The Holy Spirit

      As a child growing up Baptist, I knew who God was and I knew who Jesus was. I was acquainted with all the stories in the Old and New Testament. Baptists are good in this way. Whether you are eighty years old or three years old, when you are Baptist, you study the Bible on Sundays. However, the third person of the Trinity was never mentioned. He just did not exist at our church other than in Scripture readings or songs. I always wondered who this Holy Ghost might be. I was clueless.

     This is unfortunate because, as I discovered, the Holy Spirit is the how to of the Christian faith; how to live this new life I had just received upon making a commit to follow Jesus. It was two weeks after my conversion that a friend brought me a booklet about the Holy Spirit. It was only then that I realized the Holy Spirit is a person, a person sent by Jesus to lead, guide, direct, convict and be a comforter to me. This was not all He was sent to do. This is Part I of a series on the Holy Spirit as described in the New Testament and the Epistles.

     I am glad we use the term Holy Spirit today instead of the Holy Ghost. We say the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. How can this Holy Spirit be a person as Jesus is depicted? A person is defined as one having intellect, personality, character, is a unique individual, who holds a position and has a role to play with responsibilities to perform. These terms describe all three persons of the Trinity; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

     How these three persons can be one is a mystery. A number of good simple explanations are sufficient, at least for me. One example is, I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a professional. I have at least three identities and each identity has certain functions to perform which come with differing responsibilities. Yet it is the same person performing the tasks.

     Another explanation is H2O. Water comes in three forms. One form is liquid. Another is ice and the third is steam. Yet these three entities are all the same, H2O. Each has a unique form with distinct tasks to perform.

     At this point I will leave the more complex explanations to the theologians. What I want to focus on is understanding the purpose and functions of the Holy Spirit. I am not writing a thesis characterizing every role the Holy Spirit plays in our salvation, I will, however, touch on a few today that I believe will help you better understand some of the ways He plays a practical role in your life. I will continue next week with additional insights. I encourage you to do a comprehensive study getting to know the third person of the Trinity.

     Even though the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament and we know the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism, it is only just before Jesus' crucifixion that He introduces the disciples to the purpose of the Holy Spirit. In John chapters 13 -17 we find Jesus with the disciples at the Last Supper. He is informing them of His soon departure. This five chapter discourse is filled with an earnest look at the heart of God and Jesus.

     The disciples hear Jesus say in John 16: 7-8: 13-15,

     "However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].   8And when He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment."

     13But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].  14He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.  15Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

     This is only a partial list of the duties for the Holy Spirit. I will continue His (the Holy Spirit's) story next week. He, the Holy Spirit, is the one who convicts us of a need for a savior by convicting us of our sins and a pending judgment, along with our need for righteousness which Jesus gives freely to each of us upon becoming one of His (2 Corinthians 5:21 ). When Billy Graham traveled the world preaching the Gospel (Good News of Jesus Christ) and hundreds came forward for salvation, it was the Holy Spirit convicting the people not Billy Graham. I once read where Billy Graham said, "I have never saved anyone in my entire life time." WHAT! He knew who does the saving and it is not us.

     From the very moment we enter into God's family the Holy Spirit becomes our "home school teacher" if you will. It is His duty to grow us in our faith by guiding us into all truth regarding God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. He like Jesus will only speak the Father's truth and will for our lives. If you sense something contrary to the word of God, attribute that to what I call the unholy spirit of the antichrist who is in the world at all times until Jesus sets up His reign here on earth.

     When you are reading your Bible or listening to a message from another Christian and something your read or they said jumps out at you with great meaning for you, you have just had a Holy Spirit revelation. The Bible itself is written in words which are called logos . Secular books are written in logos, which means words on a page. That is why people can read the Bible and seem to get nothing out of it, they just experience words on a page. But when the Holy Spirit speaks, the word of God becomes rhema, alive. A rhema is a verse or portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction. In the regular course of our daily reading of God’s Word (logos), we need to ask the God to speak to us through His Word and give us insight into it. The Holy Spirit can cause certain passages to stand out with significant meaning or application for our lives. These are the rhemas of Scripture and should  become a part of our daily thoughts and actions.

     Next week we will look at additional practical ways the Holy Spirit interacts with and for you.