Holy Ghost – Who is He?
When Halloween comes people gather together to tell spooky stories to scare the young ones. Parents tell the kids stories about ghosts & goblins. The ghost is also a good last-minute Halloween costume. Mom takes a white bedsheet & cuts or draws holes in it for the eyes. Six-year-old Tommy drapes the sheet over himself & he is a ghost for Halloween.
That is a fun ghost who is created in the imagination of the kid. But there is one Ghost who is very real. Can anyone tell me who that Ghost is? That’s right, I’m talking about the Holy Ghost.
In Christianity the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God He gave to interact with His people. Because we can’t see the Holy Ghost, we have a hard time fully understanding the power He has. We can’t see Him so how can we be sure He actually exists?
We can’t see the Holy Ghost so we don’t know who or what He is. Let me ask you another question. What does the air look like? What color is air? Does air have stripes or dots on it? What does air look like?
Without the air, which we cannot see, we would be dead! We need it to give our bodies oxygen and help everything function. We can also feel it if the wind is blowing our way. We can see the wind bending trees outside & creating ripples in water. We might hear it. And sometimes a gentle breeze can bring us comfort or relief from a hot day. Air is essential to make a lot of things happen! Though we cannot see air we can see the effects of air.
In the same way, we need the Holy Ghost to live, just like we need air to breathe. The Holy Ghost gives us comfort and peace in our lives, like that gentle summer breeze. He also helps us to pray.
Let’s take a moment to talk about who has the Holy Ghost & how He comes to us. The Holy Ghost lives in every believer & helps in their walk with the Lord. When we go to the Lord to ask for salvation the Holy Ghost comes to us & we can talk with Him. The Holy Ghost is often described as the presence of God in the world & in the lives of believers. The Lord has given His children the Holy Ghost to walk with us & help when we need it. And let’s be honest, we all need help every now & then.
The Holy Ghost is our great helper. Before Jesus left His disciples, He assured them that He would send someone for them. John 16:7 tells us "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."
Jesus was telling His disciples He was going to send someone to help them after He returned to God the Father. Jesus sent the Holy Ghost to act in His place for the time after He left. This same Spirit that Jesus sent to be with His closest followers at this time is with you & me today. He resides in us to do the same things He did for believers in the time of the Bible.
The Holy Ghost is there to teach and guide believers in understanding & living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. This includes helping believers interpret & apply the Scriptures to their lives. That’s why it’s a good idea to ask the Holy Ghost to reveal what He wants you to understand about Scripture before you read it. The Spirit of God will open your eyes to the truth of every verse & how you can use it in your life.
Anyone have any questions about what we’ve talked about so far?
Another thing the Holy Ghost does is equip us & empower us with what we need for the Christian life. The Holy Ghost will help believers for Christian living, equipping them with spiritual gifts for service & enabling them to live according to God's will.
We are all sinners saved by the grace of God. As we mature in Christ it does not make us sinless, we won’t achieve that until we are with the Lord. But we should sin less. The Holy Ghost convicts us of wrongdoing when we sin. When we step off of the path of righteousness & commit a sin we hear or feel the Holy Ghost talk to us. The Holy Ghost is often seen as convicting individuals of their sinfulness, leading them to repentance & a returning to the ways God.
Sometimes we aren’t sure what to say or how to pray when we are talking to God, but the Holy Ghost can fill in the gaps and pray for us when we are uncertain. The Holy Ghost also helps us to have faith. He gives us the strength to believe in God. So, we might not see Him, but we feel Him and know we need Him. It can be a little tough to understand…but He helps us with that, too!
The Holy Ghost is believed to teach and guide believers in understanding & living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. This includes helping believers interpret & apply the Scriptures to their lives. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to act in His place for the time after He returned to the Father. This same Spirit that Jesus sent to be with His closest followers at this time is with you & me today. He resides in us to do the same things He did for believers in the time of the Bible. The Holy Ghost provides wise counsel to Christ’s followers. Jesus knew he would be going away & that his followers would need the Holy Ghost to remind them of his teachings. The apostle John wrote, “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)
God gives His followers the Holy Ghost, so we may know Him better. Since the Holy Ghost is God’s Spirit, He knows the thoughts of God & reveals those thoughts to believers. The Holy Ghost opens believers’ eyes to the hope of salvation & their inheritance in Christ.
Anyone have any questions at this point? Or anything you’d like to talk about more?
Jesus knew that his disciples would need the power to carry out their mission to be witnesses to the entire world. He told his disciples, “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.” (Acts 1:8)
The Holy Ghost also steps in for us when we don’t know how to pray or what to pray. We all have times when we feel weak and don’t know what to do or what to pray. Or when there are so many things to pray about we forget to pray for everything we meant to pray for. The Holy Ghost helps us follow God’s will by being with us during those times.
Romans 8:26-27 says, “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. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God”
That is one of my favorite verses. There have been many times that I haven’t known what to pray. I am at peace with that because I know the Holy Ghost knows what’s in my heart & He will take that to God the Father.
The Holy Ghost makes believers new and grants us eternal life. He works in the lives of believers to renew our spirit & make us holy. Just as God raised Christ from the dead, He will give eternal life to believers in Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 8:10-11 says, “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you”
That verse tells us the “the Spirit gives life” The Holy Ghost gives us life because of the righteousness of Christ. Hallelujah!
Again, we see that the Holy Ghost is as important in life as the air we breathe!
Let’s review a few things that the Holy Ghost does. What does the Holy Ghost do when He comes to be with us?
Who here likes to live in a dirty house? A house where filth is lying all over the place?
When we become part of the family of God, He sends His Spirit to live in us. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”
The Holy Spirit comes to reside in us when we ask for salvation! If you wouldn’t want a filthy house, do you think He would? NO! To God, our thoughts are things. Our thoughts are the decorations inside the sanctuary where He lives. If the blood of Christ purifies our thoughts, we are living in a clean house. God considers your thoughts as part of you. Thoughts of peace, thoughts of pity, thoughts of charity, thoughts of God, thoughts of the Son of God—these are pure things, good things, & high things.
If you want to nurture the Spirit’s presence in your life, you must get hold of your thoughts, guard your mind, & not allow your mind to be invaded by the world's wickedness. You must have a clean heart. Most of the things we see on TV & hear on the radio are polluted with sin. We must choose to keep that filth out!
Now let’s talk about one more thing He does for believers.
The work of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life is an ongoing process of becoming holy by making our personality more like the personality of Jesus & making our spirit more like His. Through the conviction & power of the Holy Ghost, believers will not continue in the sinful acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21) but will bear the good fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).
We’ve talked about What & Who the Holy Spirit is. He is someone we would want to call our friend; our best friend. How do we do that? What are some ways we can grow closer to the Spirit of God?
We should know & understand that the Holy Ghost is a living person. He is Himself God, & as a Person, a relationship with Him can be nurtured; nurtured the same as any person can be. People grow on us, & the Holy Spirit, being a Person, can grow on us. One way we can grow closer to him is to stay focused on Jesus.
What is the best way to strengthen a friendship? To have an acquaintance become a best friend? The best way is to spend time with them. When we do that, we know them better, trust them more, & love them more. Spend time with the Holy Ghost of God daily & you will be blessed with eternal blessings! How do we spend time with the Holy Ghost to grow closer to Him? There are many ways we can do that. We can spend time reading the Bible, time in prayer, time in fellowship with other believers, & spending time looking back at our own life & asking the Holy Ghost if it is pleasing to Him. Those are some of the ways we can spend time with the Spirit of God.
Before we close are there any questions or comments on what we’ve talked about?
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for the presence of Your Holy Spirit in my life. I welcome Him in every aspect of my life. May He freely move and guide me every day. I ask for the Spirit to lead me in the decisions I make. May I choose what’s right over what’s wrong.
Please give me discernment over the opportunities that are before me. Help me pick what’s best instead of what’s just good or better. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my walk of faith. Change me for the better.
Help me develop Christian virtues that please You, O Father. I pray for the Holy Spirit to speak to me in ways I can understand. I pray that I may be led to the right path at all times.
May I have a teachable heart that listens to the Spirit’s promptings in my life. Amen.
