Try outrunning your shadow on a sunny day; it’s pretty much impossible. Do you know what’s even more impossible for us as Christians? Going anywhere without the Spirit of God with us. Wow. King David declared that 3,000 years ago, and it’s just as true today!

This God of creation of ours is pretty spectacular! From tiny drops of dew to nourish a single blade of grass, to arranging stars and planets, sun and moon into a major eclipse – wow! God is all-knowing and all-powerful when it comes to all creation, and that is a major theme as King David writes Psalm 104. But perhaps the more remarkable theme of all is that He is willing and able to renew us with His Holy Spirit!

King David had made a mess of things with Bathsheba, and unfortunately, he didn’t own up to it until the prophet Nathan called him on it. But when David finally felt the sting of conviction, he rightly turned to the Lord and asked for the Holy Spirit to help him. Only then did David fully take ownership of his sin.

It may top the list of most “unliked” books of the Bible, and for good reason – Job challenges us with what we do know and what we do not know. While his friends certainly tried to comfort Job in his distress, they failed at speaking truth to him. But we can still find beautiful nuggets of truth about the Holy Spirit in the pages of this ancient story.

Taking a short departure from finding the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, we take a look at the Holy Spirit during Holy Week. It’s utterly amazing and critically important to know that a majority of Jesus’ teaching on Thursday night, the last night of His earthly life, was spent on the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit of truth, peace, conviction, and unity fill and flood you with His grace and power!

In Nehemiah 9, we are witnesses to a six-hour worship service that centers on the confession of sin. But is that the same as repentance of sin? Too many times, we misunderstand the two terms, which then makes us misunderstand the character of God. We must allow the Spirit of God to lead us rightly in these areas so that we can rightly worship God!

Imagine a worship service where you stood for at least six hours doing nothing but listening to the Old Testament being read out loud. (And, yeah, let’s go ahead and make it the book of Leviticus!) Now imagine the Holy Spirit moving you to tears, to worship, to fall on your knees, and to ecstatic joy! That’s exactly what happened in Nehemiah 8, and that’s exactly what the Spirit of God still wants to do in your life using the Word of God!

As a 7-year-old king, Joash needed a man of God to influence him and keep him on the right path. Enter the priest Jehoiada. For as long as Jehoiada lived, Joash was loyal to the things of God. But as soon as the priest died, things went south quickly. So bad in fact that God executed judgment on Joash and had him killed in battle at only 47 years old. Life lesson: The only way we can stay loyal to God and His ways is by being filled with His Spirit.

King Jehoshaphat didn’t always make the best decisions when it came to alliances with other kings and leaders. But in this moment when faced with perhaps the biggest threat to Judah, Jehoshaphat went straight to God seeking His guidance. In response, God sent His Spirit to speak through a prophet named Jahaziel to declare victory by way of praise and worship. Don’t you want to be the person who people can trust for God’s guidance because you have allowed the Spirit of God to fill you and use you?

Many of us know the story where Elijah was whisked away by the original “chariot of fire” while his understudy Elisha stood and watched his mentor leave him with “a double portion.” But a double portion of what? Or better asked, of who? None other than the Holy Spirit of the Living God! Have you asked lately for a double portion of the “Ruach Ha Kadosh”?

King Ahab didn’t like him. In fact, he hated Micaiah. Why? Because despite any and all consequences, the prophet had the reputation for only speaking what the Spirit of God told him to speak, and that flew in the face of Ahab’s desire to hear what he wanted to hear. Let’s commit ourselves to be counted in the ranks of Micaiah. We will speak only what the Holy Spirit tells us to speak.

Many are familiar with the great story of Elijah calling heaven’s fire down on Mount Carmel as he battled the wicked prophets of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. It’s a great story for sure. But there’s a story before that story that speaks to the way Elijah was known for living his life, a life of being led by the Holy Spirit. Can that be said of you and me?

David was first anointed as king with oil and the Holy Spirit when he was a teenager. He was anointed to lead a nation to serve the one true God. David was again anointed as king with the Holy Spirit when he was an old man about to die. He was anointed to use his tongue to point to the one true King. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to anoint your life so that others are seeing King Jesus?

Oh, the sad saga of Saul. In the beginning, the Holy Spirit used him in mighty ways for the sake of Israel. But in the end, some of the saddest words in Scripture were spoken of Saul as an indictment of the lack of relationship he had with God. May we cultivate such a relationship with the Person living within us that those words would never be said of us.

The book of Judges continues to baffle and bewilder as Samson plays patty-cake with Philistine women and the Spirit of God. Because of God’s great mercy and grace, He continues to grant Samson strength when needed. But that does not eliminate Samson from the fateful consequences of his flesh. Let’s be determined to grow in the strength of the Holy Spirit, thus defeating our flesh more and more.

When Jesus told His disciples to be careful when making vows, He may have had this story from Judges in mind. While Jephthah was filled with the Spirit of God as a mighty warrior to defeat the Ammonites, he was also guilty of making a very foolish vow that appears to have cost his daughter her life. Yes, we should be Spirit-filled, but we must guard ourselves against emotionalism and immaturity.

In Judges 6:34, Gideon’s might did not come from his own weak and frail frame but from the Spirit of the Lord who rested upon him. Gideon’s leadership ability to rouse 32,000 men to his side for battle did not come from the way he blew a trumpet but from the Spirit of the Lord who rested upon him. Sometimes, we may have to ask God to “pardon” our lack of faith, our many doubts, our very real fears, but that doesn’t stop the Spirit of God from filling us and using us!

We’ve all probably been there… facing difficult and scary situations that could very easily cause all of our courage to melt away. But as Joshua learned and now teaches us, to be filled with the Spirit of God is to be filled with a courage that doesn’t melt under the heat of the moment.

As crazy as it sounds, a donkey is yet more proof that the Spirit of God was very active in the Old Testament. As wicked as Balaam’s heart was, God still used him to accomplish the purposes of the Kingdom. Don’t be like Balaam; make sure your heart and your motivation stay pure. And don’t let a donkey be more filled with the Holy Spirit than you are!

There are a lot of “buts” in the Bible. In fact, it has been said that the whole character of the canon of Scriptures is based on contrast. There is always a negative and a positive, with a “but” in the middle. Caleb helps us understand how to walk on the right side of those contrasts by walking with the right Spirit!