Winning Coached by the Holy Spirit: Field Goal

Christ made the game winning play. The rest is up to us. How do we add points to the score board?

Christ had constant communication with the Father through the Holy Spirit. Christ’s goal was to redeem us, to give us new life, to refocus our spirit on things that please God. Jesus Himself said in John 10:10b, “I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. (Knox Bible)”

Jesus led an abundant life. If He is our model, we need to examine His actions.

His whole life was bathed in relationship with the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ conception, the Holy Spirit overshadowed His Mother Mary. Before His public ministry, Jesus sought baptism from John the Baptist. In John 1:32–34, John the Baptist gives the following testimony:

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke corroborate this testimony. Following Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert for forty days of prayer and fasting. Toward the end, Satan tempts Jesus to reject the Father’s purposes.

Throughout His public ministry, Jesus’ life gave evidence of the Holy Spirit — teaching, healing, other miracles. Jesus also ensured He had time to pray alone consistently. Early in His ministry, Luke in his Gospel describes how Jesus used a passage from Isaiah 61:1–2a to announce how the work of the Holy Spirit in His ministry to fulfill Old Testament prophecy:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…

Jesus promised His apostles the Holy Spirit in John 16:7–15 after His death.

If we are modeling our life after Christ’s example, we must live by close connection with the Holy Spirit. If we surround ourselves with the Holy Spirit and let Him lead us, we can change radically like the Apostles in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit effects deep, lasting change over time with our consent.

Christians united with the Holy Spirit think, act, and talk differently. They see God as a loving Father and seek to identify His loving presence in their lives. Jesus is the center of everything they do, and their desire to be His disciple becomes much stronger.

Through the Holy Spirit, these Christians pray differently. Their prayers are less centered on themselves and their needs and more focused on the Father and His will. They often praise God and frequently thank Him.

So if these actions mean eternal success in the game of life, how do we get there? We can pray for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to increase His presence in our lives and our openness to accomplishing His will. To start the process, we declare to the Holy Spirit that we want Him to activate what was given us at salvation. We want the Holy Spirit to coach us for life, leading us into all the good things God has planned.

What changes after Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Baptized believer experience a deeper connection with the Holy Spirit and sense His indwelling more fully. Some may become conscious of Him speaking to their hearts and minds for the first time. Others may have known the Holy Spirit was acting all along, but now they become aware of new changes He is making. Yet others look back on their Christian walk with a different perspective.

The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) begins to grow in the person’s life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Often those who choose Baptism in the Spirit find themselves included in a group called charismatics or pentecostals. You may have heard rumors that charismatics and pentecostals are kooks and crazies who are heretical and schismatic. Even for Roman Catholics, this is untrue.

Admittedly, some take ideas or beliefs too far without fully holding them up to the light of Scripture’s truths. Then, you do have rattlesnake handling and other obviously unusual practices that don’t make for practical worship.

However, when lived in a reasoned and logical way, charismatics and pentecostals are accepted and encouraged, even in Latin Rite churches.

His Holiness Pope Francis, after speaking to the World Youth Day in Brazil in July 2013, made the following statement to reporters:

“Back at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, I had no time for” charismatics, the pope told reporters on the plane returning from Rio July 28. “Once, speaking about them, I said: ‘These people confuse a liturgical celebration with samba lessons!’”

“Now I regret it,” he said. “Now I think that this movement does much good for the church, overall.”

“I don’t think that the charismatic renewal movement merely prevents people from passing over to Pentecostal denominations,” Pope Francis said. “No! It is also a service to the church herself! It renews us.”

“The movements are necessary, the movements are a grace of the Spirit,” the pope added, speaking of ecclesial movements in general. “Everyone seeks his own movement, according to his own charism, where the Holy Spirit draws him or her.”