Fruitful Living

The names and ministries of the Holy Spirit

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise – Ephesians 2:11

Introduction

Often in the scripture one may learn much about someone simply by studying the names and titles given to that person. So it is with the Holy Spirit

These 13 titles ascribed to Him provide much insight into His true nature. He is called:

1. The Spirit of God – “Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?’’ – 1 Corinthians 3:16

2. The Spirit of Christ – But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) – Romans 8:9

3. The Eternal Spirit – Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. – Hebrews 9:14

4. The Spirit of Truth – When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. – John 16:13

5. The Spirit of Grace – Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? – Hebrews 10:29

6. The Spirit of Glory – If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you – 1 Peter 4:14

7. The Spirit of Life – And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. – Romans 8:2

8. The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation – I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. – Ephesians 1:17

9. The Spirit of Promise – 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. – Acts 1:4

10. The Comforter – But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you – John 14:26

11. The Spirit of Adoption – For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father. – Romans 8:15

12. The Spirit of Holiness – and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in powerby His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 1:4.

13. The Spirit of Faith – It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak – 2 Corinthians 4:13

There are various ministries of the Holy Spirit and today we bring you two of them.

A. HIS MINISTRY CONCERNING THE UNIVERSE

According to David, the Father created all things. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.’ – Psalm 19:1

However, John declares the Son did it. ‘Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind’ – John 1:3-4.

Finally, in other passages, the Holy Spirit is said to have performed the initial act of creation. What are we to believe? The answer is, of course, that all three persons in the Trinity had a part. As an illustration let us consider an important executive who determines to build a spacious and expressive home. He thus employs an architect to design the necessary plans for this home. The architect thereupon secures a competent contractor to follow his blueprints. In this illustration the executive is the Father, the architect the Son, and the contractor is the Holy Spirit. The following verses then refer to the work of this divine Contractor.

When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. – Psalm 104:30

By His breath the skies became fair; His hand pierced the gliding serpent. – Job 26:13.

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. – Job 33:4

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. – Genesis 1:2

B. HIS MINISTRY CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES

In a word, the Holy Spirit is the author of the Word of God. He has furthermore chosen three basic methods in the preparation and reception of His divine manuscript, the Bible. These ‘steps of the Spirit’ are:

Revelation: that process whereby the Holy Spirit spoke to the forty human writers of the Bible the message He wanted them to transmit.

Inspiration: that process whereby the Holy Spirit guided the very pen of these forty human writers so that the spoken message would be accurately written.

Illumination: that process whereby the Holy Spirit takes the written word when it is preached and read and enlightens those human ears who will hear it.

The following passages bear all this out:

1. The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Old Testament.

According to David –The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; His word was on my tongue. – 2 Samuel 23:2.
According to Isaiah –As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord. – Isaiah 59:21.
According to Jeremiah –Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. – Jeremiah 1:9.
According to Jesus – For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. – Matthew 5:18.

If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken) – John 10:35

According to Peter – for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:21
According to Paul – and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:15-17.

2. The Holy Spirit is the author of the New Testament

According to Jesus – All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. – John 14:25-26.
According to Paul – If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. – 1 Corinthians 14:37.
According to Peter – So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. – 2 Peter 3:14-16.
According to John – On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” – Revelation 1:10-11.

Stay blessed!

For further enquiries please contact us on Tel Nos. 0268130615 or 0243588467

Email: saltnlightministries@gmail.com

Website: saltandlightgh.org

By Dr Joyce Aryee, the author

Fruitful Living

Environmental degradation in contemporary times (Part 3)

Unfortunately, some anti-social human activities today often breach these Islamic principles :

• Illegal mining (Galamsey) leads to water pollution and destroys fertile lands.

• Improper sand mining causes land degradation and deforestation.

• Unauthorised tree felling endangers ecosystems and biodiversity.

• Encroachment on wetlands and water ways leads to urban flooding and ecological imbalance.

These destructive practices violate the ethical duty of humans as stewards of the earth and

contradict both Islamic law and state regulations.

Key International

Environmental Protocols

• Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – Adopted in 1971, Iran

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – Adopted in 1982, Jamaica

• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – Adopted in 1987

• Convention on Biological Diversity – Opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit, 1992

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – Adopted in 1992

• Kyoto Protocol – Adopted in 1997, Japan

• Paris Agreement on Climate Change – Adopted in 2015

These protocols aim to promote sustainable environmental practices, mitigate climate change, and preserve natural habitats. Islam’s emphasis on balance, responsibility, and justice aligns with the goals of these agreements.

Provisions in the 1992

Constitution of Ghana

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana upholds environmental protection:

• Article 36(9): “The State shall take appropriate measures needed to protect and

safeguard the national environment for posterity.”

• Article 41(k): “It shall be the duty of every citizen to protect and safeguard the

environment.”

These provisions demonstrate that environmental responsibility is a constitutional duty for both state and citizens.

National Legal Statutes on

Environmental Protection

Ghana has enacted various environmental laws, including:

• Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 (Act 490).

This law established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the main state

institution responsible for protecting and improving Ghana’s environment.

The EPA monitors pollution, regulates industrial activities, issues environmental permits, and

ensures that development projects undergo Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)

before approval.

Purpose: To control pollution and ensure sustainable environmental practices in industries, agriculture, and urban development.

Fruitful Living

Renewing our minds (Part 1)

When someone accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, “he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17. That is why Apostle Paul advises us in Romans 12:2 (our key text) “do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” But it doesn’t end there.

A MIND TRANSFORMED

Nature abhors vacuums so when something is taken away from a space and that space is not quickly refilled, other things will start creeping in to fill up the space. The Bible gives an illustration of what happens when a vacuum is created in the life of a believer: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”- Matthew 12:43-45.

A believer’s Christian experience is supposed to move from the initial phase of justification by faith in Christ, to daily sanctification for holy living, to glorification at Jesus’ second coming, and to eventual restoration to the pre-fall harmony between God and man. Knowing that the heart of a believer cannot be left empty after clearing it of the worldly things, Paul gives the prescription for daily sanctification with which to fill the vacuum: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

WHAT KIND OF

TRANSFORMATION?

Transformation is defined as “a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance or a metamorphosis during the life cycle of an animal.” We find these kinds of transformation happening all the time around us. Examples include a baby that we see twenty years later as an adult, a cancer survivor who has regained lost weight, a new mother we saw last when she was eight months pregnant.

I have seen many actors and actresses in real life whose faces do not look as flawless at close range as they do on TV. I now know that the credit for their on-screen transformation often belongs to makeup. Similarly, a smelly room can be transformed with air freshener, people with the right clothing, and a gloomy room with the right colours and objects.

No doubt all of these examples of transformation look good, but they are all external and non-lasting forms of transformation. They are definitely not the kind of transformation Paul has in mind as capable of filling the vacuum left by non-conformity with the world’s pattern. He says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The right kind of transformation that he’s talking about here is not the one that comes from make-up slathered on, or having a particular dress on, or the right colors thrown here and there. It is the kind that comes “by the renewing of the mind.” What then is the state of the human mind that it needs to be thus renewed?