When Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, the crowd was cut to the heart and asked what they should do next. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39). We know that we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism because Paul asked the Ephesians, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2).
They answered no and explained that they received John’s baptism of repentance, not a baptism for forgiveness. On hearing what Paul said, they were baptized again and they received the Holy Spirit. The word for spirit means breath, wind, or spirit (ghost). Our spirit is the animating life force–the breath or principle that gives living beings life, energy, and will. It is the inner, core character of an individual. God’s Spirit (the breath of God which gives us life) is what guides and sustains us and keeps us in alignment with God’s will.
John calls the Holy Spirit our Helper. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Finally, Paul told the Galatians to “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. When we keep in step with God’s Spirit, the Helper will keep us on the right path! This is the gift of the Holy Spirit.