A short summary of this paper. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission.
In these pages, I am delighted to be able to share with you even more about this wonderful third person of the Trinity and to encourage you to know and experience a relationship with Him in new and glorious ways. Join me as we discover how to experience a deeper, more intimate relationship with the blessed Holy Spirit.
In some cases, you will see words that are italicized. Italics indicate that these words have been supplied or included by the translators of the King James Version. In many places, you will see words or phrases printed in boldface type. Within Bible quotations, I have used that bold type in order to emphasize a specific name or function of the Holy Spirit to help you better understand the principles we are discussing.
Be blessed as you see Him revealed in God's Word! This variety of titles is not meant to cause confusion, but to accomplish just the opposite. They are intended to help us understand and experience the countless wonderful aspects of the triune God. They help reveal His character and His nature—as brilliant, as rich, and as multifaceted as a precious jewel.
God, the great "I AM" Exodus , is referred to by many different names throughout the Bible, each with a specific meaning and application. Throughout the pages of Scripture, we also see many other titles and names used for the Lord Jesus—from "the Prince of Peace" Isaiah to "the bread of life" John to "the light of the world" John to "the good shepherd" John Likewise, the Holy Spirit has a variety of names throughout Scripture.
They provide tremendous insight into the will, ways, and work of the Holy Spirit. I'd like to show you what these names mean to you and how you can experience the Holy Spirit more intimately as you come to understand Him through His names. That is not only His predominant title, but also a power- packed definition of who and what He is. He is Holy— not defiled or common, but possessing all the purity and holiness of God.
He is also Spirit—not flesh, as humans are; nor having a physical body, but sharing the very invisible nature and essence of God. Because of the incredible glory that envelopes me and floods my being when I am in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I find it difficult to put into words just how I feel when I am in His presence.
Words seem inadequate and cheap when attempting to describe an experience of such incredible spiritual wealth. The dimension of His power and presence is beyond anything else I have ever experienced.
The Holy Spirit can take an ordinary hotel room and transform it into a sacred cathedral by His very presence. He can take a massive arena or stadium designed for sporting events and transform it into the Holy of Holies—the place where God's presence resides and is manifest. And in the vast expanse of that arena, any individual who has been touched by the presence of the Holy Spirit can experience such dynamic fellowship and intimacy in that presence that all awareness of others fades in the light of His glory.
And when that happens, time seems to stand still. When the Holy Spirit descends during my private devotional times or in my public ministry, I often think of Moses when he stood before the burning bush. He took off his shoes because God said, "the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" Exodus By the Holy Spirit, I am aware of the wonderful presence of God, right there in the room with me.
Let's look at some of the specific places throughout Scripture where the third person of the Trinity is referred to as the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. I encourage you to get to know Him as each of these names reveals Him. Pray for a deeper understanding of His holiness and of His spiritual nature, which enables Him to be with you wherever you are, whenever you need Him.
Eleven of those sixteen relate specifically to the Father. We first encounter the Spirit of God by this name in Genesis 1—the very first chapter of the Bible. At creation, it was the Spirit of God who hovered over the face of the waters see Genesis Can you imagine the awesome power that was present when the universe was created?
This mighty Spirit of God created all things from absolutely nothing! The Pharisees accused Him of using satan's power to perform such a miracle. The Lord Jesus, who knew their thoughts, declared that he "cast out devils by the Spirit of God" Matthew The Spirit of God is the Spirit of prophecy.
He's the Spirit of power. And He is the Spirit of guidance. We see this as the Scripture declares in Romans "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
He is living in your heart and making resurrection power available moment by moment. Hallelujah for the Spirit of God! And hallelujah that "the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" 1 Corinthians I love the story of Gideon. After years of oppression by the Midianites, Gideon answered God's call on behalf of the Israelites. Scripture tells us that "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon," and he called his armies together Judges Thirty-two thousand men came to fight.
The Lord told Gideon that there were too many men in the army. He did not want Israel to be able to brag about winning the battle because of their large number. He wanted them to be convinced that He alone had made them triumph and given them the victory.
So He asked Gideon to reduce the army to men whose only weapons were a lamp and a trumpet. When these soldiers surrounded the vast armies of Midian and blew their trumpets, the enemy fled. It was the Spirit of the Lord who led Gideon to such a glorious triumph. He refers to Him as "My Spirit," clearly demonstrating the mystery of the Trinity and affirming that the Holy Spirit is a vital part of the Godhead.
He makes God's Word so real to us and in us. The Scriptures associate the name Spirit of the Living God with the work of the Holy Spirit in making His Word come alive and in making His children "living epistles" see 2 Corinthians When we become living epistles, we are like a letter written to tell everyone about the goodness of God. Instead of concentrating their efforts on being "living epistles" and giving the glory to the Lord, it is unfortunately true that sometimes some ministers may try to establish their importance by talking about the number of people in their church, the square footage of their buildings, the size of their mailing list, the number and size of their crusades, how many potential viewers exist for their broadcasts, how large their budget is, etc.
And how are lives changed? By the Spirit of the Living God. Ledger sheets and membership rolls may be necessary for administration, but they are not important from an eternal perspective. People are important. And all that matters is that people are set free and able to enjoy abundant life by the Spirit of the living God. A person who is miraculously transformed by the Spirit of the living God is a living epistle—a walking, breathing testimonial of the power of the living God in the world today.
Dear saint of God, I pray that you will go deeper with the Holy Spirit and begin to enjoy the highest level of liberation and abundance possible by the Holy Spirit. If you are not, all you need to do is ask.
He is also your Helper and He will set you in places of freedom and plenty that you have only dreamed of before. Paul was so clear on this when some of the people at the church of Corinth questioned his credentials.
His reply was simple: all of the people in the church at Corinth were his credentials because of the Spirit of the living God. Read what he wrote: "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in the tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.
Let us pray that we will be consumed by our longing to be used of God and to know His presence in a greater dimension than ever before. The Power of the Highest When I get to heaven, there are many people and heroes of the faith whom I want to meet.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is one of those individuals. In all of history, she alone encountered "the power of the Highest" in a way that has never been experienced before or since. I want to know what it was like to experience God's power in the way Mary did. Oh, how I wish even now to sit with the great prophets of the Old Testament and discover things I am so hungry for. How I wish I could sit with Peter and ask him about the experience he had when his very shadow healed the sick; or with Paul who, when God's presence descended so strongly upon him, he was caught up to the third heaven.
But Mary's experience with the Holy Spirit stands out as one of the greatest in Scripture. When Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that she would bear the Messiah, she asked the natural question: "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Scripture records Gabriel's powerful reply, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" Luke Of course, that's exactly what happened.
The impossible becomes possible when "the power of the Highest" comes. Have you heard the story about the little boy who was trying to move a huge rock? He pulled and pushed, straining with all his might against this great rock. He even tried to move it with leverage from a board, but the rock would not budge. His dad asked him, "Son, have you used all your resources?
I've tried everything and I can't make it move. You haven't asked me to help you yet. Surrender anew to the Holy Spirit and invite the full measure of the power of the Highest to be unleashed in your life!
As I explained the names of the Holy Spirit, I want to help you understand this wonderful mystery of the triune God. The best part of the whole experience was the lift ride to the top—the beautiful snow-covered slopes below looked so peaceful and inviting. They gave no indication of the misery in store for an inexperienced skier like I was who actually tried to ski down from the summit.
As the lift carried us higher and higher, I realized that what looked like a single mountain was actually a series of peaks, separated by valleys. Looking at the mountains from the ground, I could not tell where one started and another ended.
Only when I got closer to the peaks did this become clear. Similarly, long before the Lord Jesus Christ came to live on earth, the prophets foretold the majestic mountaintop experience of salvation He would bring. They saw the two great peaks of Bible prophecy. They believed Christ would come to earth as the suffering Messiah, and also as the conquering Messiah.
Yet from their perspective, the events foretold regarding the coming Messiah appeared as one mountaintop to the prophets of old. I think this is what Peter wrote about when he declared, "Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" 1 Peter The title, the Spirit of Christ, is so interesting here in this prophetic passage because it is a reminder of several things.
I want to emphasize two of them. First, it reminds us that the Spirit of the Lord inspired the human authors of Scripture: "For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" 2 Peter Related to this is the clear testimony of the Word that the work of the Holy Spirit is to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus said, "He shall testify of me" John Second, it reminds us that the Scriptures focus on Jesus Christ.
Prophecy is all about the Lord Jesus, so when the Spirit of the Lord is involved with prophecies and prophets, He is working to proclaim the message of the Lord Jesus.
The Spirit of Jesus Christ Philippians is such a marvelous book! That's pretty remarkable when you think about it. Just about every challenge we face comes from one of these areas. How could Paul be so confident of joyful living in the midst of challenging circumstances? After all, he was in prison, shackled to a Roman soldier twenty-four hours a day. And in the midst of this, his reputation was being attacked by fellow believers. He himself gives us the answer: "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" Philippians Part of the great comforting work of the Holy Spirit is to give us peace and even joy in situations like these.
In the context of this book about joy, it makes sense that Paul would identify the connecting link to joy as the Spirit of Jesus Christ. After all, the Lord Jesus wanted our joy to be full and complete see John and, just before He was crucified, He prayed for the Father to send another Helper to abide with us and make our joy complete.
The Holy Spirit that Jesus prayed for is the One who truly does bring the joy that the Savior wanted each of us to have. So you see, joy comes through the Spirit of Jesus Christ regardless of our circumstances. The joy that you want, the joy that you are so diligently searching for, the joy that your spirit is crying out for only truly comes from one Person: the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" Galatians The best way I can describe the way our father ran our family is to ask you to remember the father in the movie, The Sound of Music.
Except for the location and the singing, our house functioned much like the Von Trapp household did—strict discipline, well-understood instructions, comprehensive rules, everything neat and tidy, and plenty of work to do. When we failed to live up to the standards set for us, swift punishment was sure. Our home was run with military-like discipline.
My brothers and sisters and I were even dressed in matching uniforms. A former boxer, my father was a 6'2", pound powerhouse.
But even that doesn't begin to describe him. By virtue of his commanding personality, he really was larger than life. And there was never any doubt that he was in charge. In his own way, he loved us. And I never doubted his love for any of us, even though I don't remember hearing him express it audibly very often until the very end of his life. For nearly the first thirty years of my life, my father's stern ways, combined with his type of personality, presented him as detached, distant, and somewhat cold emotionally.
I don't think he was intentionally that way, but by his very makeup he was undemonstrative. And my speech impediment didn't make communicating with him any easier. Although I was his first-born son and I grew up under the same roof, ate bread from his table, and enjoyed the physical provision he made for our family, I never really knew what it was to have a close relationship with him until I was an adult.
Knowing that, can you imagine the joy I experienced when I met the Lord and instantly felt a tremendous intimacy and affection with my heavenly Father? What took me thirty years to experience with my earthly father took me less than thirty seconds to experience with my heavenly Father. I will never, ever lose my appreciation for the relationship the Holy Spirit gives me with the Father because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
I'm no longer a slave to sin and alienated from the Father. I'm not in the Father's family as a stepchild—emotionally distant and never really accepted.
I've been adopted as a full- fledged son and joint-heir, and so I can cry out, "Abba, Father! All of these benefits are yours, too, through the precious Holy Spirit. I want you to understand that "Abba" is an Aramaic term that small children would use in addressing their father, like "Daddy" or "Papa. And how can it be that we can have this kind of relationship with the Father? Oh, my friend, come to know the Lord as your Abba today. Now, I hope you have a better understanding of the way the Trinity functions.
But there is one more important relationship that the Holy Spirit enjoys—His relationship with you! We are adopted into God's family. Instantly, we are given power to become children of God see John It is a fulfillment of the Father's great plan.
He called us to "adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" Ephesians Who arranges for our adoption? The Holy Spirit. Paul writes, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption" Romans The concept of adoption points to two great truths, both conveyed by the Holy Spirit.
The first one is mentioned above. It is the great fact of our adoption into God's family with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that are a part of being a member of the family. The second one is the great fulfillment of adoption— the transformation of our bodies at the Rapture when we receive the promised inheritance: "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" Romans The most wonderful miracle we have ever seen won't compare to that great miracle of the Rapture when we'll exchange our mortal bodies for immortal bodies—bodies that will never be subject to sickness, disease, or death.
Don't get me wrong, until that day everyone should absolutely seek their miracle from the Lord. The Spirit of Adoption! When will our adoption be culminated? When our bodies are redeemed at the Rapture. What a glorious day! Come quickly, Lord Jesus! The Spirit of Glory It seems more and more evident to me that Christians are coming under attack—especially in North America. I also see these attacks increasing in intensity. That's why I believe in what I call "violent faith"—faith that isn't passive, that doesn't tiptoe around, that isn't afraid of what people think, or that does not fear the consequences of being aggressive.
Peter wrote his first epistle to Believers in Asia Minor who were experiencing the sting of persecution. He strongly and boldly declared, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you" 1 Peter The Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter, gave these courageous believers two great assurances as they endured persecution. First, He assured them that they hadn't done anything wrong or believed anything wrong. Instead, their persecution showed that the very Spirit of the Lord rested upon them.
Second, He promised these brave believers that His glory would rest on them. He was talking about the magnificent glory of God—the same glory that the nation of Israel experienced in the wilderness and appeared as a cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night; the same glory that the high priest experienced in the Holy of Holies; the same glory that appeared to the shepherds keeping watch the night the Lord Jesus was born; the same glory that came upon the Apostles in the Upper Room.
Now believe me, I'm no stranger to persecution. When I trusted Christ, my whole family turned against me and ostracized me.
But as I held firm, the Holy Spirit came upon me with His glory, energizing my spirit and giving me the strength to go on. Soon my entire family came to know Christ as Savior.
For each of you who feels he is standing alone in the midst of opposition, take heart—the Holy Spirit of glory has promised to rest on you and He will keep His promise! The Spirit of Grace Have you taken time lately to reflect on the wonder of salvation? Without salvation, we would still be "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" Ephesians It is God's grace, His kindness and undeserved favor, that reached out to us.
Even when we were His enemies He saved us. His amazing grace covered our guilt with His righteousness. His grace keeps us, for we were saved by grace through faith and kept by grace through faith.
His grace brings us to the foot of the cross, unable to brag, able simply to say that our best was as filthy rags in His sight. His grace that not only covers our failures—it transforms them into distinctive points of power and ministry.
Because of His grace, He puts resurrection power at our disposal, allowing us to persevere and prevail. Because of His grace, He rewards us, even in our unworthiness.
Because of His grace, He is returning for us, to transform us and allow us to experience the wonder of all He has prepared for us. As Paul reflected on God's grace in salvation, he couldn't help but break out in a hymn of praise for God's grace in executing His plan of redemption: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" Romans How marvelous is the grace of God! And who do you suppose conveys this grace to us? He is the very Spirit of grace and He ministers the Lord's grace to us moment by moment.
Yet, incredibly, some people feel the temptation to abandon the cause of Christ, to forsake the streams of living water for dry, empty creekbeds. The Book of Hebrews was written, in part, to convince these people not to forsake the Lord.
The Scripture declares: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? How much more, then, should we fear the consequences of holding in contempt the Son of God, His sacrifice, the Spirit of God, and His grace?
The Father will not take lightly the despising of the Son and the Spirit. He warns us plainly in His Word: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" Hebrews The Spirit of Grace and of Supplication There are some people who minimize the importance of Bible prophecy, and even some who make fun of it. Mark Twain said, "If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati—things always come twenty years later in Cincinnati.
Do you think God would devote 25 percent of His Word to an unimportant subject? I certainly do not. I am waiting and watching for the Rapture, the inauguration of so many of the great prophetic events of Scripture. Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, said he only had two days on his calendar —today and "that day! I want to live today for "that day! It describes the reconciliation of the Jewish people with the Savior they rejected. This great event occurs at the Second Coming of Christ.
Try to imagine the profound emotion of this moment. On the one hand is the Lord Jesus, the rejected King, now returned as Conqueror. On the other hand is the Jewish nation. They have lived through the horrors of the Tribulation. They have seen the awesome power of the glorified Savior returning to earth with His armies to destroy His enemies. And now in a moment of time they realize that the One they had so steadfastly rejected is the precious Son of God and they turn to Him in faith.
Who prepared the way for this reconciliation? The Holy Spirit! More than five hundred years before Christ, the Lord described this scene to the prophet Zechariah: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and [or "so that" in the NASB] they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and it shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" Zechariah When the Lord poured out His Spirit upon His battered and bedraggled people, He broke through their resistance so they could experience God's favor grace , and that freed their hearts to call out to Him in repentance.
No matter what we've done or how we have failed, He helps us come to the Father in freedom and find the forgiveness and mercy so abundantly available to all.
You can always, always count on Him because He stays the same. Because of His constancy, we can expect that the Holy Spirit will make manifest these same qualities in us as we allow Him to work. The first couplet describes Him as "the spirit of wisdom and understanding" Isaiah Wisdom is nothing more than living with skill.
It goes beyond intellectual knowledge to include the ability to apply the knowledge of God's Word in our daily life—and nothing less. It involves using knowledge in the right way to select the right ends. Then wisdom directs us to achieve those ends in a proper fashion. It involves applying God's truth to human experience.
Properly mastered, it can lead to a happy and successful life. This skillful living manifested itself in the life of the Lord Jesus even from His childhood. As a child, Jesus was "filled with wisdom" and "increased in wisdom" Luke , They marveled at the wisdom of His words, and at the practical skill His words imparted. And did you notice the connection they made between the wisdom of His teaching and His mighty works: "wisdom And because godly wisdom is so rare, the wisdom of Jesus' actions routinely baffled and angered those without this wisdom.
The Lord Jesus recounted the words of His critics: "The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children" Matthew And the mighty, Spirit-led growth of the Church, growing in every continent and country, every village and community and country bears ample testimony to the wisdom of the Master's strategy.
In other words, wisdom is proven by the right actions of those who practice it. Understanding is the same as having discernment in wisdom. It is not about the accumulation of facts.
The idea here is that a person with "understanding" has the insight to choose with skill between the options that come his way. We must diligently seek it. Proverbs, known as the book of wisdom, puts it this way in chapter 2, verses 1 through 6: "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. What an incredible comfort these words are for the righteous! There are many choices, alternatives, and options in the world. Sometimes it seems impossible to choose between them. Thanks be to God that, through the Holy Spirit, we can have wisdom skill in living life , and understanding discernment to choose between the alternatives we face. With the counsel and might of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds, our perspective is fresh and full of insight, and our outlook is optimistic.
But without it, this present existence is at best dark, dreary, and depressing. One by one as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Brief and powerless is man's life. On him and all his race the slow sure doom falls, pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way.
For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gates of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day. I'm so glad the Holy Spirit as our Counselor gives us the meaning and fulfillment in life which Bertrand Russell so desperately needed. But there is no doubt that his is the way the ungodly view life. It is bankrupt and utterly meaningless for them.
As the prophet Isaiah emphasized, the Holy Spirit was "the spirit of counsel and might". In Isaiah , he is prophesying again about the coming of the Lord Jesus. Because of His wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge He is the Wonderful Counselor" see Isaiah He is not only able, but He really wants to help you. Stop trying to muster the power to push your way through things.
With the Holy Spirit, your motto can be, "Not somehow, but triumphantly! They went from a barely-scraping-by existence in Kentucky to Oklahoma because they heard that it was the land of opportunity. The land they farmed wasn't very productive and consequently they never had much to live on. They scraped out an existence just as they had before.
Eventually they sold the land and moved to another state. The person who bought the land from them discovered oil and became wealthy. The reason the land didn't farm well was that it was so saturated with petroleum that nothing would grow. Think of it! For years these dear people lived near poverty when at their very feet was all they needed—not only to survive, but to thrive! If they had dug a little deeper, rich oil would have erupted and they could have enjoyed the reality of financial success and peace of mind!
In the same way we have the great resources of the Holy Spirit at our disposal, and yet some of us live our lives in spiritual poverty and frustration, not using the riches that are at our immediate beck and call. We simply need to go deeper. Not only does He give us guidance, but He imparts the strength and energy to carry out His plans.
The word knowledge here refers to the knowledge we gain through our senses, both about how the world works and about God's moral law. Thus, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to look at the world and perceive His handiwork and purposes in it. The Bible declares that "the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" Romans When we are in tune with the leading of the Holy Spirit, we gain a fuller understanding of the world around us, and every day can be packed with awe and wonder.
But not only does He bring knowledge, the Holy Spirit also brings "the fear of the Lord. Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" Proverbs Now I don't want you to misunderstand my next thoughts. I'm grateful for all the emphasis these days on spiritual warfare. I believe it has made us more sensitive to the spiritual struggles going on around us. But I fear that an unintended result of all this teaching is that men and women now fear the devil more than they fear God.
I tell you, "Fear God, and you will not need to fear the devil. By the way, there is a difference between fearing the Lord and being afraid. The nation of Israel is gathered at Mt. Sinai was ablaze with "thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud [was] upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled" Exodus In fact, the nation of Israel said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die" Exodus Then Moses utters these remarkable words: "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not" Exodus He was saying, "Don't be afraid, but fear!
The people were trembling at God's power. But what the Father wanted was for them to have a healthy respect of His power that would lead to a sense of awe which would then keep them from sinning.
The "fear of the Lord" doesn't mean being afraid, it means understanding Him and respecting Him such that we live a life of loving obedience. And who brings this ability to fear the Lord? The Spirit of Life I love the words of the Lord Jesus, "I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John Abundant life—there is something so compelling about that, something that says within us, "Yes, I must have this.
Now the life He's talking about is salvation, but it is also true that "what God promises for eternity, he begins to do in this lifetime. Whatever has died in you can live again just by His touch! And He brings not just endless life, but better life right now. Paul says, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" Romans Are you experiencing all the life the Holy Spirit has for you?
Someone gave me this quote, and I think it sums up the issue magnificently: "I believe that only one person in a thousand knows the trick of really living in the present. Most of us spend fifty-eight minutes each hour either living in the past, regretting for lost joys, or feeling shame for things badly done both utterly useless and weakening ; or living the future which we either long for or dread.
The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is—a miracle that will not be repeated. The Holy Spirit of Promise Paul declared that those who trusted Christ as their Savior are "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance" Ephesians I want you to notice two things.
First, He is the "Holy Spirit of promise. He also said, "I will send unto you from the Father, Thus the Holy Spirit was promised by the Father as well, and is termed in Acts , "the promise of the Father.
And God did not disappoint them. Don't ever forget that "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Some people would have you believe that God's Word, the Bible, isn't true, or isn't completely true. Regardless of how they articulate their words, what they're doing is calling each member of the godhead a liar. It's an old saying but a true one: "God said it. I believe it.
That settles it. Second, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a promise that one day we will receive all that has been promised and prepared for us: a new body, a new nature, and a new home. The Holy Spirit living within us is demonstrating, moment by moment, that God will one day present us with the full measure of our inheritance. That will be a wonderful day! The Holy Spirit has a specific assignment from God to communicate and impart what is true and valid.
Not only does He teach truth, He is truth. He will teach you the truth about Jesus the direct meaning of John The Lord Jesus declared, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" John ; see also 1 Corinthians He will teach you the truth about yourself.
David was so refreshingly honest when he asked the Lord, "Who can understand his errors? No one can fully discern his or her own errors, but as we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow His prompting, areas in our lives that are invisible to us will be refined and sublimated by the Holy Spirit. The Comforter If you have ever had to appear to defend yourself in court or before the government, you know what a harrowing experience it can be.
What you feel is powerless, alone, and hurting. Oh, how you long for someone to help you bear the burden. I have good news! In a spiritual sense, this is exactly what the Holy Spirit does. The Lord said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" John Jesus, in this verse is promising another Comforter.
The word comforter in the Greek language is paraclete —meaning, "one called alongside to help. In spiritual terms, the Holy Spirit does all this and more. He is a Helper who is so good at what He does that He calms your restless fears and stills your troubled heart. Mere words are totally insufficient to express the depth of my love toward the Holy Spirit for the many ways and the many times He has helped me.
He truly has been my constant Helper and Comforter. And when I stand before the people to preach the gospel, He is there beside me, helping me. Praise God for our Comforter!
The Eternal Spirit As a Member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit was present before time, has been present in every moment in history, and will remain after, as the old hymn says, "time shall be no more.
Just as the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ is superior to the priesthood of the Old Testament, so the redemption effected through the eternal Spirit is superior to the temporary remedies of the law— remedies designed not so much to redeem man as to point out man's need for redemption through faith in Christ.
Saying that He is an "eternal" Spirit is the same as saying He is a "divine" Spirit. His existence is infinite. Since to God alone this attribute may be predicated, the Spirit is understood as God.
He is often referred to in the Scriptures simply as "the Spirit. He said, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
The Lord Jesus also used the same words. He declared to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" John Again and again, we are encouraged to "be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians ; see Acts The names given to the Holy Spirit are significant and glorious. But they are not given simply that we may know about Him. Google Play. Biden to send military medical teams to help hospitals.
N95, KN95, KF94 masks. GameStop PS5 in-store restock. Baby Shark reaches 10 billion YouTube views. Microsoft is done with Xbox One. Windows Windows. Most Popular. New Releases. Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Full Specifications. What's new in version 1. Release December 31, Date Added December 31, Version 1. Operating Systems.
Operating Systems Android. Additional Requirements Requires Android 4. Total Downloads 0. Downloads Last Week 0. Report Software. Related Apps. Snap, List, Sell - Selling made as simple as taking a photo. Bumble -- Date. Meet Friends. Meet, date, and friend people faster and easier than ever. BBC News Free.
0コメント