Holy Spirit
The role of the Holy Spirit in the life of each Christian is frequently misunderstood and often minimized. We sometimes believe the Spirit "comes and goes". We think the Holy Spirit dwells more in pastors and professional church workers than in us. We sing hymns that ask the Holy Spirit to come even though He is right here with us. We act as if there are places we can "hide" from God, even when He dwells within us and goes with us everywhere.
Pentacost - when God the Holy Spirit came to dwell within each believer - was a revolutionary event in the church and affects every believer every day in remarkable ways. If you are a baptized believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you just as He did in those early believers. He doesn't come and go. He's always with you. He isn't more powerful in some than others, He simply is allowed to fulfill His role less encumbered in some than in others.
Rom 8:9-11
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
(from New International Version)
We are taught that the Holy Spirit:
Calls us to faith in His Word and the Sacraments
Gathers us into communities and congregations according to God's purposes
Enlightens us as we better understand the Word and see God at work around us
Sanctifies us, separating us from the secular
According to Scripture, the role of the Holy Spirit is as follows:
He will teach you all things (John 14:26)
He will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26)
He will testify about me (John 15:26)
He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13)
He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13)
John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
(from New International Version)
It is this last verse that we especially cling to in our "Visioning" process. We know that our understanding of the future is incomplete, because the Holy Spirit is only authorized to tell us what God the Father wants us to know. But we also know that whenever His children ask for direction, God always answers them. He no longer leaves us in the wilderness, if we humble ourselves and simply ask what He wants us to do. Then, as we proceed in faith, we can go back to Him for direction when we reach the end of our last instruction.
This is how we can faithfully know and follow His will, to His glory!