164 Sermon Illustrations on Holy Spirit

To quote the great leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, "The believing man hath the Holy Ghost; and where the Holy Ghost dwelleth, He will not suffer a man to be idle, but stirreth him up to all exercises of piety and godliness, and of true religion, to the love of God, to the patient suffering of afflictions, to prayer, to thanksgiving, and the exercise of charity towards all men."

In South America the wind from the marshes comes charged with the germs of intermittent fever, and often the most deadly cholera accompanies stillness in the atmosphere. A storm is the best purifier of the air, and the inhabitants long eagerly for it. From the marshy places of our lower nature the fever of lust and the unsanctified passion comes. The stillness of inactivity and do-nothingness is always favorable to the cholera of doubt and unbelief. The great preventive is the soul-stirring breath of the Holy Ghost. When He comes as a mighty, rushing wind, the whole atmosphere of the life is purified.

In the diamond fields of South Africa a diamond was found, celebrated lately under the title of "fly-stone"; placed under magnifying glass, you see enclosed in all its brilliancy a little fly, with body, wings, and eyes, in the most perfect state of preservation. How it came there no one knows, but no human skill can take it out. So in Holy Scripture the spirit of God is found in a place from which no power of man can remove it.

A gentleman's watch was once out of order, and it was examined. It was found that in one of them the main-spring was injured; the glass which protected the dial-plate of the other was broken; while the machinery of the third had become damp and rusty, although the parts were all there. So the lack of holiness, in some cases, arises from the lack of a desire to love God; another man has not the glass of watchfulness in his conduct; another has become rusty with backsliding from God, and the sense of guilt so clogs the wheels of his machinery, that they must be well-brushed with rebuke and correction, and oiled afresh with the divine influence before they will ever go well again.

I know that there is such a thing as peace to seek and find. But here is my work to do, to worry over whether I am doing it right, to keep myself restless over how it will turn out. "My work," I say; but if I can know that it is not my work but God's, should I not cast away my restlessness, even while I worked on more faithfully and untiringly than ever? If I could pour through all the good plan over which I am laboring the certainty that all that is good in it is God's and must succeed, how that certainty would drive the darkness out of it! And while I worked harder than ever, my work would have something of the calmness with which he labors always. To every poor sufferer, to every discouraged worker, to every man who cannot think much of himself, and yet is too brave to despair, this is the courage that the gospel gives.

-Phillips Brooks

Praise may well be given to God, even in times of trouble. He gives all spiritual blessings, and they often come through trials. "Tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3). But though our conditions change He does not. His choice was made before the foundation of the world, and He is unchangeable. He meant us to be holy, and He uses the needful means to this high end. Christ believed: that is the basis of our pardon. Christ loved and served: that is sanctification. The Father chose; the Son redeemed; the Spirit makes holy. We may well sing a doxology.

-John Hall

On March 1, 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones stepped into the gondola of a hot air balloon and lifted off from the Swiss alpine village of Chateau d'Oex. Nineteen days, 21 hours, and 55 minutes later, traveling 28,431 miles, they landed in the Egyptian desert. Their journey successfully marked the first nonstop flight around the world in a balloon, earning them the distinction of a world record, a book deal, and a million dollars from the sponsoring corporation. Their victory photograph now rests in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum beside the “Breitling Orbiter III” itself.

As with all successes in life, the accomplishment of Jones and Piccard's journey is memorable. Like the trophies on our shelves or the moments we remember as crowning, the successful passage of the Breitling Orbiter III is the story we celebrate -- a story that seems to begin at Chateau d'Oex and ends in Egypt. But this trip, like most of our memorable achievements along the road of human development, was not quite the linear move from start to finish we imagine it to be. In fact, the journey that would end with a world record actually had three hopeful starting points and two frustrated finishes.

The often miry course of human history is similar. I have long understood the need for will and volition in the healing process of our personal histories. There is a reason Jesus questions the paralytic by the pool in John chapter 5; we must first WANT to be well. But thinking of this call for help as being inherently present within the human developmental process has only recently entered my perspective. What if every pang of trust or mistrust, every cry for autonomy or cry of shame, was the call of the spirit to that which is beyond it? Theology professor James Loder offers a perspective well posed: “It is evident that human development is not the answer to anything of ultimate significance. Every answer it does provide only pushes the issue deeper, back to the ultimate question, 'What is a lifetime?’ and 'Why do I live it?'“

Such are the questions we wrestle with in the twists and turns, stops and failures through this journey called life. How incredibly helpful to know there is a reason. God is not merely the God who comes near in the midst of the pain of adolescence or the cries of an adult for understanding; He is the creator of the spirit that leads us to crisis and guides us through certain pains. It is not merely, as one developmental psychologist writes, the “capacities of the human psyche” that “make spirituality possible.” It is the Spirit of God who makes the human psyche capable of knowing Him. “You did not choose me,” said Jesus, “but I chose you” (John 15:16).

As its name suggests, the success of the Breitling Orbiter III was built upon two previous attempts. The original Breitling Orbiter launched in January of 1997. Only a few hours after take off, the balloon was forced to land when the crew was overcome by kerosene fumes from a leaking valve. One year later, the Breitling Orbiter II stayed in the air 9 days longer than its counterpart, managing to navigate from Switzerland to Burma. To the dismay of all, their flight was cut short when they were refused permission to use the airspace over China. Yet from the finish line, there is little doubt that these set backs contributed to the development of the system and strategy that would allow Piccard and Jones to pilot their balloon across the Pacific.

Whether our days are marked by victory or crisis, progress or a call to turn around and try again, the Spirit goes with us, reinforcing that God has been there all along. To discover that there is a face inherently present behind many of the failures we long to forget, a Spirit within the crushed and wounded scenes we try our best to put behind us, and a voice that speaks over and above the cries that have indelibly marked our journey is to experience the restorative hope of the creator who intended us to discover Him. The words of the psalmist describe waking to this knowledge: “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them” (Psalm 44:3). Our days are marked with the intention of one who loves us. Our winding journeys are a means to his face.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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