The Holy Spirit’s Work In Our Hearts

A husband thought about the problems between him and his wife. The man knew he hurt his wife badly. He said some mean things that he was sorry for. But his next thought was, “It was her fault! Didn’t she behave badly, too?”

Do you think and feel this way sometimes? It’s easy for us to feel sorry for our bad behavior one moment and then try to blame someone else for it later on. Of course, saying “I’m sorry” when we do wrong isn’t always easy. But saying we are sorry is so important. Saying sorry helps heal our broken relationships and makes them strong again.

The same is true for us and God. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand when we sin. The Holy Spirit helps us to confess our sins to God. So, we must pay attention to Him when He talks to our heart. We must not make excuses for our bad behavior. One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs is to tell people “the truth about sin” ( John 16:8 📖 , ICB, also read verse 7). The Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift from God! For sure, we need the Holy Spirit to help us to heal our relationship with God when we let sin separate us from Him.

Read Hosea 6 📖 . What does God invite His people to do in this chapter? Also, what does God say about Himself?

The Holy Spirit helps us reconnect to Jesus, the Vine ( John 15:4 📖 ). “We often feel sorry when our bad behavior causes us to suffer. But this sorrow isn’t the same thing as feeling sorry for hurting God because we sinned. Real sorrow for sin is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit shows us that we aren’t thankful enough to God. When we hurt the Savior, the Holy Spirit helps us to come back to Jesus. Every sin we do nails Jesus back on the cross again. . . . The Holy Spirit helps us feel sorry for sins that cause Jesus fresh pain. When we feel sorry for our sins, we will give them up and reject them.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, page 300, adapted.

For sure, our relationship with God can’t grow when we hold on to sin in our hearts. When the Spirit shows us our sins, we must give them up with His help ( Ephesians 4:30 📖 ).

When was the last time you answered God’s invitation to give up sin and reject it completely? Spend some time right now in prayer. Ask God to open your heart to what He says to you this week in the Bible.