Jesus doesn’t want us to think of the Holy Spirit as an it or a thing. The Spirit is a person. According to one study only four people in ten believe that the Spirit is a divine person. The rest of those surveyed either don’t have an opinion or choose to believe the Spirit is more like a power surge than a divine being who empowers and teaches us.

Can you join me in a pledge? “I hereby resolve never to call the Holy Spirit an it.” The Spirit is a person. And Jesus calls him the Paraclete. Now translators land on different, yet similar, translations for this Greek word: Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, Intercessor. But the central message is the same—we are not alone.

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Some time ago I realized my car’s gas tank was nearly empty. I spotted a convenience store and parked next to a pump. I placed the nozzle in my tank, swiped my card, and began filling up my car. I then went into the store and bought a soda. I chatted with the store clerk. I went back to my car and washed the windshield. I was barely back on the road when I happened to look at my gas gauge. It was on empty! Knowing my attention span, I probably forgot to squeeze the lever. I did everything except the one thing I needed to do.

Have you done the same? Have you neglected the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God longs to give you his great power. Challenges come with life, but they need not define your life. Help is here.

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Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more.

Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power! This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.

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In Luke 24:49 (TLB) Jesus said, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised.” Who is the Holy Spirit? God as Father? We comprehend that image. God as Jesus, the Son? That idea is manageable as well. But God as Spirit? That word itself is mystical.

One day, I read the words Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit: comforter and friend. I know that Person. That was three decades ago. I no longer think of the Holy Spirit as “the Holy Who?” I now call him our Heaven-Sent Helper. He is our champion, our advocate, our guide. He comforts and directs us. He indwells, transforms, sustains, and will someday deliver us into our heavenly home.

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How do you handle your tough times? When you’re tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard weeks, or hard-headed people—how do you manage your dark days? With a bottle of pills? Alcohol? A day at the spa? Many opt for such treatments. So many, in fact, we assume they reenergize the sad life. But do they? They numb the pain, but do they remove it?

We like sheep follow each other off the ledge, falling headlong into bars and binges and beds. Is there a better solution? Indeed, there is. Be quick to pray. Talk to Christ who invites, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life.” Jesus says, “I will show you how to take a real rest” (Matthew 11:28-29 MSG).

God, who is never downcast, never tires of your down days. Just go to him.

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It’s one thing to give grace to friends, but to give grace to those who give us grief? Most of us find it hard to forgive.

Leave your enemies in God’s hands. You’re not endorsing their misbehavior when you do. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Forgiveness is not excusing. Give grace, but if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit. Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time.

To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route your thoughts about them through heaven. In Romans 12:19 (MSG) God says, “I will take care of it.” Let him.

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Forgiveness is not foolishness. Forgiveness, at its core, is choosing to see your offender with different eyes.

By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? This is a huge issue in Scripture. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. Remember his story in Matthew 18 about the servant, freshly forgiven a debt of millions, who refused to forgive a debt equal to a few dollars? He stirred the wrath of God: “You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt. Shouldn’t you have mercy just as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:32-33 NLT).

In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace. And we’ve been given grace, so we can freely give it. See your enemies as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.

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God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven. He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:19 (MSG), “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’” Vigilantes displace and replace God. “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord. You may punish too little or too slowly. I’ll take this into my hands, thank you.” Is this what you want to say?

Jesus didn’t. No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God. In 1 Peter 2:23 (GW) we’re reminded that “when he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly.” Only God assesses accurate judgments. Perfect justice. Vengeance is his job! Leave your enemies in God’s hands.

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Some years ago a Rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep. But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What the dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”

God would say the same about the Rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.” Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof. God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of his will, but not out of his reach. And you honor God when you see them not as his failures, but as his projects.

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Refuge is a favorite word of David’s. You’ll count as many as forty-plus appearances in some Bible versions. But never did David use the word more poignantly than in Psalm 57. The introduction to the passage explains its background: “A song of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.”

Lost in shadows and thought, he has nowhere to turn. Go home, he endangers his family; to the tabernacle, he imperils the priests. Saul will kill him. Here he sits, all alone. But then he remembers he’s not. And from the recesses of the cave a sweet voice floats. “Be merciful to me, O God! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I make my refuge.”

Make God your refuge. Let him be the foundation on which you stand!

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