The Holy Spirit is responsible for two things: (1) Regeneration and (2) Indwelling. Regeneration is the process by which God gives new life. Indwelling on the other hand involves the walk with God whereby a believer moves towards an eternal relationship with God. Often we start depending on our capacity to walk in the righteousness of God. We try to imitate others, be like others, in order to lead an ideal Christian life. However God has set up only one ideal for us to follow and that ideal is the perfection of Jesus Christ. Anything else is a blasphemy.
The Holy Spirit acts in the lives of a believer through two primary means. The first are the gifts of the Spirit and the second are the fruits of the Spirit/ While the gifts play an important role in the strengthening of the Church the Fruits of the Spirit symbolize the characteristics of Jesus that He wishes to see in His disciples.
That Jesus Christ, the blameless sacrifice is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That revelation is made through various manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we limit the action of the Holy Spirit to one or the other. It happened to me. It can happen to anyone. We see someone enjoying the favour of the Holy Spirit through healing, prophesy and we are tempted to feel that this particular person is so blessed. He must have done something great to deserve it. That is however not true. You can do nothing to deserve the Holy Spirit. It is a free gift. What you can however do is to ask of God.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:2-3
Our God is a generous God. He provides all our needs. But he desires that we reach out to Him. If he can provide us all that we need for our personal ambitions how much more shall he provide when we strive for his Kingdom.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
The Holy Spirit is the helper assigned to us for our walk in the Christian life. It works in us to change us. That transformation is not only spiritual but also social and psychological. The Holy Spirit acts in our lives to change our point of view, our modes of interaction and our behaviour. It curbs our carnal instincts and purges our temptations to sin by pouring out God's anointing in our lives. However, the Holy Spirit does not act contrary to the free will. The believer must ask of the Holy Spirit and receive it. One thing to note is that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is more dependent on God's purpose for the individual and that person's constitution rather than choice.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
Let us see few of these manifestations. I had always confused between the utterance of wisdom and the utterance of knowledge. Knowledge comes from the Word of God. It may or may not be prophetic and may or may not have real life applications for an individual or a church. The Utterance of Wisdom on the other hand is primarily based in application.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5
Knowledge becomes wisdom when they are directly applied to our personal lives or immediate surroundings. The source of Knowledge involves revelation of God but the source of Wisdom is the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Though distinct they have a relationship. The knowledge of the Word of God builds wisdom of the believers.
Next we come to the gift of faith. FAITH! Yes Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit that originally touches a believer during regeneration. That faith brings a believer closer to God. It is a gift and it is to be asked for. Often after believing faith tends to fade, dwindle, not because of the faithfulness of God but because of the frailty of humanity.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. Matthew 13:20-22
Faith as a gift acts as a plough to the rocky soil making it suitable for the crops to grow deep. It removes the thorns and the briers of the cares of the world and allows the believer to be steadfast in the Word of God. So the action of faith is also twofold. It allows a person to comer to Jesus and keep on the way.
The next gift is healing. The Bible does not call it the miracle of healing, but healing in itself. When we fall sick and go to the doctor we are healed. Is it from the medicine or from God? Science tells us that it is from the medicine. However every medical history has a list of exceptions where medicines fail. No medicine exists that can give a hundred percent guarantee of restoration of health. There is always the involvement of God. Only however when the disease is either chronic or fatal do we remember God and ask for his healing. That is a tragedy. However there are witch doctors going about claiming to heal the sick without medicine and not all of it is from God.
The existence of false healers, false prophets and false teachings does not mean one should stop believing in miracles. In ancient Israel signs and miracles were a means of discernment. The Gospel of Matthews alone records twenty miracles performed by Jesus. St. Matthews records them to justify the claim of Jesus as the Christ of the prophecies of old. Miracles exist in the present world that we are now used to dismissing in the form of coincidences. The problem is that the world expects God to always reveal himself supernaturally. What they forget is that the nature in itself is God's creation.
Next is the gift of prophecy. One must realize the difference between prophecy and divination. Prophecy is from God. Divination is from evil spirits. Prophecy reveals God's intention and will. That intention is however made subject to human free will by the divine gift of love. As a caring father God sometimes allows his children to choose their own path and as a master architect he builds a second road to his desired destination. Divination is however putting a psychological barrier to human free will. Horoscopes, zodiacs, numerology, all are against the will of God. But God reveals to his believers what he wishes to reveal by the gift of Prophecy and that leads to His glory and purpose.
Then comes the ability to distinguish between spirits. God allows his believers to recognize what is from God and what is not from God.
Lastly St. Paul mentions two twin gifts, the speaking of tongues and the interpretation thereof. Honestly speaking I don't understand this much. I once saw a video of a woman in prayer going into a trance and uttering meaningless sounds and that is supposed to be speaking in tongues.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26
At the Pentecost these groanings poured out of the lips of believers in such a way that people from all over the world heard their own tongue on Hebrew lips.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Acts 2:4-8
Later in the first letter of Corinthians St Paul explains the purpose of these gifts that they serve in the church whether for the believers or the unbelievers.
The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 1 Corinthians 14:4
Apart from the fruits of the Spirit we also see the gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit but a result of the indwelling. These are specifically the characters of Jesus that He wishes to see in us. These characters in themselves strengthen our witness for the cause of the Kingdom. The evidence of these characteristics set up apart from the rest of the world.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
These fruits are borne in us as a result of the planting of the seed of the Holy Spirit as a result of the completion of the work of faith. At any point of time the believer may not display all the characteristics. That is not a matter of discouragement. It is a continuous process due to be completed on the day of Jesus, the same truth that is true for our forefathers is true for us. But this is not a static process. It requires an active participation from our side, a constant effort to build upon our faith and nurture the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the common good of all.
You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; James 2:22