The Holy Spirit

Who is the Holy Spirit? When we talk about God the Father, we can understand the concept of a Father, when we talk about God the Son, again we can understand a Son, but what happens when we say, God the Holy Spirit? People can understand something they see or know, but we can’t see the Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit is God, He’s not an it, but a person of the Godhead, and He is in every believer. The Holy Spirit does today what Jesus did 2000 years ago.

Jesus’ ministry on earth was to teach the things of the Father. He explained the law, showed people their sin, and brought comfort to those who believed. The role of the Spirit in us is to remind us of the Words of Christ. He is actively doing the work of Christ , and was sent by Christ to indwell believers. He lives inside of us, he cleans out the unwanted parts of us and gives power to those who allow Him to fill each part of their lives. We live in a hard and difficult world , and God’s Spirit working in us helps us to keep our footing, and to stand firm in faith.

When we accept Jesus our Lord, and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is inside every believer, all the time. You don’t have to experience earth shaking “feelings” or emotions, you don’t have to jump, shout, cry, roll on the floor, or have any such outward displays of physical emotions to be indwelt with the spirit.

The Holy Spirit enters, and establishes a new relationship with us and God but this is only the beginning of His work in us. The Holy Spirit marks us as belonging to God. EPH. 1:13-14 He is our seal of salvation, so that God can see from Heaven and know us to be His sons and daughters, He becomes our direct line, through Jesus, to the Father. He convicts us of sin and the need for righteousness in our lives. JOHN 16:8 He teaches us to obey the Lord and to trust Him to direct our every step, and to put all our cares on Him for He is greater that any problem. Through the Spirit we learn to develop greater reliance on the Lord, and less on human wisdom, or strength, or our own abilities.

The Spirit knows our search for truth in the visible world is futile, we must seek God’s Word. JOHN 17-7 JOHN 16-13 He teaches us ways to see things deeper than what’s on the surface, to help point out blind spots in our minds eye to those areas that are not completely yielded , or fully surrendered to God.

The Holy Spirit helps us to know God. EPH. 1:17 - 18 He makes us wise and reveals God to us, and He helps us to understand the mind of God. Without the Spirit , you can not understand the things of God. We need spiritual “eyes” in our hearts in order to see God and His ways more clearly. That’s when we begin to understand the mind of God, how He thinks, and how that knowledge will help us in our daily walk. The more we want know of Him, the more the Spirit reveals to us.

One of the most important things the Holy Spirit does for us is to help us learn to think like God. When His Spirit takes over our thoughts, that’s when things happen. Our priorities change. Before Christ, it was all about me, what I could do, what I wanted, what I thought was best. We don’t belong to ourselves anymore, we belong to God. We’ve been bought by a price and are no longer our own. We become better because God’s Spirit is a superior influence in our life, not because we are superior as individuals.

The Holy Spirit gives wisdom beyond our natural abilities, as we learn to listen to Him. JAMES 3:17 If we allow ourselves to be totally immersed in God, to focus on His thoughts, then we can do powerful things in this world.

The Spirit helps us to pray. He guides us in what to pray for and how to pray. .ROMANS 8:26 When we are committed to praying seriously, the Spirit helps us know what to pray for and can bring God’s power into the lives of those we care about through intercession.

The Spirit seeks to bring greater joy to the Lord through every believer. JOHN 16-14 He gives gifts to whomever He will for the purpose of giving glory to God.

1 COR. 12:4-6 Our motivation for receiving the Holy Spirit is not to have a ‘gift’ but to want to be everything that God wants us to be, and not miss out on the blessings he wants to give us. The Spirit gives us power to see God’s purpose for our life. God has called each of us to follow Him and has given us a purpose and a hope. That’s our reason for following Him and for doing what we do, how very great is His power at work in us.