The Holy Spirit

Something a little different today. Recent conversations about the Holy Spirit have got me reflecting and thinking on the person of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. So, in light of this reflection, I felt to share some thoughts and findings in my studies so far (because there is so much more to the Holy Spirit than what I will share here).

“He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.” – John 14:26 (NLT)

“And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgement.” – John 16:8

The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin. He brings understanding and insight into the righteousness of God. He Himself is the embodiment of the righteousness of God. And He brings into reality the very rapidly approaching judgement of the world, creating an urgency within our hearts of the very short time that we have left. The world does not and can not know Him. They don’t want to know Him, because they do not want to put off their sinful nature. Only those who have turned away from sin and have given their lives fully to Christ, only these can know Him and do know Him. He lives within us, guiding us into all truth (John 16:13).

The Holy Spirit is not a suggestion in the life of a believer. He is not an optional thing that we can be exempt from. He is a necessity. Only through Him do we come into an understanding of the Truth that is rooted in the righteousness of God. I have already covered what Paul says in Romans 8 concerning the Spirit’s role in our lives. It is by the Spirit, fully obedient and submitted to Him, that we are able to come into righteousness and holiness before the Lord.

The Spirit is power.

“But you will received power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

“But as for me, I am filled with power – with the Spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.” – Micah 3:8

The Spirit empowers us to not only have the ability to perform miraculous signs and wonders through Him, but He empowers us to boldly and confidently speak the Truth and to call out sin. To not recognize and call out sin is to ignore the revelations the Spirit gives to us concerning Truth. And as we established yesterday in discussing John 1, the Truth is Jesus Christ Himself. The Living Word of God.

There are many who deny the necessity of the Holy Spirit, and even some who deny Him entirely. But Scripture makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit is very real, and He is very much a necessity for anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.” Meaning, only those who are in communion and relationship with the Spirit can know the things of the Spirit. Only those who are taught by the Spirit can understand the things of God. For the Spirit is from God and He Himself is God. So to reject the Spirit is to reject God Himself.

There is so much that can be said concerning the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, but I felt the necessity and urgency to address the deep need for Him in the life of a believer. We cannot walk in spirit in truth unless we have the Spirit of Truth within us. Anything outside of Him is counterfeit. This is basic, fundamental teaching concerning the life of a believer in Christ, yet we have turned it into something divisive and combative in our culture today. We have taken something so simple (as we love to do as humans), and we have turned it into something it was never meant to be.

If you do not have the Holy Spirit in your life, allowing Him to come in and cut off everything from your life that holds you back from walking in complete truth in the Lord, then you are stuck in the system of the world and have not truly repented of your life of sin. To not be yielded to the Spirit means you are yielded to something else entirely. You are a slave to whatever controls you, and if it is not the Holy Spirit of God, then it is counterfeit.

I do not mean to be so harsh on this matter, but I am tired of the false ideologies that have infiltrated our people. I am tired of the lie that the Holy Spirit is not necessary in our lives, or that He is not meant for believers today. If God promised the outpouring of His Spirit onto all flesh, and God does not change nor does He lie, then the Spirit is just as important and necessary today as He was in the book of Acts.