One of the highly influential books in my preteen childhood was a series of Bible stories, “Line upon Line. Mom read them to us, probably at nap times until we began to read on our own. I’m sure, a major factor in my learning to read preschool.

A word search in E-Sword revealed about 330 references to the Spirit which I will examine in a Line upon Line manner, searching particularly for those verses that indicate something about our relationship with the Holy Spirit or its place in the Godhead.

A hope is that this study will invoke/provoke a spirit of commentary among the reader of this column. Please post your remarks to “Voices Together” Inappropriate remarks will be deleted.

Genesis 1:2 (ESV)
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

What I see here is the preexistence of the Spirit member of the Godhead before the earth began to take form. I expect that later on, the Godhead will be defined as the Triune God. The important point is that the Holy Spirit was a member of the Godhead from eternity. God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit.

Jumping ahead, or back as the case may be, let’s go back to the beginning of the Church on the Day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:6-11
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? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians— we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

There is the primary key to the gift of tongues—so that the Gospel could be spread to every people, tongue, and nation. Think of the confusion without this gift, of the veritable standstill in the spread of the Gospel. As it was, the Gospel was spread like an out of control grass-fire to every tongue and nation.

Yes we will look at other gospels later for other things that resulted from this gift, but we have the major benefit in this brief 6 verse passage.

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Reading

Morning Psalm 100, Noon Psalm 119:121-128 , Evening Psalm 32, If you follow this regimen, you will pray through the Psalms every 47 days or just under 8 times per year.

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

Suggested Supplementary Reading

The Christian’s Creed: Embracing the Apostolic Faith by Dr. Stanley D. Gale. There is also a workbook available.