With Memorial Day Weekend and Pentecost falling on the same Sunday this year, I felt the Holy Spirit didn’t get all the attention He deserves. I love to practice Lent—the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday—with a special focus on the life and ministry of Jesus. I find pondering the next 50 days until Pentecost just as important if not more vital in my spiritual practice. Not many churches give attention to Pentecost Sunday. I think it’s mainly because we are a little perplexed by the Holy Spirit, and often misjudge His work in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is definitely not anything to be afraid of. It’s easy tounderstand why so many of us misjudge or fear the Holy Spirit. Questioning wasdefinitely the response of the people in town who witnessed the presence of thepromised Holy Spirit for the first time on earth. Acts 2 tells us that the GodSeekers in Jerusalem that day were either perplexed or making fun of those inthe upper room who were filled with the Holy Spirit, accusing them of being drunk.Peter preached a sermon quoting Joel 2:28-32 and explained God’s love andmeaning for sending first Jesus and now the Holy Spirit. A startling 3000 peoplewere baptized when he finished.

I think the best time on earth to be a God Seeker is now since the Holy Spirithas been sent to dwell in our hearts. We miss out on the fuller picture of Godif we only think of Him as Jesus or Creator. I’ve been reading an inspiringbook written by Calvin Miller about the prayer practices of the Celts. I havebeen stirred to apply their practice of praying to the Triune God in my dailyprayers. It has been so stimulating to my prayer life to think of God in allthree persons. I begin my prayers by praying to:

• Almighty God who created me and has a purpose for my life, the One who asks me to call Him Daddy.
• Jesus, the One who fully obeyed God’s difficult instructions and was willing to be separated from God while bearing the sins of the world, so that I was made fully righteous the day I believed in His work.
• Holy Spirit who dwells in my heart and empowers me to obey and serve God just as perfectly as Jesus did.

By doing this I get a better grasp of Who I’m talking to in prayer. I can’t tell you how much impact this way of praying has had on my prayer life. I highly recommend Calvin Miller’s book The Path of Celtic Prayer—An Ancient Way to Everyday Joy (Intervarsity Press, 2007). I can attest that praying in this way has brought me to everyday joy.

Although there is no way my finite mind can fully conceive of Who God is while I live here on earth (1 Corinthians 13:12), I’m relating to Him a lot better when I take time to ponder what He has revealed of Himself in the Trinity. When I accept this revelation and conceive of Him as the Trinity, I can’t overlook the reality that I am now part of that divine union through the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is the most comprehensive evidence of God’s love and commitment to His work in creating me. I miss out on so much when I don’t fully embrace the wonder of my Triune God whose presence, relationship and power astound me and leave me overwhelmed by joy. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!