2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
To Breathe out affirms the life-giving nature of scripture which is to be inspired or motivated by God.
John 16:13 ESV
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
The word spirit in Greek can be translated in three different ways and only in context would we know specifically.
pneuma: wind, breath, spirit.
You will see these 3 words in relation to God's Spirit the third Godhead in the Trinity.
The Spirit guides us like the wind to the ancient ships.
2 Peter 1:21 ESV
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
To be carried along holds the idea of a sail being filled with the wind which carries the ship forward. We are to be filled with the Spirit if we wish to follow the will of God.
Acts 2:2 ESV
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Using the metaphor of a ship we as captains of this vessel must be willing to raise the anchor (be acceptable to change), turn and raise the sails (catch the right wind), and steer in the desired direction we wish to go (choose to be guided by God).
It takes great faith to lose sight of the shore and be carried by the will of God.
Ephesians 4:14 ESV
So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Not every wind or current will take you where you want to go. It has to be aligned in the general direction you want to go. To be in God’s will, we are to be aligned in agreement with God’s morality and His commands.
Essentially, we give up our position of authority over our vessel and allow our guidance to come from God. He becomes the Captain of our lives and the very breath of life that fills our lungs becomes the breath that sustains our souls.
Genesis 2:7 ESV
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit we begin to learn the mind/will of God
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 ESV
11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
This life-giving force will be evident in the life of the believer. By this evidence, we become effective in ministry as well.
Acts 6:3 ESV
Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we, will appoint to this duty.
Ephesians 5:18 ESV
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Being filled with the Spirit is extremely important in discipleship and choosing people for service in the ministry.
To be full of the Spirit is to have one or more of the gifts, to have evidence of the fruit, a good reputation, wisdom, and to be in ministry their must be evidence of the fruit that comes with the classifications of overseer, deacon, and elder.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ESV
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
So in all that we do, may we be filled with the Spirit, guided, and taught in the ways to go. Before the term, Christians took hold, we were called followers of the Way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Let His life lead us in all that we do.