As a new believer in Jesus you have probably heard about God the Father and Jesus the Son. But have you heard of the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? What role does he play in the Christian’s life?
God is a Triune being. This means that he is one God, but he exists as three separate persons. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. Yet the three persons are the One God. This can be hard to fathom nonetheless it is true. God is very different from us, isn’t he?
What role does each person play? Very simply, the Father plans and commands, the Son performs, and the Holy Spirit guides and empowers. All three are equal, and all three are different, but all three are also one.
Before trying to wrap your head around these ideas, take a step back, through this study, to learn how the Spirit works in the Christian life and what your relationship with Him should be like. The filling of the Holy Spirit is a requirement to live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit lives in the Christian and he is the down payment we receive of our salvation. The scripture refers to him as the guarantee of our salvation.
This study will look at three aspects of the Spirit’s relationship with us:
- Who Is The Holy Spirit?
- What Is My Relationship To The Holy Spirit, and
- Being Filled With The Holy Spirit
Who Is The Holy Spirit?
God is a Triune Being. He is one God existing in three persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22).
In the passage in Luke we see all three persons of the Trinity present. The Father speaks, the Son receives, and the Holy Spirit empowers. Throughout the New Testament the Holy Spirit is spoken of as God.
Since the Holy Spirit is equally God along with the Father and Son, what do you think your response to him should be?
The Holy Spirit is equally God along with the Father and the Son. As such, he deserves our obedience and our worship.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Only God is worthy of worship. As Christians we are to act in his name. In Matthew 28:19 we are taught that the authority God gives us is the authority that all three persons possess equally.
Take a moment right now and pray to the Holy Spirit, that you will follow his lead and that you recognize his authority in your life.
The Holy Spirit carries out God’s plan. He was present at creation. He was present in Jesus’ ministry. He was present at our new birth.
“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:7-15).
Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing to please God. We need the Holy Spirit’s presence and filling in order to live the Christian life. That is part of his role—he empowers us to follow Jesus. Because he is present at all times we can always turn to him for guidance and trust that he will lead us and use us according to God’s plan.
What kind of relationship would you like to have with the Holy Spirit? As he prompts you from deep within your heart what do you think your response to him should be?
What Is My Relationship To The Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit dwells inside every believer. He is the down payment on our salvation.
“It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (II Corinthians 1:21-22).
“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (II Corinthians 5:5).
A down payment means that God has given us a pledge of his promise to be fulfilled. Right now we have the Holy Spirit within us to lead, guide, and convict. But he is also present as the beginning of God fulfilling his promise to us for eternal life.
Take a moment to pray and thank the Holy Spirit that he is present in your life. Ask him to help you discern when he is working in your life to guide you.
The Holy Spirit convicts, teaches, and empowers us to live the Christian life. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is our helper and counselor.
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:7-15).
The concept of the Holy Spirit as our helper and counselor is a very humbling one. Imagine the God who created the whole universe declaring that he will be a partner with you and allow him to know you through his Spirit. What a privilege we have!
Think about your salvation experience. At what points in your life do you recognize the Holy Spirit as having worked to lead you to faith in Jesus?
We should have a love and obedience relationship with the Holy Spirit.
“We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32).
“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (I Peter 1:22).
Because the Holy Spirit is God he deserves the same worship, devotion, affection, and obedience we give to the Father and the Son. He is no less God!
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of himself to you. Pay attention to you life and see if you can discern when the Spirit is working in you.
Being Filled With The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit expresses himself through us. Living the Christian life is the practice of living in the Spirit.
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9-11).
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (I Corinthians 6:19).
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Your life is not your own! Because you have been purchased with the price of Jesus’ blood, you belong to God. God longs to express his love through you just as he did through Jesus.
Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to live his life through you, to guide you and give you his wisdom.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a way of saying that he empowers us.
“The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).
“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
The power of the Christian life is in the Holy Spirit. Imagine! You have the eternal, living God dwelling inside of you through his Spirit. He wants to express himself and live his life through you. When we live in submission to him we experience his power for living.
For what areas in your life would you like the Holy Spirit to give you strength of character and power?
We can be filled with the Spirit right now.
When we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, teach us, convict us, and live through us, we are seeking his empowerment. As long as we do not have any unconfessed sin in our lives we can experience his power, through the expression of his character in our lives. Would you like to be filled with the Holy Spirit right now? Pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to be filled with your Spirit and empowered to live the Christian life. If there is sin I need to confess to you, please reveal that to me. I want to be a clean vessel used by you for your glory. Thank you for giving me your Holy Spirit.