School of doctrine

God the Holy Spirit

It should be a source of immense joy to us as Christians that even after forgiving our sins and calling us His children, God then goes a step further and chooses to live His life in us by the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us very clearly that the Spirit is not just a force or a power, but God Himself, the third member of the trinity.

Of course, there is no way that the fullness of God can live in a human being, but this is the mystery, that the Spirit, who is truly God, really does live in anyone who is born again (John 3:5-6).

The Bible teaches us that after believing, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). A seal shows a completed transaction, or is a sign of ownership, and so the presence of the Spirit in us gives us great security.

As well as being sealed by the Spirit, we also need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), and the meaning here in the original Greek language seems to be that we need to keep being filled, continuously. This is evidenced by what we read in the book of Acts. First it says that they were all filled with Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4), and then a few days later, they were all filled again (Acts 4:31).

Notice how in the later verse, it was as they were praying that they were filled with the Spirit, and the result was that they shared their faith more boldly.

This helps us to see what the Bible is talking about when it speaks of the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:16-26 gives a clearer understanding of the work of the Spirit in us. It speaks of 'living by the Spirit' and being 'led by the Spirit' . What it shows us is that the Holy Spirit in us leads and guides us to live a Godly life. It says that the flesh (in other words, our sinful nature), naturally desires to do the opposite of what God wants, but in contrast, the Spirit helps us to know what pleases God, and this is the battle that all Christians experience.

Of course, we have a choice, which to obey, but if we are lead by the Spirit, then there is fruit, like 'love, joy, peace etc'', and in line with this, Paul tells us to count ourselves as 'dead to sin' (Romans 6:11). We are to have nothing to do with evil.

Elsewhere Paul talks of how God works in us to 'will and to act according to His good purpose' (Philippians 2:13), and so we learn that not only does the Holy Spirit show us the will of God, He also produces in us the desire to do it.

As we read about the work of the Spirit, we find that He is both gentle and sensitive. In fact, Paul teaches us that we may grieve the Spirit, when we decide to ignore His leading, or use foul language, or when we are bitter, angry or speak badly of others (Ephesians 4:29-31). We have to remember His character, He is Holy. Sometimes when we sin, we sense a loss of the conscious presence of the Spirit, and it is by true repentance and being refilled that we know His presence again. We do not want to grieve the Spirit, because of love for God, and because of the loss that we may feel. We need to remember that as Christians, we are supposed to live with the presence of the Spirit, because this is what Jesus told His disciples. He said that the Spirit would teach us and remind of of His words (John 14:25-27). In realising these things, it becomes obvious that knowing the Holy Spirit living in us can be very exciting indeed!

The Holy Spirit helps us in other ways as well. John chapter 16 teaches us many things about the work of the Spirit, particularly that He wants to help us in the same way that Jesus helped the disciples, and that He convicts of sin.

This is something very important to understand and learn about. The Holy Spirit convicts, whereas the devil condemns.

When we do wrong, the Holy Spirit desires to lead us into truth and goodness, and so He will help us to feel or know that what we are doing is wrong. He will help us to know what it is that we have done wrong, although we may have to pray and ask God to help us understand.

On the other hand, the devil wants us to feel condemned, that means feeling guilty or bad about ourselves, but with no real understanding of why. This is because He wants to steal our joy and our relationship with God (John 10:10), the very opposite of the 'life to the full' that Jesus came to earth to bring.

Over time, we may learn to understand the difference between feelings of conviction and condemnation, and this maturity is something that grows out of a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the most important way to grow in relationship with the Holy Spirit is to remember two important things about Him that have already been mentioned.

The first is that He is Holy. This means that He is grieved because of sin, He doesn't like it, and perhaps this is why when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism, He was seen as a dove (Matthew 3:16). The white dove would probably represent the purity and gentleness of the Spirit's character.

The second is that the Spirit is not an it, but a He. He has a personality, and His personality implies that we need to grow into a relationship with Him, learning to hear Him speaking & learning to be lead by Him.

What hasn't been mentioned in this section is the whole area of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; they will be talked about later.

Finally, remember that He is the same Holy Spirit in us that was hovering over the waters and bringing the world into being (Genesis 1:2). He is the same Holy Spirit living in us who raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:10-12). And therefore, there is every reason why we should be able to overcome sin and grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ!