The Mind of the Holy Spirit

I've been writing recently about the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told his disciples, living in us (John 14:23) as a new gift from God, part of the New Covenant between God and people initiated by Jesus (see Matthew 26:27-28).  God has always wanted a relationship of love and trust with people.  He created Adam and Eve, gave them the garden to live in and seems to have spent time with them regularly (Genesis 1-2, and especially 3:8-9).  It was our own rebellion and short-sighted selfishness (Genesis 3:1-7), failing to trust God, that broke the relationship.  We've had trouble trusting and following God ever since.

God pursued that loving relationship with us (that's the story underlying the whole Old Testament), and re-started the personal contact by coming to us personally.  The Son of God, whom we know as Jesus, "became human and made his home among us" (John 1:14).  As Jesus came to the end of his earthly ministry, he said that the Holy Spirit would continue God's presence with us:  "But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you" (John 16:7).  Jesus taught the disciples in person, but it was time to greatly expand his impact by sending out these men, and many others like them, to preach and serve others in the name of Jesus.  

How did that work?  Through the mind of God in them.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2  that he trusted in the power of God rather than his own ideas:  "My message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God" (verses 4-5).  Further on in that chapter, Paul explains that "God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets."  And "we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us."  And "we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths."  And "we have the mind of Christ" which of course is also the Father's mind, since God is one. 
 
So, what is the mind of the Holy Spirit?  His driving purpose is to initiate and deepen a personal relationship in each of us with our Creator.  Some call that 'evangelism' and 'discipleship' and 'growth' but it's the same thing -- we humans coming to know God and follow him out of love.  The Holy Spirit is the initiator and conduit for that relationship, in all of us.  How can we hear and follow better?  We'll start looking at that next time.