King of kings and Lord of lords...Who is the Holy Spirit? (Part 1)

Who is the Holy Spirit? (Part 1) 

The Holy Spirit is oftentimes one of the most misunderstood members of the Godhead. There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He was there in the beginning with God because He is God. Due to Him being part of the Godhead, there is no separating Him from God. He is equally as important and should never be downplayed as if to say that He doesn’t exist.

            Many people make the mistake of referring to the Holy Spirit as an inanimate object. They will often classify Him as an “it.” Therefore, they take away the nature of who He is and reduce Him as someone or in their minds, “something” that is irrelevant. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth because He is Truth. The Holy Spirit is the very essence of who God is. Without the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ would lack the Power that we need to operate fully as a unit. Just as a vehicle needs gas and/or in modern times electricity to run, we need the Holy Spirit to fuel us with His power. Without Him, we are not able to fully run and operate in our calling.

            Getting to know the Holy Spirit and making Him personal in your life will give you an overwhelming closeness to God like never before. You will experience the fire that is needed to combat the enemy, for the devil fears those who have the Holy Spirit because of the Holy Spirit’s ability to empower them to successfully defeat his demonic host. Many young people like to watch and/or read about action figures because they have fictional superpowers to defeat the bad guys. Well, the Holy Spirit is our Super Power who helps us to defeat the enemy. All we must do is invite Him in, tap into His power source, and allow Him to do the rest.

As you read and understand who the Holy Spirit is in this lesson, invite Him to freely come inside your heart, so that you may have a personal relationship with Him and get to know more about Who He Is.  

3^rd in the Godhead

 ^“This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit who testifies is the truth. For there are three that testify. the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement” (1 John 5:6-8).

            Many people have had a hard time understanding how God can be three in one. There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all wrapped up in One. The Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead and has a very important job to do in the lives of His people. The example of the egg has often been used to help children understand how God can be all three and yet serve in different capacities. Let’s use the example of an egg. 

The shell of the egg is what holds it together, but then there are the white and yellow parts, with the yellow being known as the yolk. When a chicken lays an egg, she cannot separate the parts of the egg on her own. The separation comes later and even though there are three separate parts of the egg to include the shell, white and yolk, it still makes up one egg.  So imagine the shell being God the Father, the white being Jesus the Son, and the yoke being the Holy Spirit. Each has a separate function, but they make up one Godhead.

          The Holy Spirit was there from the very beginning and played a major role in creation. The Bible says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2).  Notice that the Spirit of God also known as the Holy Spirit moved about over the water. This means that He was there in the beginning with God and was God. The Bible also lets us know that we were made in their image – meaning the Godhead. The Bible says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). The word “our” means more than one. Therefore, God made man in His image which was to include the Son and the Holy Spirit.

            The problem that sometimes exist with people understanding who the Holy Spirit is, often comes from the perspective of erroneously thinking about Him being more of an inanimate object instead of a person, not as a human being but as a spiritual being. The Bible, however, lets us know that the Holy Spirit is not an object, but He is a Living Force. The Bible says, “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” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit is there to give us the support that we need in order to be in full compliance and submission to the will of God. He is our foundation and covers us so that we will not fall prey to the enemy. He brings back to our memory the Word of God, which is to be used as a double-edged sword to fight against demonic forces.

The Holy Spirit is active in the lives of all who have a heart for God. Jesus promised to send Him once He left to go back to Heaven and therefore included the Holy Spirit as being part of the Godhead when baptizing new converts.  The Bible says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus did not exclude the Holy Spirit as part of the Great Commission, but He let us know that the Holy Spirit was an important part of the believer’s life.

The Helper

“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 according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). 

            The enemy is always lurking around in the shadows to discourage the children of God. He tries his best to remind you of the things that you may have once been enslaved to under sin, and to tempt you in areas in which you may be weak. Nevertheless, God has given us the Helper in order to defeat the enemy. The Bible says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). We cannot defeat the devil on our own. We must submit fully to the Lord in order for Him to help us. The Holy Spirit is there to guide and teach us so that we can be prepared for battle. The Bible says, “He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem!’ This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s’ ” (2 Chronicles 20:15).

            During the Old Testament times, the Children of Israel were always having to fight an enemy. But their victories did not come from within themselves. Their victories were only because of the Lord. God is still fighting battles today and if we fully submit our will and make it His, the Holy Spirit will help us to be victorious. The Bible says, ^“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free form sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:20-22).

            Another work of the Holy Spirit is to help us remain steadfast in God. The Bible says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:10-11). The Psalmist knew that in order to remain faithful to God and keep His commands, he had to have the right Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit to reside in him. The desire to do what is opposite of God is ever-present, but the Holy Spirit helps the believer to stay planted firmly in God.  The Bible says, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Galatians 5:17). The Holy Spirit never forces anything on an individual; yet, we have free choice to invite Him in to take control.

            The Holy Spirit helps us to be able to relate to others. The Bible says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken” (Acts 2:4-6). The apostles were able to take the Word to the world because the Holy Spirit filled them with Himself, and as a result, they were able to speak in languages that they had never studied. The Holy Spirit helped them to do this so that others could learn the Good News about Jesus and be saved, without having the limitation of what could have been inadequate communication. They did not have social media, TV, radio or the likes to get the word of God out. However, the Holy Spirit played an essential role to the worldwide spreading of the Gospel and helping to change hearts and minds. The Bible says, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

            The need for the Holy Spirit as a Helper in the lives of Christians is so important that if one even speaks against the Holy Spirit, forgiveness would not be obtained.  The Bible says, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32). The work of the Holy Spirit is never to be taken lightly. God considers His work in the believer’s life is very important because the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the essence of the Father. No one has been able to see the Father, but when we allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, we are able to understand God’s nature of what is right and wrong; what is acceptable and pure; what is Holy and unholy; what is righteous and unrighteous. The Bible says, “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).

The Intercessor

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

The Holy Spirit has many roles that He plays in our lives. Without Him, we would not understand the Father, nor the Son. One of His roles is that He intercedes on our behalf when we pray. We do not know what to pray for on our own, but it is through the Holy Spirit that allows proper intercession to get through to Jesus, our Mediator, and then to the Father. The Bible 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” (Romans 8:26). In other words, the Holy Spirit cries out to God in a Heavenly language on our behalf. We may pray for one thing, but the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and makes it appropriate to be presented before the presence of the Most-High God.

            The disciples, when Jesus was here on earth, asked Him to teach them how to pray. The Bible says, “This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus first acknowledged the Father and where He resides for all prayers go up to Heaven and ends with the Father after Jesus mediates on our behalf. The Bible says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him, he hears their cry and saves them” (Psalm 145:18-19). Jesus then gave reverence to God’s name and let us know that God’s kingdom will one day come to earth. The Bible says, “The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name” (Zechariah 14:9).

Jesus let us know that God’s will should be first and foremost when we pray; therefore, we cannot pray and expect an answer that is outside of the will of God. We are to ask for understanding and wisdom regarding our spiritual journey and study for direction which is found in the Word of God. Also, forgiveness of others is something that we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us do so that God may forgive us for our trespasses. The Bible says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). Forgiveness enables us to be more receptive to the Spirit as we pray not only for ourselves but the person with whom we have taken offense.

The Holy Spirit helps believers to avoid yielding to temptation. God never tempts us, for that is of the enemy; but He does allow us to go through tests that challenge our faith. Even so, He has provided a way for us to not fall into the devil’s trap by way of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).  Therefore, the Lord’s prayer, that was taught to the disciples helps us to be mindful that when we pray, as Jesus taught, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf.

The Holy Spirit helps the believer to not ask sinful and selfish things of God, but helps us to align our prayers in accordance with His will. He is very essential in our prayer life and it is through Him that we can be in complete submission to the will and ways of the Father.