I was thinking about the person of the Holy Spirit when two specific experiences of my Basic Military Training came to my mind:
1. Negative and Positive Demonstrations; and
2. Night shoot.
Negative & Positive Demonstrations
During that basic military training, the army instructors would use these two methods of instructions to teach recruits new things; for example shooting the M16 rifle. The instructor would show us the wrong method before he contrasted it with the right one. But the funny thing was the majority of us would eventually end up using the wrong method! Much to the frustration of the dialect speaking, expletive rich instructors!
It then dawned on me that our Father God also uses the same method: that is Adam, the negative demonstration and our Lord Jesus, the positive demonstration. And the funny thing again is that most of us end up following the footsteps of Adam in their varied forms! According to Andrew Murray, "self" was the one and only cause of the failure of Adam.
I believe the answer lies in the illuminating light of the Holy Spirit or rather, the lack of it.
Night Shoot
One of the regular activities of the training days was night shoot, or shooting the rifle in the night. Each recruit would be required to fire the first shot with a bullet (a tracer) that would illuminate the target. Typically, there would be 16 recruits firing in one detail at the same time. After the tracer has been fired, it would be pitch darkness and we would have to rely on our instincts.
What I did was to wait for the 15 others to fire their tracers. This would allow me to aim at my target and lock in my aiming position. I would then fire my tracer to confirm my target location. Thereafter, I simply fired my shots based on faith. And what was the result? I scored full marks!
I remember my dialect speaking instructor telling us this: "In front one dark patch, can see, you shoot, cannot see, anyhow shoot." This was his golden advice. Many followed and failed!
The tracer reminds me so much of the Holy Spirit. Father God has given each of us one such tracer to illuminate our targets. Once we see the target and lock in our aiming position, what follows would seem to be complete darkness. We need to rely on faith in what the Holy Spirit has shown us and fire off accordingly.
At times, we depend on the illuminations of the Holy Spirit on others to give us an idea of our target location. But it is still our own tracer that would confirm it.
We listen to sermons, read books written by men used greatly by God and study the Bible. But all these mean nothing unless the Holy Spirit reveals the truth to us.
And therein lies the importance of the Holy Spirit.
When reading the book on "The Presence and Work of the Holy Spirit", I realized that I have never really treated Him as a Person. Rather, I have always treated the Holy Spirit as a kind of power and influence. That power that I could use at my disposal for what I will.
Perhaps it is time that the doctrine on the Person of The Holy Spirit be revived?
When this thought came to my mind, I immediately shrunk from it as I imagined that I would then be Anti-Christ. But the author of that book mentioned that it is not so. For our Lord Jesus has said that The Holy Spirit will take of the things of Christ and show it to us. In fact, we can never truly understand our Lord Jesus Christ if we do not first get to know the Person of the Holy Spirit.
I am not sure if this would strike a cord of resonance with most but I am pursuing Christ Jesus along this line.
Thank you blessed Holy Spirit for showing this to me by the mercy and grace of my Father God that came to me in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.