The Holy Spirit

Do you ever wonder about the Holy Spirit? I feel that he is so often overlooked because we don’t quite understand him, and calling him the Holy Ghost further complicates our confusion. It makes you think you are being haunted, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The Holy Spirit is very real, but he is not a specter. He is a person, and he is God.

Let the truth of that statement wash over you. The moment we accepted Christ as our Savior the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us. It’s mind boggling when you think about it, because the same power that raised Jesus from the grave calls me and you home (Roman 8:11). My finite mind can’t fully grasp the omnipresent nature of God and how he is in each of us all at the same time, but the bottom-line is this: We have the presence of the Holy Spirit, God himself, abiding in us and we know this because of what Jesus said:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and 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. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18)

You know that I love the etymology of words, and in the original Greek, Jesus said he would give us a paraklētos, an advocate, a helper, a guide. I also read that John Wyclif in the fourteenth century was the first person to use Comforter as a name for the Spirit in his translation of the Bible. In Latin, comforter comes from the word fortis, which means brave. Thus, a comforter is someone who enables a disheartened person to be brave.

I know, too much Greek and Latin but I believe it gives us a clearer picture of the role of the Holy Spirit. Think about it this way, in our time of need, he will make us brave! He takes away our inadequacies and gives us the strength we need to cope with life.

Jesus went on and told his disciples:

“All this I have spoken while still with you. 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 14:25-26)

We see here that not only will the Spirit guide us and make us brave, but he also brings to mind the things Jesus said and did, which can save us from making bad choices. For example, we can be tempted to do something wrong and can be on the very brink of doing it, when suddenly a Bible verse will pop in our head. Or words of a worship song. Or the face of someone we love and admire who would be greatly disappointed if we followed through with our fiendish plans.

In the moment of danger, these things flash into our minds, and believe me when I say that it’s no mere coincident. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is our conscious and he convicts us of sin. The Spirit is always speaking what he hears the Father say (John 16:13), and he brings glory to God in everything that he does.

We have truly been given an amazing gift. We are filled with the wonder working power of God, yet how many of us feel that power on a daily basis?  In his book, Forgotten God, Francis Chan wrote there is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers live today. He then used this illustration to make his point: If you had been raised on a deserted island with only the Bible to read, when rescued you would be shocked at what you would find in the average church today because:

Having read the Scriptures outside the context of contemporary church culture, you would be convinced that the Holy Spirit is as essential to a believer’s existence as air is to staying alive. You would know that the Spirit led the first Christians to do unexplainable things, to live lives that didn’t make sense to the culture around them, and ultimately to spread the story of God’s grace around the world.

But that’s not what most of our churches look like, so where have we gone wrong?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but could it be that we have become experts at quenching the Spirit within us (1 Thessalonians 5:19)? The Holy Spirit is like a fire dwelling in each believer; just think of the tongues of fire that came to rest of over the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2:3-4). However, if we prevent the Holy Spirit from manifesting himself in the way he wants because of our thoughts and behavior, we have quenched the Spirit within us. In rejecting his guidance, we smother the flame instead of fanning it, which halts the production of the good fruit in our lives that Paul talks about: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

And the result…. Our faith is flat and so are our churches, which is all a part Satan’s plan. He wants us dull and lifeless, and his plan of attack is to convince us that we know better than God. He whispers that we don’t need to listen to the Spirit because we can figure it out ourselves, and God gave me a real-life example of this a few weeks ago.

Like so many, my church hosts a Trunk or Treat for the community. I helped a friend with her trunk, and our theme was “Get Hooked on Jesus.” My friend is so creative, and her goal was to give kids a chance to see what fishing is like. The kids loved it, but it was a challenging activity because, as my friend had predicted, most of them had never been fishing.

My job was to show them how to cast their line into a bucket, so I would put the rod and reel in their hands and say, “Press down on the blue button and then release.” Pretty straight forward directions, except that was not what they wanted to do. Their little hands immediately grabbed on to the handle on the reel, and they wouldn’t let go. I would tell them not to touch that yet. They could reel it in once they released the line. All they needed to do was press down on the blue button, but so few would listen! They would keep turning the handle until they jammed it. I would then have to pull on the line to release it, and we would start over. It was definitely a test of my patience.

Reflecting back on the evening, I couldn’t help but see the similarities between the way the children handled the rod and reel and how we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. How often do I have my fingers laced around the wrong thing even though the Spirit is waving every red flag he has to try and convince me to let go. And when I refuse to listen to the truth that he is speaking, I’m left on the path of disaster, and the Spirit is grieved (Ephesians 4:30).

So, what is the answer?

As Paul wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy: “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord.” (2 Timothy 1:6-8)

If we make it our business every day to talk to someone about Jesus, we will be fanning the flames of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to be afraid either! He will give us the words to speak. He is our Guide, our Comforter, our Spirit of Truth. He is the voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

Friends, I’m not saying the journey won’t be hard, but Jesus didn’t leave us alone. We have his Spirit who contends for us, and he will be with us until the end.

Amen and so be it!  Lisa

Discussion Questions

If asked, how would you describe the Holy Spirit? 

What are things that keep you from listening to the Spirit?

How does Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit comfort and encourage you in your spiritual journey?