when we pray to God (Romans 8:26). This is important because we do not always know what to pray for (Romans 8:26).
Furthermore, how can sinful people like us have the same character as God? The Bible’s answer is that it is done with help from the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit that is given to believers which is like God’s character. The traits are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. To learn more about the fruit the Spirit produces in us, read the article, “The Fruit of the Spirit. Why Do Believers Need Them?”
The Holy Spirit also helps people who are called by God to do His will like in the journey of Saul and Barnabas. The Holy Spirit helped them launch their first missionary journeys as the leaders of the church in Antioch prayed (Acts 13:2). The Spirit had instructed them for a specific work for each to do. This shows the tremendous role the Holy Spirit has in the guidance of the church.
The Holy Spirit also helped Paul by telling him where not to go on his journey. In Acts 16:6, Paul was called out of Asia by the Holy Spirit. “Paul and those with him went through the areas of Phrygia and Galatia since the Holy Spirit did not let them preach the Good News there." There is no reason mentioned "why" the Spirit did not allow him to go, but some believed it was an area that was assigned to Peter to preach at instead (1 Peter 1:1).
We need the Holy Spirit to help bring believers closer to one another. The unity the Holy Spirit brings is mentioned in Acts 4:32,
“The group of believers were united in their hearts and spirit. All those in the group acted as though their private property belonged to everyone in the group. In fact, they shared everything.”
This kind of unity is needed in the church today. Unfortunately, God’s enemy Satan is always trying to divide the church. Because the church is one of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling places, He is present in it and is there to help the members stay unified (Matthew 18:20, Ephesians 2:22). When the church is unified then it is made stronger. As Ecclesiastes 4:12 points out:
“An enemy might defeat one person, but two people together can defend themselves; a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.”
This verse illustrates the protection a person has against an attacker. When someone tries to attack another like when Satan attacks someone in the church, the members who are unified can help the person defeat the evil one since two or more people are stronger than one. The rope is a great illustration of the body of Christ. When the body of Christ is woven together, it is hard to break, thanks to the Holy Spirit, the One who keeps us all together and that is our greatest need.
