Today was Pentecost Sunday, the day on which God breathed the Holy Spirit into the early church believers, just as Jesus had promised would happen. The scene is depicted at the beginning of Acts chapter 2. The funny thing about the Holy Spirit is that He is kind of the underrated part of the Trinity, especially in many of the more “rational” western churches. Maybe like that weird third kid who used to hang around with you and your best friend, who couldn’t tell how awkward he or she could make things. Father, Son, and that other guy.

And yet, the Holy Spirit is the presence and power of God that dwells within us. Because of this, He may be the voice we hear when we feel like God is speaking to us or directing our thoughts. Also, and I’m not trying to split hairs with this speculation, but He may be the aspect of God that knows us better than we know ourselves.

Ultimately, so long as we cultivate a deep, personal relationship with God, it doesn’t matter if we feel like we are communing with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, our outstanding senior pastor at New Life Church, Brady Boyd, has encouraged us to start each day with this simple prayer:

And so I do, right before my quick trip to the bathroom! (I’m in my 50s…). It’s a great way to start the day.

As a brief postscript, I felt God–OK, probably specifically the Holy Spirit!–tap me on the shoulder to suggest that I include this odd little poem that I wrote way back when I was a baby believer. I never knew why I had kept it all these years, but now I guess I do, LOL. Anyway, here it is:

Copyright © sometime in the last hundred years by David K. Carpenter