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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 Where Does The Holy Spirit Reside? Scriptures: Genesis 2:7 (NIV) – “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Romans 8:11 (NIV) – “And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit, who lives in you.” Message: I was born on Pentecost in Syria. Jesus, before ascending into heaven, promised his Disciples that He will send the Holy Spirit to guide them. My Father was a Roman Catholic. As children we were baptized and instructed about the Trinity and learned how to cross ourselves when we prayed. My mother was a Protestant; she registered us in a Missionary Anglican school to resume our religious education. As I was reading the Bible, I became interested in finding out where the Holy Spirit came from. In Genesis it describes how God created man by taking dust from the ground and breathed His Holy Breath (Nafas in Arabic) into the nostrils of Adam (meaning the son of red soil). After Adam and Eve (Hawwa meaning “Life” in Arabic) were expelled from the Garden, they had two sons. Abel (Habeel meaning ephemeral breath, vapor or flame) and Cain. Wow, so God’s Breath incudes His Spirit and His Soul (Ruah, another word for Breath). After God breathed life into Adam (mankind), God’s Spirit resides in every human. So, when Cain slew Abel, Cain extinguished God’s Spirit in Abel. Greeks, Hebrews, Arameans and Arabs use God’s Spirit and Soul interchangeably which also means God’s Breath. In Western countries Spirit and Soul are not interchangeable in the same way; the Soul speaks to the person’s inner life elements including mind, will, imagination, morality, ethics and the awareness of right and wrong. According to the theologian C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity 1952), these inner life elements are part of the human “Law of Nature” with which we are born and which comes from God. So, God’s Holy Spirit (Breath) stays within us and guides us throughout our life. Prayer: Thank You Father for giving us Your Holy Spirit to guide us through our lives, even when we make mistakes, You pick us up and still love us and keep us close to You so we become worthy of calling You our Father. Amen. Olga Shearer |
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