If your church background was anything like mine, I was barely taught anything about who the Holy Spirit is or what his ministry is in the church and believer’s life. In fact, thirty years ago, when the King James English was still frequently used, we used to call him the “Holy Ghost.” Sounds pretty scary, right?
We’ve often treated the Holy Spirit like God’s water-boy; a second class servant. Even when we hear the word spirit we think of fairy tales and magic potions. Quite the contrary! The Holy Spirit is the essence of the Almighty Creator. He is infinite mind, creativity, and power. He is perfect love and the source of all personality and friendship. The personality of every human was knit together by the personality of the Spirit; the Spirit is a person. He is the Spirit of Jesus. He is the Spirit of the Father!
Not only is the Spirit our Eternal Father, but he is the greatest gift given to us. Christ didn’t die on the cross to give us stuff—he gave us himself. His presence is our great inheritance. The Spirit is the source of our living friendship with God, and the abundant resources we need to live a life of meaning. And the entire reason Jesus, the Messiah, came was to reestablish relationship with the Spirit and the government of the Spirit in our lives. He is our doorway into God's everything. Here are just a few of the many verses available to help us learn about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives.
The Spirit is a free gift we receive from God
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:12).
The Spirit lives within us, and doesn’t leave us (when we accept Jesus)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 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 (John 14:16-17). See also: John 20:22; Romans 8:9; John 14:23.
Through the Holy Spirit we have access to the Father, and all of God’s resources
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household (Ephesians 2:18-19). See also: 2 Corinthians 1:21b-22; Ephesians 1:13b-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:5.
Through the Holy Spirit we have life and we produce the fruit of life
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life (John 6:63). See also: 1 Peter 3:18; Romans 8:10-11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 6:8; Galatians 5:22-23a; 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
We can walk with the Spirit, and have friendship with God through the Spirit
Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16).. See also: 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 2:18-19; Philippians 2:1; James 4:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 4:6-7
We can be filled with the Holy Spirit continually
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly (Acts 4:31). See also: Ephesians 5:18; Acts 7:55; Acts 13:9.
Through the Holy Spirit we are transformed into God’s image, holiness, and character
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). See also: Galatians 5:16-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:13b; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 3:24b; John 14:15-16.
We follow the impulses of the Spirit written on our hearts, not the legal code, or the sinful nature
Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). See also: Romans 8:10; Romans 8:9; Romans 8:13; Romans 7:6; Galatians 5:18; Hebrews 10:15.
Through the Spirit the mysteries of God and his mind are revealed
…these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:10-12). See also: John 16:14-15; Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; 1 Corinthians 14:2; Ephesians 3:4-5; Colossians 1:9.
The Holy Spirit leads us into truth and testifies about Jesus
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears (John 16:13). See also: John 14:16; John 15:26; 1 John 5:6; Revelation 19:10; 2 Peter 1:21; Revelations 2:7; John 16:13; John 15:26; 1 John 5:6.
The Holy Spirit baptizes us with his power
When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-17). See also: Acts 1:3-5,8; Acts 2:2-4; Acts 8:15-17; Acts 10:43-44; Acts 19:6.
The power of the Holy Spirit is given as a demonstration of the gospel
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). See also: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5a; Acts 4:29-30; John 14:11; John 10:37-38; Hebrews 2:4.
The Holy Spirit provides gifts that build each other up in faith
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed (1 Corinthians 1:7). See also: 1 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Ephesians 4:7, 12; Philippians 3:3; Hebrews 2:4.
The Holy Spirit helps us pray
In the same we, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 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 (Romans 8:26-27). See also: Ephesians 6:18; Jude 1:20.
Tags: life, holy spirit, spirit, love, power, creativity, treasure, personality
