HOLY SPIRIT
- The Holy Spirit is eternal, He has no beginning and no end.
- He is the promised of the Father that will baptize us with fire and power.
- He is the Voice of God that instruct and guide us daily.
Introduction
The Holy Spirit is the comforter sent to the Believers, after the ascension of Christ into heaven. Jesus said I will send you another comforter. Every believer needs the Holy Ghost to walk through the 'wilderness' journey of life. God gave us many gifts and promises, but among His gifts, the most precious is the Holy Spirit.
This is because, when we receive the Holy Ghost, we also receive every other blessing, because they all come through the Holy Spirit. You cannot serve God in spirit and enjoy the full benefits of being a Christian without the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in His name, shall teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance - John 14:26. The Holy Spirit is your new teacher, counsellor and advisor.
We should have an attitude of honour and respect for the Holy Ghost and cultivate friendship with Him, because the entire duty of man, to know God, serve Him in spirit and truth, to pray, fast, preach the gospel and win souls depend on the Holy Spirit. There are none of these duties, you can do successfully without Him. Anything done in the house of God or for God, without the Holy Ghost is not acceptable.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is a person - Being a person, the Holy Spirit has feelings. The following scriptures show He is a person that can be insulted, grieved and resisted. The Holy Spirit will not function well in the life of a person that ignores His promptings and specific instruction. In order to hear the Holy Ghost, and receive healing from God, a person should live a Christ centred life, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus will come into that person and occupy the body, speak to him freely, drive out any sickness in him and do many wonderful things through him.
His Ministry
The ministry of the Holy Spirit did not start in the New Testament, He was there in the beginning and He knows all things, and hence He is one of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is everywhere, no wonder King David in Psalm 139:7 says “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
The Holy Spirit is the comforter sent to the Believers, after the ascension of Christ into heaven. Jesus said I will send you another comforter. Every believer needs the Holy Ghost to walk through the 'wilderness' journey of life. God gave us many gifts and promises, but among His gifts, the most precious is the Holy Spirit.
This is because, when we receive the Holy Ghost, we also receive every other blessing, because they all come through the Holy Spirit. You cannot serve God in spirit and enjoy the full benefits of being a Christian without the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in His name, shall teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance - John 14:26. The Holy Spirit is your new teacher, counsellor and advisor.
We should have an attitude of honour and respect for the Holy Ghost and cultivate friendship with Him, because the entire duty of man, to know God, serve Him in spirit and truth, to pray, fast, preach the gospel and win souls depend on the Holy Spirit. There are none of these duties, you can do successfully without Him. Anything done in the house of God or for God, without the Holy Ghost is not acceptable.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is a person - Being a person, the Holy Spirit has feelings. The following scriptures show He is a person that can be insulted, grieved and resisted. The Holy Spirit will not function well in the life of a person that ignores His promptings and specific instruction. In order to hear the Holy Ghost, and receive healing from God, a person should live a Christ centred life, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus will come into that person and occupy the body, speak to him freely, drive out any sickness in him and do many wonderful things through him.
His Ministry
The ministry of the Holy Spirit did not start in the New Testament, He was there in the beginning and He knows all things, and hence He is one of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is everywhere, no wonder King David in Psalm 139:7 says “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
Again, the Holy Spirit knows everything, including the hidden mysteries of God. He was there in the beginning and God waited for the Spirit to move upon the waters before He began to speak things into existence. The Holy Spirit is the CEO of God’s operation on earth because He is the God present on the earth today, as God the Father and Son are in heaven.
Characteristics of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit makes spiritual power available to believers. In order to receive the power of God, one only need to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit. The quality of your relationship with Him will determine the level of revelation and spiritual power you operate in.
1. He is the promise of the Father - Beloved, the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father that should replace our Saviour Jesus Christ in everything. He is described as Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.
Holy Spirit makes spiritual power available to believers. In order to receive the power of God, one only need to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit. The quality of your relationship with Him will determine the level of revelation and spiritual power you operate in.
1. He is the promise of the Father - Beloved, the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father that should replace our Saviour Jesus Christ in everything. He is described as Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.
He is the third in the Trinity and the Spirit of God, also the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The bible said “But when ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
2. He is the power that commissions Evangelists - The Holy Spirit is the power behind successful evangelism and gospel revival, the arrowhead of every good work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us or any man, the strength and power to witness Christ comes spontaneously on that person.
It is the Holy Spirit that sends the evangelists forth to the field, to witness and win souls. It is good to be zealous about soul winning, but, if your outing will be fruitful, you need the Holy Ghost to go with you.
3. Indispensable - The Holy Spirit is the comforter promised us, He is Omnipotent, omnipresent and Omniscient, the Holy Spirit is God Himself. By learning more about the Holy Spirit, we are learning more about God and by seeking the Holy Spirit, we are seeking God.
The Holy Spirit is indispensable for a believer, for He is the Spirit of God and God Himself. He is also our friend, who can eliminate every giant in our life, and as such our eternity could be determined by our response to the Holy Spirit.
A revealer of Hidden secrets - Acts 5:3 gave us the account of Peter, Ananias and Saphir and Peter asked Ananias “why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?” This was a strange encounter when Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit and paid the price of the costly error of lying to the Holy Spirit with death. Within a space of three hours after the death of the man for lying, his wife came into the house, and echoed the same lies as her husband and also died.
Recently I travelled to the Eastern part of Nigeria for some personal business, and after making several arrangements to meet with people on a particular day, I got up in the morning and as I began to pray, the Lord says "Son, don't go anywhere today". I was shocked. I wondered what will happen to all the people I had arranged to meet and decided to seek clarification. As I entered the bathroom, the warning came a second time, with clarity, that evil has been determined against me if I travelled that day. That's the work of the Holy Ghost!
There are instructions in the bible, and there are time and urgent instructions that God gives us direction, and it is passed to you by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost gives us the precise information we need to avert danger.
The Holy Spirit was present during Jesus’ life on earth.
The Holy Spirit was present during each stage of Christ’s life. When the angel appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus, he declared: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).
Later on, at the baptism of Jesus, which marked the beginning of His public ministry, the Holy Spirit was present and, on that occasion, could be seen in material form. “When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him” (Mt 3:16).
The Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers.
Jesus put a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit. He was the subject of intense prayer: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him because he remains with you and will be in you” (Jn 14:16-17). The Lord mentions two points: the Holy Spirit was already real and He was about to come. At that time, the Spirit dwelled with the disciples, but they lacked having Him in them. If the Spirit of God was so important to the life of Jesus, how much more so for the lives of the believers!
The Holy Spirit is an important figure throughout the Bible. In Genesis 1:2, we find Him moving about the surface of the waters, and in Revelation 22:17, He and the bride cry with one voice. From beginning to end, the Holy Spirit has always been active: In the beginning, creating, and at the end of the story, tending to us. He comforts us, helps us, guides us, reminds us, teaches us, comes alongside us, counsels us, and intercedes and advocates for us. There is no area of life in which the believer does not need the help of the Holy Spirit.
Convicts the world of sin
Referring to the Holy Spirit, Jesus affirmed in John 16:8: “When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.” The Lord used the legal term “convict” in order to highlight that, even if a man can point out an error, it is the Spirit that brings conviction of sin. He shows the offence, reveals the foolishness of the sin, points out the consequences, convinces of guilt, and leads the sinner to repentance. He is the church’s greatest ally in its evangelizing effort. Without the help and the filling of the Spirit, the evangelistic task of the church will fail.
The emphasis on the Holy Spirit does not come from any religious organization in particular but from Christ Himself. When the disciples asked the Lord about the future, Christ’s answer was emphatic: “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth’” (Ac 1:7-8).
HOLY SPIRIT - Knowing Him more
The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” The Holy Spirit is a Person. The Bible says that He is not something, He is Someone. He is God. There are three Persons in the Trinity–God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is all-powerful. We read in Micah 3:8, “I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” The Bible says that God is present everywhere. No matter where we go, He is there. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). The Holy Spirit can be in both your heart and my heart, even though we may live a thousand miles apart.
The Holy Spirit has all the knowledge. The Bible says, “The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and takes us deeper and deeper into God’s truth as we go along in our Christian life. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, but we can grow only by the help of the Holy Spirit.
The moment that we receive Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts. Our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit helps us live the Christian life. There is not a person anywhere who can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. There is not a person who can follow Christ without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sees everything that goes on. He knows what goes on in our hearts. He knows what goes on in our minds. Nothing is hidden from Him. And in Hebrews 9:14 the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is eternal.
The Spirit is called holy. The Bible says, “Be holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). And one of the Holy Spirit’s ministries is to help make us holy. We ought to be more holy today than we were yesterday. We should always be conforming more to the image of Jesus Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us in this growing process.
Conviction of Sin
First, the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin. Jesus said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit uses a mother’s prayers, a tragic experience, a pastor’s sermon or some other experience to convict us of sin and of our need to turn our lives over to Jesus Christ. He points to us and says, “You are a sinner. You need to repent.” We don’t like to hear that, but that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without that work, we could never have our sins forgiven. We could never be saved. We could never go to Heaven.
Gives New Life
Second, the Holy Spirit gives new life. The Bible says that we are dead in sins and trespasses. Our spirit within us, made in the image of God, is dead toward God. Mankind needs a life. All have sinned. Therefore, all are dead toward God. The Holy Spirit gives us new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). You must be born again. And the Holy Spirit is the One who does the work of making you a born-again person. It is a supernatural act.
Paul said to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Our good works and all the good things that we have done are not going to save us. We are saved by the mercy of God, by the grace of God. It is something I didn’t earn, something I didn’t work for. It is the gift of God, the gift of salvation.
Indwelling Spirit
Third, the Holy Spirit indwells us. God says, “I will put my Spirit in you. I will come to live with you.” Your body becomes the temple where God dwells by His Holy Spirit.
That is the reason we should never take anything unclean into our bodies. That is the reason we should discipline our bodies. God loves your body. He doesn’t want it polluted by fleshly lusts and the things to which you give yourself. The Bible says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Power to Serve Christ
Fourth, the Holy Spirit gives you the power to serve Christ. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8).
The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). There are people whom you may not be able to love easily. But the Holy Spirit will give you the power to love them. Love is the greatest evidence that you know Christ. The Holy Spirit can love through you.
Do you know Christ? The Holy Spirit comes to magnify, to glorify and to exalt the Son. Jesus said the Holy Spirit shall not speak of Himself. He comes to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14). And the Holy Spirit is pleased when you glorify Christ in your life.
It is the Holy Spirit who draws you to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts you of your need for Christ. There is only one way of salvation, and that is Christ. It is a dangerous thing to resist the Spirit. “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:28–29).
What to do:
Holy Ghost baptism is for exploit in the kingdom and no one receives it and stays at home. You are expected to use the gift to win souls to Christ. It is the Holy Ghost that sends out the 'Kingdom labourers' - Evangelists and Pastors, Prophets etc who are called into ministry.
He will lead and guide them throughout their lives and ministry to achieve the purpose of God. Everyone working in the will of God is led by the Holy Spirit.
Let us live in obedience to God, as unholy living grieve the Holy Spirit and limit what He can do through us - Ephesians 4:25-32. Let us witness Christ with boldness to our generation, let's proclaim the Gospel.
It is impossible to follow God unless we are led by the Spirit. And the only way to be led by the Spirit is to follow God's command to be filled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). When we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we need to continually ask the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, to help us do the things God wants us to do.
FIRE...
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