{"id":5312,"date":"2026-03-24T08:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5312"},"modified":"2026-03-24T08:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:35:26","slug":"i-believe-in-the-holy-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/i-believe-in-the-holy-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"I Believe in the Holy Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here<\/a>
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Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.<\/em>
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\u201cI shall return.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
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Those three words are among the most memorable ever uttered by an American military leader.
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That\u2019s because an entire nation was inspired by them during some of the darkest hours of World War II.
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A day after bombing the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur was America\u2019s chief military adviser.\u00a0After four months of desperate fighting, it was clear the island nation would fall.\u00a0
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In March 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to Australia.\u00a0There he would assume command of Allied forces that would attempt to reconquer the Philippines.
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MacArthur was far from a perfect person.\u00a0He was an egomaniac, a flamboyant showboat who wasn\u2019t above manipulating the press to shine his own star.\u00a0He publicly rankled two presidents \u2013 FDR and Harry Truman \u2013 and irritated almost everyone who served alongside him.\u00a0General Dwight Eisenhower, who would himself one day enter the White House, was once asked about his association with MacArthur.\u00a0Ike responded, \u201cI studied dramatics under him for five years…\u201d\u00a0
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MacArthur reluctantly obeyed the order to leave the Philippines.\u00a0He was stricken by the thought of abandoning 90,000 American and Filipino troops in the face of an advancing enemy.
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Upon arriving in Australia, he boldly issued a statement to his soldiers and the people of the Philippines: \u201cI shall return.\u201d\u00a0
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Only then did he grasp the demoralizing reality that there was no Allied army awaiting his command.\u00a0FDR and the Joint Chiefs, in fact, had quietly concluded that the Philippines would have to be sacrificed.\u00a0They had chosen a \u201cEurope First\u201d strategic policy.\u00a0Only after containing Adolph Hitler would America give its full attention to defeating Japan.\u00a0
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It is painful to recollect the horrors that befell those who had been left behind.\u00a0The names Bataan and Corregidor have become synonymous with Japanese brutality.\u00a0
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MacArthur felt helpless.\u00a0And livid.\u00a0
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As their suffering stretched from months into years, Filipinos cherished feelings of hatred toward America\u2019s political leaders, whom they considered untrustworthy.
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But they trusted Douglas MacArthur.\u00a0They clung to the hope he would one day keep his promise to liberate their homeland.
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\u201cI shall return\u201d began to appear everywhere. Postal workers in Manila, risking their own lives, stamped those three words on envelopes and parcels \u2013 some of which were delivered to Japanese military facilities.\u00a0At dawn, Filipinos might awaken to see billboards repainted with MacArthur\u2019s slogan.\u00a0Sheets of paper declaring \u201cI shall return\u201d were posted on fences, left in railway stations, and even turned up in the filing cabinets of Japanese officials.\u00a0An entire nation rallied around a single promise.\u00a0
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On the afternoon of October 20, 1944 \u2013 two and a half years after his departure \u2013 MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte.\u00a0
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Only one third of the troops he had left behind had survived.\u00a0But by the spring of 1945 they had been rescued, and the Philippines were once again in Allied hands.
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In the years that followed, as Filipino leaders continued to quarrel with Washington, efforts were made to erase any evidence of America\u2019s decades-long presence.\u00a0Streets, buildings, parks, and airports were renamed to honor Filipino citizens and concerns.
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All except for a special handful.\u00a0Today there\u2019s a bridge, two highways, and three towns in the Philippines that preserve the memory of General Douglas MacArthur.
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That\u2019s the power of promise-keeping.\u00a0
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Here we arrive at the final leg of the Trinitarian outline of the Apostles\u2019 Creed. Having affirmed our trust in God the Father Almighty and Jesus Christ his only Son, we declare, \u201cI believe in the Holy Spirit.\u201d
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Who is the Holy Spirit? While the biblical answer to that question is deep and wide, and can take us in dozens of different directions, one of the foundation stones is the notion that the Spirit is God\u2019s assurance that he keeps his promises.
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Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22: \u201cNow it is God who makes both us and you stand firm\u00a0in Christ. He anointed\u00a0us,\u00a0set his seal\u00a0of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.\u201d
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The word translated \u201cdeposit\u201d is the Greek word arrabon<\/u><\/em>, which indicated a down payment or first installment.\u00a0The Spirit is like an appetizer \u2013 the first taste of God\u2019s grace.\u00a0The rest of the meal \u2013 the fullness of what God has in store for us \u2013 is coming in the future.\u00a0
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Think of the \u201cearnest money\u201d that a prospective home buyer gives to the seller as a way of saying, \u201cI\u2019m not going to back out of this purchase. I\u2019m in earnest about buying your house.\u201d
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One day, at the closing \u2013 the closing of history, that is \u2013 God will deliver the complete experience of spiritual transformation. The gift of God\u2019s Spirit, in the meantime, is our assurance that he isn\u2019t going to renege on his promise.
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Paul expresses similar thoughts in Ephesians 1:13-14:\u00a0
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\u201cAnd you also were included in Christ\u00a0when you heard the message of truth,\u00a0the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,\u00a0the promised Holy Spirit,\u00a0who is a deposit [there\u2019s that word arrabon<\/em> again] guaranteeing our inheritance\u00a0until the redemption\u00a0of those who are God\u2019s possession\u2014to the praise of his glory.\u201d
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What does it mean to be sealed with the Spirit?\u00a0
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Back in the days when people communicated by means of \u201csnail mail,\u201d you might have received an envelope emblazoned with the letters SWAK across the flap. There might even have been the take-your-breath-away evidence of bright red lip prints.\u00a0\u00a0

SWAK means “Sealed with a Kiss.”\u00a0This is not what one would expect to find on the back of a utility bill or a summons for jury duty.

If\u00a0your snail mail is SWAK, it is personal.\u00a0Intimate.\u00a0And lovingly sealed by a very special person.\u00a0Receiving such a note has considerably greater impact on the human heart than a whole string of emojis at the end of a text.\u00a0\u00a0

Seals were a very big deal in the ancient world.\u00a0\u00a0

A seal was a visible sign that clearly identified the author of a particular correspondence.\u00a0After the document was carefully rolled up, hot wax would be dribbled on the seam.\u00a0Then the seal would be pressed into the wax, leaving behind a distinguishing mark.

Such a mark represented a signature. It demonstrated authenticity.

Since only wealthy or influential people could afford to create and distribute documents, the mere appearance of a seal commanded attention.\u00a0As soon as you saw such an emblem, you knew you were dealing with a person of significance.\u00a0

Seals also represented ownership.\u00a0To put a seal on something meant, “I authored this.\u00a0This belongs to me.”\u00a0\u00a0

If you’ve abandoned yourself to Christ, you’ve been marked with a seal that trumps every other claim to ownership.\u00a0You belong to the One who loves you and died for you.\u00a0\u00a0

It goes without saying that a distinguishing mark has to be pressed into something soft.\u00a0That could be wax, mud, or clay.\u00a0No handheld seal could make a lasting mark on metal or stone.\u00a0Likewise, the seal of the Holy Spirit can only be pressed into a soft heart.\u00a0A humble heart.\u00a0

The best news of all?\u00a0 God’s stamp of ownership lasts forever.\u00a0
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So, when we say, \u201cI believe in the Holy Spirit,\u201d we\u2019re saying to God, \u201cI believe that by giving me your Holy Spirit you\u2019re assuring me you\u2019re going to keep your promises.\u201d
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History changes when a general keeps a promise by striding into the surf of a Pacific island.
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But when Jesus makes good on his promise to all of us \u2013 \u201cI shall return\u201d \u2013 the entire world will never be the same.

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.\u00a0\u201cI shall return.\u201d\u00a0Those three words are among the most memorable ever uttered by an American military leader.\u00a0That\u2019s because an entire nation was inspired by… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1080,352,224],"class_list":["post-5312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostles-creed","tag-holy-spirit","tag-promises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5314,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5312\/revisions\/5314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}