Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity. The Trinity is Three in One: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
He is the very essence and power of God.
The Holy Spirit is unique. He is a He and not an it. He is a Person. He is God and has the attributes of God. He knows everything.
The Lord calls the Holy Spirit, He, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment...” - John 16:7-8.
He influences, but He is not an influence.
He is the Eternal Spirit. He is the agent of creation. God creates through the Son by the Holy Spirit. In creation, God worked through the Holy Spirit to bring life into the empty world. He hovers over the chaos and gave life to it. The Holy Spirit adorns and decorates the heavens.
“By His Spirit, He adorned the heavens. - Job 26:13.
"He gave breath to man. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul." - Gen 2:7.
The spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. - Job 33:4 NIV.
He is the Author of Scriptures. He inspired the Biblical authors and He gives us understanding of the Holy word. He is the breath of God.
“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:21.
We are born again by the spirit of God.
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. - John 3:5-6 NLT
As believers, we are reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit. - Titus 3:4-6.
He brought about adoption to sonship and by Him we cry Abba, Father... - Romans 8:14-16. The early church did not teach about the Holy Spirit, hence the misunderstanding and misinformation over hundreds of years. Thank God that clarity is coming to churches and denominations now. Hallelujah!
The Holy spirit is our guarantee, seal of eternal life. He is our teacher, bringing all things Jesus has taught to our remembrance. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. - John 14:26 NIV.
He is our legal counsel. He is our counselor, provides very wise counsel to us at all times if you care to listen and obey. “The still small voice." The Holy Spirit tells us of things to come (... and He will show you things to come. - John 16:13).
He is the river of living water that flows out from within us.
John says “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. - Jn 7:36-39 NIV).
He is Holy. He can impact Divine holiness, keeps us from practicing sin, and getting involved in sinful acts as in (Galatians 5:16-21), but rather produce the fruit of the spirit in believers.
“But 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 ESV.
He is the Spirit of the Spirit upon Jesus in Isaiah 11:2- The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.
He is the spirit of Truth. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. - John 16:13 NIV.
The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. - John 14:17 NIV.
He is the discerner of spiritual things. “In order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” - 2 Cor 2:11,14.
He is the comforter, our Helper. Without the Holy Spirit, believers will be like orphans. Jesus says “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans. - John 14:15-18 NIV. when the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the Father, He shall testify of me.” - John 15:26 KJV. He testifies, bears witness to Jesus. He glorifies Jesus and reveals things to us. He baptizes us into the body of Jesus Christ.
He intercedes for us. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. - Romans 8:26-27 NIV.
In Genesis 1:1-2, The Spirit hovers over the waters when the earth was without form and void and darkness covered the abyss. A mighty wind was blowing over the surface of the Water. The Spirit hovering over the waters as in Deuteronomy 32:11, as mother bird flutters her wings over her young ones, stirs up the nest encouraging them to fly, is like the Care of the Holy Spirit for believers. The Holy Spirit brought in the promise of life and order and beauty to the chaos. He is the spirit of love and goodness.
When there is no light and all seems dark, ask the Holy Spirit to hover over the chaos you are in. In His love and Kindness, He will lighten your darkness with God’s word, anointing, power and glory. This will transform your situation. This fulfills the scriptures in Romans 8: 28 which says, “God makes all things work together for good of those who love Him.”
Scriptures are from NLT unless otherwise stated.