Who is the Holy Spirit?
I think back to my days in Sunday School learning about the Trinity. For me, it was easier to understand the Father and Christ, his Son. They were easy to imagine. Afterall, how many pictures from the Renaissance depicted them. Just look at the Sistine Chapple. But where are the pictures of the Holy Spirit? That’s a little harder to depict. So what exactly does the Holy Spirit do?
When I first became a Lean Expert, or business process efficiency expert, I was sent to a number of different facilities as a trouble-shooter. I would usually walk the floor asking a lot about what people do. Everybody was very polite and helpful. Through the grapevine I found that most people were just terrified because they had all heard that when I came to town, people lost their jobs. When I told my wife what I did, she exclaimed “You’re one of the Bobs!” If you’ve ever seen the movie Office Space, there were two men named Bob, thus the “Bobs”, that were a pair of Lean consultants brought in to eliminate all the waste. They had everyone interview for their own jobs and laid off anyone they thought was excess.
As a Lean Expert, I got a little too into my job. I was always out to try and improve everything, even the things WAY out of my control. Even things as silly as rewriting every grocery list to the order of the isles at the store, just to name a few. My wife often said that after I passed, I would even try to Lean out Heaven. We often joked about me snarkily asking God questions like:
“A day of rest? Really? Think how much we could get done working all 7 days! My rule is if you don’t come to work on Saturday, don’t even bother coming in Sunday. And Jesus; Do you really need 12 Disciples? I mean, how many James do you need? You saw how two Judas’s worked out? And Holy Spirit, do we really need a Trinity? What is your job here?”
Then we wondered how long until one of the two of us is going to get struck by lightning for joking like that. But I am sure God has a sense of humor.
But still, I wanted to find out more about what the true role of the Holy Spirit is. So when I starting reading about the him, I found he was here from the beginning. And I mean the very beginning. Right in the very 1st chapter of the Bible. If fact, it is the third sentence of the bible, where in Genesis 1:1-2 it is says:
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
So he was here, with God from the very start of creation. That shows the importance. The Holy Spirit has been there during the creation of the universe, and our creation as well.
But then I continued to read about who he is.
In Luke 3:21-22 we are told:
21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
For the Holy Spirit to descend upon Jesus at the beginning of His ministry also says a lot about the power and importance. Since the first thing Christ did when he began his ministry is be baptized, He also needed to be filled with the Spirit as well.
I was also struck that it talked about his embodied form, that it may not be as specific as we would understand. What is his bodily form? Is it set or does it change? Was the Dove his shape or a representation of him descending onto Christ?
In my Lean Expert like investigation, I continued to look for exactly what the Spirit does. So, I did what I would have when I began my review of the people in the facilities. I looked for their job description. I found it summed up in John where it says:
John 14:15-17
15 "If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
In in one line the Spirit is our comforter and advocate. With him we feel the presence and care of our Heavenly Father. As our advocate, think of him speaking up to the Lord on behalf of all those who have accepted him. The Gospel reiterates this further in John where it says: John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Now that verse also reveals more of his job. He is an Advocate and a teacher. But exactly how is the Holy Spirt our teacher? To us, a lot of what we learn is what we are taught from each other. Sure, we read the scriptures but is that it? You just read the book and you’re good? Your family doctor didn’t just read Grey’s Anatomy and then start seeing patients. For any Aero Engineer, we didn’t just get one sheet of paper with Bernoulli’s equations and call it good. We had a lot learning from other people.
Now think about how you learned about God. When you first learned to read, were you just handed a Bible by the Gideons Society and told “Have at it and good luck”?
No, you probably started out in Sunday School learning lessons. Perhaps your parents taught you the bible stores for bedtime. There were lots of ways you learned, way beyond just reading scriptures.
But not everyone teaches the same thing or interprets the same way. Here are two extremes as an example: Both Mother Theresa and Charlie Manson taught from the Bible but their lessons couldn’t have been more different.
What the Holy Spirit provides is discernment of the truth. We’re taught this in 1st John2:26-27 where it says:
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
With the Spirit in you, you’re able to see to the truth of teachings. You’re guided to what is right and what isn’t.
Also, when your source of your lessons is reading the scripture, the Spirit provides you the guidance to understand the message. You’re able to grasp the lesson that reaches across thousands of years, from the time it was given until you read it today.
In another facet of his duties, we find that the Holy Spirit helps us feel the love of our Creator.
In Romans it says (Romans 5:3-5)
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
We feel the love of God THROUGH the Holy Spirit. He provides the conduit for God’s love to be poured out onto us. I think of this a channel not unlike that for water, aiming Gods power and love into our souls. I’m sure all of us who have accepted Christ have felt this at least once after our baptism.
I only say AFTER our baptism because that is the pivotal moment in our lives when we’ve opened ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps that is the same as when the Spirit descended upon Christ? It was the conduit for God to express “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased” as we had heard in Luke.
A very important role of the Spirit is told to us in Romans 8:26
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
How often do we not even know what to pray for? The Holy Spirit guides our prayers to the right thing as well. Sometimes our prayers are off the mark or our desires aren’t in line with God’s plan.
How often are we in such pain our prayer is indiscernible? From what we just learned in Romans, the Holy Spirit intercedes and guide our prays, even praying for us when our agony is wordless.
In probably his biggest duty, he will be our judge. From John we again read:
John 16:7–11
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning
judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
We will be judged for our sins. This is when all the roles are combined. In the end, we will face judgement for the lives we’ve led. The Holy Spirit is our judge, reviewing everything we’ve done. He has knowledge of all the circumstances that led to that moment. He knows if you’d taught inappropriate behavior was acceptable. He knows what’s in your heart. But He will be dual hatted. Remember, the Holy Spirit will also be our advocate. He will speak on our behalf to help mitigate our actions. When you think about this, it’s like having one person be our defender and prosecution all in one. Wow, that's a lot all at once!
What do people do to prepare for Judgement Day? How many times have you heard people will tell you they’re good at heart. They say they are nice to people and that should be good. They say they don’t really need religion to be a good person. But are they really as good as they could be? It takes a lot more than just being a “good person.” For one thing, none of us is perfect. All of us have sin. We are not granted Grace until we accept Christ. Which means we are not complete and ready to enter the Kingdom until they been filled with the Holy Spirit.
This begins at baptism. This is the moment of our rebirth. And like Christ, this is the beginning of the Holy Spirit pouring out God’s love.
And with baptism we are unified by the spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says:
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Once we are touched we become one with our Maker, and because of that, we are therefore one with everyone who has also been touched!
I started out asking what does the Holy Spirit even do? I wondered, if I were to write a job description, what jobs the Holy Spirit have? Turns out a lot.
His is:
• Our comforter
• Our advocate
• Our judge
• Our teacher
• He prays for us
• He is our conduit to God’s love
• He unifies us
Look over your journey with God. As you look in review, look at how many times you were touched by the Holy Spirit, and then ask yourself, could you have ever done it with out him?
If the Holy Spirit has done all this for us, what can we do I return?
I think that comes from Acts 1:8.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
He is our: comforter, advocate, judge, teach, prays for us, unites us, and a conduit for God’s love. All we are asked in return is to be his witness. Now let’s all go and be his witness!
