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For many of us, the Holy Spirit is the hardest-to-grasp part of the Holy Trinity. Jesus gives us a glimpse in Luke 4:18, where he says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Indeed, we often refer to the Holy Spirit as Comforter, Proclaimer, Renewer and Advocate.

How do you know the Spirit is working in you? I like what author Barbara Brown Taylor says in Home by Another Way (1999): “…Whenever you find yourself speaking with eloquence you know you do not have or offering forgiveness you had not meant to offer – whenever you find yourself taking risks you thought you did not have the courage to take or reaching out to someone you had intended to walk away from – you can be pretty sure that you are (receiving a part) of the Holy Spirit.”

This message is excerpted from “The power of the Spirit” by Elizabeth Hunter in the November 2017 Gather magazine.