He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

THE HOLY SPIRIT GETS very little airtime in the church today. Few books are written about the Holy Spirit these days, and few sermons are given on the third person of the Trinity. And when we do teach on the Spirit, He’s always made to appear very tame. The Spirit is reduced to that little voice inside you. The Spirit helps you understand the Bible a little bit better. The Spirit makes you feel warm and fuzzy at church.

All of that may be valid; the Spirit is our counselor, guide, and comforter. Yet the Spirit of God is much more than that. The Spirit is power. The Spirit puts the oomph into our spiritual lives. The Spirit performs miracles, gives us extra-natural abilities, and strips away years and years of crud from our lives. The Spirit of God makes things happen. The Spirit is what makes our faith real and vital in the world.

So we float along through life being a little bit bored and being a little bit distracted by the pleasures of the world. And we keep waiting for a teeny tingle, as if the power of God was given only to give us goose bumps during church. And we miss out on the two big things God wants to do in our lives, the two big gifts God wants to give us: purity and power.

Seek the Spirit today—then hold on to your hat.

Lawrence W. Wilson is a pastor, author, blogger, and avid cyclist from Fishers, Indiana. He is the author of A Different Kind of Crazy (WPH).