Why the Holy Spirit?

Isaiah 11:1-5

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

This scripture tells us about our Saviour who came to this earth to bring us life and be an example for those who choose to follow. The key elements that I see in this prophecy about the coming Messiah are the Holy Spirit and His affect, the fear of the Lord that He not only walked in but he delighted in, righteousness that affected every decision made, and a faithfulness that was always present. This prophecy, that was just read, has been fulfilled in every way by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I hope to take the next few weeks to focus in on these qualities of Christ and help make sense how we can apply them to our daily decisions.

This week I will focus on verse 2.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD –

What does it mean to have the Spirit of the Lord rest upon Him? Is this some type of strange ethereal concept or is this a practical possibility for you and me?

To answer this question let’s look at more scripture and the words of Jesus himself.

Acts 1:4-5
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Jesus himself came to this earth and showed us how to be led, filled, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Then made it very clear that His disciples should not even think about being a part of any ministry until the Holy Spirit does His work. This is the same mandate for us today. Jesus didn’t function without the Holy Spirit guiding Him and so what makes us think that we should be making any decisions that are not first submitted through the filter of our Counselor, the Holy Spirit?

Isaiah 11:2, tells us that Jesus walked in the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord. This all came through the fact that the Holy Spirit rested on Him. At this moment, I am praying for the Holy Spirit to fill me, rest on me, guide me, and if necessary, hog tie me- so I can walk in that same wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and fear.

How about you? I encourage you to look at each of these results and that were evident in our Lord’s life and see if you need to press in a little more and ask the Holy Spirit to guide more of your life than you are letting Him. Take a moment and pray over each of these areas. i would love to hear what the Lord is saying to you. He will guide you and encourage you if you ask Him.

Wisdom

Understanding

Counsel

Power

Knowledge

Fear of the Lord