Who Is The Holy Spirit?

The exact identity of the Holy Spirit is clothed in misconceptions and misunderstandings.

Some people think that the Holy Spirit is some kind of mystical and magical force/energy.

Other people perceive the Holy Spirit as being a kind of impersonal power that God has given to those that follow Christ Jesus.

Let us look, for a moment, at what the Bible has to say about who or what the Holy Spirit is.

Careful study of the Bible will reveal that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

And the Bible also reveals to us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, who has a mind, emotions and a will, all to himself.

Many scriptures make it abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit is God including Acts 5: 3-4 when Peter takes Ananias to task for lying to the Holy Spirit and tells him:-

“You have not lied to man but to God”.

We can also clearly see and understand that the Holy Spirit must be God because he possesses the same traits and characteristics as God.

God’s omnipresence is also to be found in Psalm 139: 7-8:-

Where shall I go from your spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there!

And again, in 1 Corinthians 2: 10-11, we see God’s omnipresence:-

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

And, as we have already discovered, the Holy Spirit must be a divine person because he possesses a mind, has emotions and a will.

The Holy Spirit thinks and knows:-

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God

(1 Corinthians 2:10).

The Holy Spirit can grieve:-

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 (Ephesians 4:30)

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us:-

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 (Romans 8: 26-27)

The Holy Spirit makes decisions according to His will:-

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit.

To another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the one Spirit.

To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are empowered by one and the same spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.

(1 Corinthians 12: 7-11)

Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be God, the third person of the Trinity (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

As God, as well as being the Holy Spirit, He can easily function as the Comforter and Counsellor that Jesus promised that He would be:-

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

(John 14: 16, John 14: 26, John 15:26)

The Dwelling Places of the Holy Spirit

John 14:17

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.

1 Corinthians 3: 16-17

Do you not know that you are God’s and that God’s spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

2 Corinthians 3: 16-17

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

Ephesians 2:22

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

Dove (John 1:32)

And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on him.

Fire (Acts 2: 3-4)

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Fire (Matthew 3:11)

I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Oil (1 John 2: 20)

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

Rivers of Water (John 7:37-39)

On the last day of the Feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

My Journey With The Holy Spirit

I have just uploaded my new video which describes my Journey with the Holy Spirit from my earliest days in a Methodist Sunday School to my present life, married to Marlene, and as a member of Clydach Methodist Church.

And, of course, my testimony includes how our Father God answered my desperate prayers when I was ‘dying’ and brought me back to life because as Jeremiah 29: 11 says – God has great plans for Marlene and I.

To view my new video please click below: -

https://youtu.be/utVoXZRKJCU

With many peaceful blessings

Geoffrey

Why is God's Plan for Man not being realised

There are many reasons why God’s plan for man is not being realised, but the main one is very easy to see.

Many Christians simply do not believe in the Bible! And even if they do believe in the Word of God via the Bible how many Christians actually read the Bible in their daily lives?

For many Christians the only connection that they have with the Bible is when a passage or passages is read from the Bible during the Sunday Service in their church!

But like Israel who could not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief, we suffer from tremendous unbelief today. We say we believe in the Bible but one look at the Church shows that we do not.

And another problem equally as bad is that the Church is not being led by the Holy Spirit it's being led by religious spirits, mostly in human form.

And in some churches that I have visited, the congregations appear to give greater worship and reverence to the people leading the Service than to God and the Holy Spirit.

Often it is all about personalities. And ego. When in a prayerful mode we need to ask that the Holy Spirit work in us and through us. We need to decrease and allow the Holy Spirit to increase within us.

Yet, sadly, many Church officials, including some Ministers, do not give all the glory and honour to our Father God, which is due to Him. But, instead, they feel that they are in a high place of authority within their church and that those worshipping in their church should pay homage and respect to them, rather than to God.

The Holy Spirit wants to work with Ministers and Lay Preachers so that they can speak His words to the Church congregation when giving their sermons.

He does not want them to read out their sermons in parrot-fashion; the Holy Spirit wants to inspire them so that they can speak, without notes, to give His message to all those eager to hear what He has to say.

But very few Ministers and Lay Preachers have the confidence – or ability – to do so. Some Ministers of my acquaintance even prepare their prayers in advance of the Service and read them!!

Many years ago one truly inspirational evangelist – Kathryn Kuhlman – preached at meetings in America where many many thousands of people would attend. People would queue for several hours before the doors of the auditorium were opened and the meetings themselves often lasted for more than three hours.

Although Kathryn passed away in 1976 I have watched numerous videos of her meetings on YouTube – and, to us in the 21^st century, what she did is absolutely amazing and almost beyond belief.

Kathryn – through the Holy Spirit – was able to heal virtually any disease or illness, however minor or serious.

Those in need of healing would come up to the stage and Kathryn would say a few words to them, and ask them from what they were suffering. And, almost instantaneously, so it seemed anyway, they would fall backwards and on to the floor.

There were always several men behind the person receiving healing to catch them so that they did not hurt themselves when they fell backwards.

It was very dramatic but also very effective.

People who had long medical histories of ill health were cured and their cures were testified by their own physician!

Kathryn always said that it was not her that did the healing – but the Holy Spirit.

Please take a look at this video:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4zoYWAyN4s

I found it very interesting – and I am sure you will too.

Being the founder/administrator of the Holy Spirit group on Facebook I am in the fortunate position of receiving wonderful information about how the Holy Spirit is empowering certain Ministers/Preachers throughout the world.

Some of what I am told – both publicly and privately – are almost beyond belief and certainly beyond most people’s understanding.

Sailing With The Holy Spirit

It was a calm, windless day. Despite the weather, the members of the sailing club were hopeful they would soon be launching their boats.

Their sails were ready, but … with no wind and only calm waters, no-one was going anywhere!

Some sailors tried to manoeuvre their crafts by paddling into the open water and propelling with their hands, but they soon realised that their efforts were being wasted.

They decided to join the people in the club house and wait for the wind. It was only after several hours that a gentle breeze began to blow and soon people were in their boats.  Now, with full sails, they skimmed out towards the open sea.

This scenario is a reminder of how God and the Holy Spirit can work in our lives.

The Bible sometimes describes the Holy Spirit as a rushing wind and sometimes, like the sailors, we may have to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

There are occasions, from a spiritual standpoint, when nothing seems to be happening for weeks and months on end. During these waiting times we may wonder what purpose God has for us.

The impatient sailors are a reminder to us that we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. Those sailors soon discovered that without the directing power of the wind, they were wasting their time and energy. It can be tempting for us to think we can go it alone, and not be guided by the Holy Spirit.

The people in the sailing club might have left their boats to do other things, but they were also watching for signs around them of the coming wind. No one was packing up and going home! They were waiting with a purpose.

In our times of stillness and waiting, we can watch for the signs of the Holy Spirit as He works in the Church, within the community and within the global world.

We pray and worship together, and enjoy social times with each other, in readiness for God and the Holy Spirit to move us into the pathway that they have planned for our future.

Our waiting times may have come on us due to various circumstances. The outlook seem to us to not be very encouraging. But God is always with us and He knows what we need now, and how He can use us in the future.

Those sailors on the shore anticipated their time when they could be afloat. Similarly, in our waiting times we anticipate to do the things that God and the Holy Spirit wish us to accomplish!

And the time will soon come when we are guided, prompted, incited and directed by the wind of God and the Holy Spirit and they will always move us in the right direction.

Let’s put up the sails to let God and the Holy Spirit blow afresh into our lives!

Healing Through The Holy Spirit

A servant of God was once preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to a large crowd of several thousands.

At the same time a small group had also come with the intent of causing mischief. The innocent preacher was not aware of the evil intentions of these mischief-makers.

The Holy Spirit, however, did know!

So the Holy Spirit decided to inspire His servant to do something very unusual.

As the preacher was speaking for an hour about the love of God, he suddenly said, ‘I shall now prove to you that Jesus Christ is alive today.’

On the platform were a number of boxes overflowing with requests for prayer.

The preacher asked the priest who was chairing the meeting to pick up one of these requests for prayer. The priest picked up one of the prayers, from one of the boxes, at random.

The prayer request selected was from a lady for the healing of her father, who lived in Sri Lanka.

The preacher asked the lady to stand in front of the platform. The lady appeared to be very respectable and confirmed that it was she who had submitted the prayer request that was chosen.

Then the power of the Holy Spirit was made manifest.

In a moment, the preacher became filled with the Holy Spirit and spoken in detail about the lady’s father, living many hundreds of miles in Sri Lanka, and about which parts of his body were affected by the disease.

The preacher’s descriptions were so vivid and accurate that the lady began to cry with surprise and anguish. The lady confirmed publicly, before the thousands of people assembled, that the details being given by the preacher were 100% correct.

Then the preacher said, ‘Madam, I shall now pray with you on this platform that the Lord Jesus Christ may touch your father right now and heal him. He will be healed this very instant. Will you then forward me his letter, reporting that he is completely healed, for publication in my magazine?’

The lady, of course, happily agreed.

Immediately, the Preacher, filled with love and compassion for the lady’s father, began to pray with tears that he might receive immediate healing.

And the people who had come to ridicule the preacher? They promptly surrendered themselves to our Lord.

Following this, the preacher received for publication a letter from the lady’s father, addressed to his daughter, reporting that he had received complete healing at the very moment that the preacher was praying for him.

Pentecost

The time of Pentecost represents a very important revelation of the Holy Spirit!

Fifty days following Passover and the death of Jesus on the cross at Calvary, the feast of Pentecost was celebrated; when the Jews celebrated how God had given their religious laws to Moses.

The Disciples were waiting in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come and baptize them as Jesus had told them previously.

Whilst they were waiting they all agreed to replace Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus, with a new disciple.

The disciples prayed for guidance and – after taking a vote - they decided to choose Matthias. Now they were again twelve in number as Jesus had originally intended.

The twelve disciples then became known as the Apostles. The word Apostle means someone who has many spiritual gifts, including the speaking in tongues.

The apostles were in the middle of their Pentecostal feast when suddenly a loud sound, like a fierce wind, filled their ears.

All the apostles felt alive and full of energy, totally revitalized, and as they looked at each other in amazement and wonderment, they saw that every apostle had a tiny flame hovering over their head.

“The Holy Spirit has arrived”, they exclaimed and they were even more astonished to discover that they were all speaking in different languages.

They all felt as though they had unlimited energy, courtesy of the Holy Spirit, and they ran excitedly out into the nearby streets giving thanks to God in many different languages.

Some were preaching about God in Greek; whilst others were preaching about Jesus in Latin. And some were praising the Holy Spirit in Arabic.

It was the tradition that many people from the surrounding countries visited Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost.

And when these people from foreign lands heard the apostles preaching with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, they marvelled, one to another:

“These men are only from the area of Galilee. So how is it that they can speak our language fluently?”

But some people just laughed and made fun out of the apostles by saying that they were only drunk!

But when they heard Peter preaching everyone felt an emotional stirring because of his vibrant passion.

“Most certainly we are not drunk, far from it”, Peter joked. “We are followers of Jesus of Nazareth. He has come back from being dead. We have seen him with our own eyes! And today the Holy Spirit has descended upon us, which is why you are able to understand what we are saying in your own language.”

And Peter continued, “Those of you who are truly sorry for all the sins that you have committed may receive God’s blessing today. Will you join us?”

And that very day, following Peter’s preaching and teaching more than 3,000 people were baptized and became followers of Jesus.

This was the foundation of the Christian Church.

The Pentecostal account is to be found within the first and second book of Acts in the Bible.

Acts 1: 15-16 tells us:

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.”

And Acts 1: 14 says:-

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

The description of the Holy Spirit’s powerful presence in the Upper Room is recounted in Acts 2:1–6:-

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

”

Acts 2: 17-18 it says:-

And in the last days it shall be, God declares
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams,
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they
shall prophesy.

Peter also mentions (Acts 2:15) that all this was taking place on the third hour of the day (6am).

Acts 2:41-43 reports:

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

And they devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Peter stated that this event (Pentecost) was the beginning of a continuous outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike.

It is believed that this Descent of the Holy Spirit occurred in the Upper Room.

The Upper Room is also known as the Cenacle and is situated in Jerusalem.

The Upper Room was first referred to in Luke 22: 12-13:-

And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there. And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

The Upper Room next makes an appearance in Acts 1: 13-14:-

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying. Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers.

The Upper Room – or Cenacle – is the place in Jerusalem where, it is believed, many of the significant events described in the New Testament actually took place. These include:-

·         the preparation for the celebration of Jesus' final Passover Meal

·         the washing of the feet of his disciples

·         some of the resurrection appearances of Jesus

·         the gathering of the disciples following the Ascension of Jesus

·         the election of Saint Matthias as an Apostle

·         the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost