If you are like most new Christians, you’re probably wishing you had some kind of guide or mentor to help explain the intricacies of Christianity. Actually, clarifying the intricacies would be a luxury that can wait; you probably feel that you’ve got a more pressing and immediate need for help with some of the basics:

• You want to please God, but how do you know what that entails?
• You want to read the Bible, but you aren’t sure that you can make sense of it.
• You guess that you should be praying, but that puts you in unfamiliar territory.

Is it unrealistic to think that you – as a novice – can survive the Christian life without constant counseling by a spiritual advisor?

We’ve got good news and bad news for you in this regard. First, the bad news: Yes, it is unrealistic to think that you can hack it as Christian without intense guidance. But now, the good news: God has made arrangements for your personal spiritual tutor. And better news: This spiritual mentor is not just some seminary geek who is fluent in ancient Hebrew and has a complete set of Disciple trading cards. Your personal spiritual counselor is none other than God Himself – in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t get the wrong impression. The Holy Spirit is not just hovering around you like a chaperon at a high school prom. The arrangement is much more intimate than that. The Holy Spirit actually lives inside each believer. Of course, the Holy Spirit won’t show up on a CAT scan or in an X-ray, and you can’t use Him as an excuse for that bloated feeling you’ve had recently. But if you are a follower of Christ, the Holy Spirit is present in your life. This role of the Holy Spirit is referred to as His indwelling. Think of it as if your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. That analogy isn’t a stretch; it’s in the Bible:

Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given by God? (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Here is what the Holy Spirit will do for you:

1. The Holy Spirit is a guarantee of your salvation. As you learn to sense the Holy Spirit in your life, He’ll be the guarantee of your salvation. He is the proof that you belong to God.

2. The Holy Spirit helps you know the mind of God. The Holy Spirit can help you understand the Bible. There are spiritual insights that He can give you that you could not comprehend on your own. Understanding the Word of God is the route to understanding the mind of God.

3. The Holy Spirit helps you pray. Prayer is an important part of the Christian life because it is how you will talk with God and tell Him your greatest needs and your deepest desires. It is how you will ask for direction. But how can you make sure that your prayers are getting past the ozone layer. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Holy Spirit assists you in prayer. Even when you don’t know what to say – or how to say it – the Holy Spirit can tell God what is in your heart. God will know exactly what you’re feeling because the Holy Spirit is in complete harmony with God.

4. The Holy Spirit helps you worship. God deserves our praise and worship, but that isn’t something that comes naturally to most of us, and we’re awkward at it. The Holy Spirit will help you worship God in a way that pleases Him.

5. The Holy Spirit helps you in your stress. The Christian life is not easy. God never promised that it would be. But God has given the Holy Spirit to each believer to help them through the difficulties of life. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as our “Comforter,” and that’s exactly what He is.

6. The Holy Spirit is your spiritual guide. The Holy Spirit can lead and direct you in the circumstances and decisions of your life. This process isn’t like using that magic 8-Ball or picking a fortune cookie at random. It involves allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you step-by-step in daily situations, but this guidance will most often focus more on your character and attitude rather than on innocuous choices whether God wants you to wear the plaid shirt or the one with stripes.

7. The Holy Spirit helps transform you. The goal of every Christian its to be more like Christ. This will never happen completely in our lifetimes on earth, but the Holy Spirit is engaged in the process of moving us in that direction.

8. The Holy Spirit has a supernatural gift for you. The Holy Spirit equips every Christian with a supernatural ability to minister. Although some of the “spiritual gifts” appear spectacular, most are more subtle. It is the spiritual sensitivity or results that make these gifts supernatural.

When the process of spiritual progress is particularly slow, some people complain that they need to get more of the Holy Spirit into their life. They have got it all wrong. Spiritual maturity is never a question of getting more of the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer, you already have all of Him. The question is just the opposite: “How much of you does the Holy Spirit have?” Spiritual growth is a matter of turning control of your life over to the Holy Spirit and following His direction instead of your own inclinations.

Blessing!