The Holy Spirit

A Key Element in Jesus’ Life

When Jesus’ disciples saw Him praying, they realized that there was something really different about the way He prayed; so they asked Him to let them in on His secret. (Luke 11:1) He began with a simple explanation of the substance of an effectual prayer – what we know of today as the Lord’s Prayer. (Luke 11:2-4) He then turned to the relationship with the Heavenly Father that is necessary to activate an efficacious prayer life – His comparison between the resistant neighbor who was reluctant to get up and help his friend who had a need at midnight and the father who readily gives good gifts to his son. (Luke 11:5-12) But He concluded His answer with an unexpected element – the promise that the Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. (Luke 11:13) In essence, Jesus knew that effective praying requires three necessary ingredients – content (the aspects of the Lord’s Prayer), connection (a father- son relationship with God), and counsel (the direction of the Holy Spirit).

Certainly, the middle element (the personal connection with the Heavenly Father) was the most important aspect of Jesus’ prayer life; however, the counsel of the Holy Spirit was another unique and necessary ingredient. Actually, the Holy Spirit had been involved in the earthly life of Jesus from before His birth. It was the Holy Spirit who overshadowed the Virgin Mary to cause her to conceive through the divine seed of God. (Matthew 1:20) As a child, Jesus grew spiritually strong. (Luke 2:40) But it was at the Jordan River where He came strongly under the direction of the Holy Spirit and was led – or as Mark describes the event, was driven – into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 4:1, Mark 1:12) There He fasted forty days and then confronted the devil himself nose-to-nose and won.   The scriptures record that after this experience, Jesus returned to civilization in an even greater relationship with the Holy Spirit; He was empowered by the Spirit. (Luke 4:14) In His very first sermon, Jesus testified that the power of His ministry was in the relationship He had with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 4: 18-19) This statement was in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life of the coming Messiah. (Isaiah 11:2, 61:1) He confirmed that the source of His ability to do miraculous acts was the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 12:28) In fact, a careful study of the scriptures will reveal that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit with Jesus that made Him different. The Holy Spirit worked through Jesus right up through the end of His earthly ministry (Acts 10:38), at the resurrection (Romans 8:11), and even until the day in which He was taken up (Acts 1:2).

Since this involvement by the Holy Spirit was of such significance in His own life, Jesus promised that the relationship that He had with the Holy Spirit was something that He would share with His disciples. (John 14:16-17) He even commanded that His disciples not try to minister until they had received that relationship. (Luke 24:49) Jesus took the very last occasion He had with the disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion to emphasize how important it was that they receive the Holy Spirit and to explain how the Holy Spirit would work for and through the believers. (John 14:16 – 16:15) Jesus also took the last minutes He had with the disciples just before His ascension into heaven to again emphasize to the disciples their need for the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4-5, 8)