The Holy Spirit! By this point in our encounter with the Spirit, we understand His importance. We know that He is powerful and can change our world.
We miss His true nature. We fail to understand that the Spirit is a person and as a third part of the Trinity. This week and next week’s blogs will address both mistakes.
We downplay the Spirit when we buy the ancient lie of modalism. That lie says that God took the form of Father…then Son…then Holy Spirit. He existed in subsequent forms. This deception is proven false through Scripture.
The Spirit is not some mere force. He comes into our world specifically to help us understand the truth. Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of Truth, has come He will guide you into all the truth.” Allow the Spirit to teach you the truth about His nature.
Answer a question, “What makes a person a person?” How do we distinguish a person. One simple and true answer is that a person is alive. The Spirit is alive. He has three characteristics that prove His personhood.
First, a person has knowledge. The Holy Spirit has knowledge. The word “know” means to understand, recognize, or have meaning.” The Spirit possesses intelligence. Scripture proves that in multiple places. The Spirit Has Intelligence: Isa. 11:2; John 14:26; Rom. 8:27; 1 Cor. 2:10–13; 1 Cor. 12:8; Eph. 1:17. Read the following verses more carefully:
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 The Spirit teaches all things, yes, 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.
Romans 8:27 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.
The Spirit of God knows the deep things of God. He understands the truths of God in a rich, full way. He prays for us in line with what God has planned for each of us.
Respond to the Spirit’s knowledge by expressing trust in Him to lead you. Ask Him to show you the deep things of God. Say a simple prayer, “Spirit, I know you know me, please lead me into your truth.”
Second, the Spirit posses a will. We define a will as an ability to make decisions based on what one chooses to do. He can choose. As a part of the Trinity the Spirit decides.
He chooses your place in the body of Christ. Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 12:11:
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Each believer is given one or more spiritual gifts. Each person receives the gifts from the Holy Spirit as He determines. He decides your gifts.
He not only decides your gifts, but He also directs the gifted people into ministry. Acts 13:2
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
As the church moved forward it was obvious that the Kingdom of God needed more servants. To reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel servants would have to come forward. The Holy Spirit stepped in, and He called Paul and Barnabas to serve.
He is still in the business of calling people to serve Him. He gifted you and He places you in ministry. Will you follow His leadership?
On his second missionary journey Paul and his team were specifically forbidden by the Holy Spirit to evangelize the Roman provinces of Asia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6–7). He led them, instead to Macedonia.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
The Spirit who gifted you and called you will lead you. He will direct you according to His will. If you want to be an instrument in His hand, yield to His will. Do you want His plan or yours?
Finally, the Spirit has emotions. Defining this word is also helpful. He can feel and express feeling. I will point out three emotions we can see the Spirit have.
He Loves (Romans 15:13)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The spirit loves us and builds in us hope. He will fill you with power, hope, and love as you yield to Him.
He Grieves (Ephesians 4:30)
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit is injured when we grieve Him. The word grieve is lypeo. This is the same word used to describe the Spirit’s grief when Jesus’ died. He is deeply wounded by our sin as we are when we lose a loved one. (Paul used this word to describe our grief in 1 Thessalonians 4:3)
All sin grieves the Holy Spirit, but those deliberate sins committed against Him by believers whom He indwells hurt Him the most.
Determine that you will not grieve the Spirit. We will not neglect Him. We will not ignore His will and plan.
He can be Lied to (Acts 5:3-4)
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
In the early church, people were moved by the generosity of Barnabas. He sold his home and gave the money to the church to facilitate the ministry of the fledgling believers.
Ananias and Saphira saw the response of the church to Barnabas’ sacrifice. They also sold a property and took money to the church. They represented their gift as the total price gained from the sale of their property. The problem was that they lied.
They did not need to do this. They were under no obligation to sell their property. Once they sold their property, they were not required to give the money to the church. The problem arose because they lied to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit thinks, feels, and decides because He is a person. Just as we manifest the traits of our human personality through our intelligence, emotions, and will, so the Holy Spirit reveals His divine personality through these same areas.
How do we respond to the Spirit of God.
- Talk to the Holy Spirit as a person. Christians often say, “if only I could walk with Jesus…talk to Jesus…ask Jesus.” The good news is that we are. We walk with Him. He has knowledge and a will. He walks with us. He resides with us. Talk to Him.
- Determine that you will not insult, resist, or quench the Spirit. These three commands come from Scripture. He can be insulted (Hebrews 10:29). He can be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). And He can be resisted (Acts 6:9-10, 7:51).
- Follow His lead. He wants to lead you. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Obey Him. His knowledge is complete. Trust that His direction will be right.
