Ask Your Preacher - Archives
“You Catch Diseases, Fly Balls, And Fish...”
Categories: DOCTRINE, GOD, RELATIONSHIPSWhy do people in church try to make you tell others about when you catch the holy ghost, like you don’t know what happened and like they didn’t see what you caught when you get prayed for?Sincerely,
Ghostbuster
Dear Ghostbuster,
To be honest with you, we are unclear exactly what you are asking, but it is clear that you don’t have a complete understanding of how the Holy Ghost works. The Holy Ghost is not something that you catch. The Holy Spirit is God (1 Cor 2:11). He is a distinct being – as much as the Father and the Son. He was there at the creation of the world (Gen 1:2) and the baptism of Jesus (Mk 1:10). He has emotions, like sadness (Eph 4:30). He can’t be caught, stolen, snatched, or captured. The Holy Spirit is the one that gave the apostles knowledge of what to say and write (Jhn 14:26). It is the Holy Spirit that guided the hands of the Bible writers (1 Cor 2:13). The whole Bible is what the Spirit has written for us to know (Rev 2:7).
You have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you when you obey what the Scriptures say (Jas 4:5). The Holy Spirit being “in” us is the same as us being “in” Christ (1 Cor 1:30). It is relational, not physical. The Holy Spirit dwells in us as far as we are one with Him and His wishes. We are family through the faith found through the Spirit’s words.
