Let’s start with the Old Testament prophesy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh (Jews and Gentiles).
And then, Jesus, knowing all things that were promised and things to come, fulfills the promise we read in Joel:
At the last supper, Jesus told His disciples that he was going away and they could not follow him right away but they would follow him later. His disciples were deeply troubled by the news and Jesus then said to them:
John 14:16-18: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.“
John 15:26: “When the Helper comes, whom I [Jesus] will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.”
Don’t be confused by Jesus saying “I will come to you” and then later that we will receive “the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father”. Jesus said the He and His Father are one (not as one) and when you see me, you see the Father that sent me.
In all of the Bible, God inspired those whom He chose to write what He wanted said and so let’s first go over what is revealed about God in Scripture. It is very important to know the persons, order and relationship as presented to us: God the Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit. One and Another and Another!
These are the words of Lewis Bayly who in 1611 wrote a book called “The practice of Piety: Directing a Christian How to Walk, that He May Please God”. All of his words about God are referenced in scripture.
Firstly, God is incomprehensible and dwells in inaccessible light. He has revealed himself to us in Scripture so far as we, in our weak mental capacity can best conceive him.
God is that one spiritual and infinitely perfect essence, whose being is of himself eternally. It’s not revealed to us what God consists of because we can’t comprehend it so we describe it in the abstract as “Divine Essence” or “Divine Substance”.
God is One and has a manner of being in three Divine Persons : Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each are distinguished first by their Names, secondly, by their Order and lastly their Actions (or roles).
These three persons are not three several substances, but three distinct subsistences of the same substance: in other words, One of another and another; or three diverse manner of beings, of one and the same thing.
The Father alone is of the Substance, neither created or of another, divine and eternal and called “The Most High”. He is the first Person, in respect of his natural Son and secondly, in respect of the elect(us), his adopted sons, that is, those who, being not his sons by nature, are made his sons by grace.
The Son is the second Person of the glorious Trinity, and the only begotten Son of his Father, not by grace, but by nature; having his being of the Father alone, and the whole being of his Father by an eternal and incomprehensible generation; and with His Father sends forth the Holy Ghost.
In respect of his absolute essence, he is of himself; but in respect of his person he is, by an eternal generation, of his Father. For the essence doth not beget an essence, but the person of the Father begets the person of the Son, and so he is God of God and has from his Father the beginning of his person and order.
Scripture says of the Son having the nature of his Father as God of God: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power”.
Our heavenly Father loves His Son and has made Him to be God over all of Heaven and all of the Earth. Once the Son conquers and subdues everything under Himself and when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. This is the unity of the Godhead.
The third Person is named the Holy Spirit. First, because he is spirit, without a body. Secondly, because he is spired, and as it were breathed forth from both the Father and the Son, that is, He proceeds from them both; and he is called Holy, both because he is holy in his own nature, and also the immediate sanctifier of all God’s elect people. The Holy Spirit only speaks what he hears from either the Father or the Son. It is said that the Spirit of God knows the deep things and mind of God and only speaks what he hears.
This order serves to set forth to us two things—First, the manner how the Trinity works in their external actions; as, that the Father worketh of himself, by the Son and the Holy Ghost; the Son from the Father by the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son.
Secondly, to distinguish the first and immediate beginning from which those external and common actions flow. Hence it is, that forasmuch as the Father is the fountain and original of the Trinity, the beginning of all external working, the name of God in relation, and the title of Creator, are given in a special manner to the Father; our redemption to the Son, and our sanctification to the person of the Holy Ghost, as the immediate agents of those actions.
And this also is the cause why the Son, as he is Mediator, refers all things to the Father, not to the Holy Ghost, and that the Scripture so often says that we are reconciled to the Father.
Just before Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the Lord said to His disciples:
Acts 1:4-5: “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.“
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit when the day of Pentecost arrives:
Acts 2:1-4: “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 Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.“
Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, the Spirit spoke out of them and each man outside listening to them heard their words in their own language and were marveling about it but some said these men were drunken.
Then, Peter stands up and disputes this, being only 9 in the morning and the Spirit speaks through him the verses from Joel that we read above and the verses below. Then he goes on to prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah that was to come and dies and was resurrected from the dead according to the scriptures.
He quotes the Spirit through David:
Psalm 16:8-11: “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
Once Peter says all these things, some 3000 of those hearing him are convicted in their hearts and want to know what they should do. He tells them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and you shall receive the Holy Spirit, the seal of your salvation.
Once the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, they were like reborn men with power. They were able to perform the same miracles as did Jesus. The Lord also opened their minds to the scriptures so they were able to prove that Jesus was who He said He was based on Old Testament prophesy. They spoke boldly quoting scripture proving that Jesus was the very Messiah and offer them and all nations the hope of salvation by believing on Him.
But the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem was just the beginning.
Not much later, Peter travelled to Joppa and was staying there at the house of Simon, a tanner. While he was there, the Lord knew a devout man named Cornelius, a centurion who prayed to God continually and He appeared to him in a vision, commanding him to seek out Peter in Joppa as he will tell you what you must do. When Peter came and had just opened his mouth to speak the words of life when Cornelius and those with them immediately received the Holy Spirit.
Peter and those other Jews with him were astonished but understood that God searches all hearts and gives of His Holy Spirit to all that believe, even upon the gentiles.
This is the beginning of God’s Word and Spirit spreading beyond Israel just as God promised to Abraham that in his Seed, all nations will be blessed.
Peter returns to Jerusalem and carefully reports everything that had happened in Caesarea to the other Apostles and they praise God for bringing salvation even to the gentiles. Sometime after this, the Holy Spirit commanded that they send Paul and Barnabas out to other regions to preach Jesus Christ the Messiah, crucified and raised from the dead, not only to the Jews, but to the all of the Gentiles too.
The Lord searches the hearts of people beforehand and prepares those that will believe to receive the words of the Gospel. Many Jews and Gentiles believed upon Paul’s words of salvation and received the promised Holy Spirit.
What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives and in the world?
- His indwelling in us is a sign of God’s acceptance
Acts 15:8: “God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.”
- He’s the Helper Who teaches us scripture and reminds us of what Jesus taught
John 14:26: “, Jesus told his disciples, “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”
John 16:13 “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.”
- Convicts the World about Sin and Righteousness and Judgment
John 16:7-8: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”.
John 16:8-11: “And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
· Dwells in Believers so that our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.“
- Source of Revelation, Wisdom, and Power
1 Corinthians 2:10-11: “These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except for their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God”.
· Guides us to All Truth and Knowledge of What Is to Come
John 16:13-15: “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. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you”.
· Gives Spiritual Gifts to Believers for serving in the Church, “The Body of Christ”
1 Corinthians 12:7-11: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.“
How can faith be a gift of the Holy Spirit when we all had to have some measure of it before we were able to believe and be saved?
First and foremost, Faith is measured as a quantity. Jesus called out those as having “little” and admired some with “great” faith and I’d imagine everything in-between so we all have a measure of faith.
When faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit though, it is greater than normal and is to be used by them that have it to help create joy and encouragement for people to grow their faith or to keep others with little faith to begin doubting.
Someone wrote that those with the gift of faith make opportunities to share their beliefs, their learning, and, most importantly, their life experiences. Faith stories have powerful and transforming effects on us because we can relate to them. Faith is usually a prominent gift in witnessing congregations, where personal stories are often shared in group settings, worship, Sunday school classes, or Bible studies.
· Seal in the Lives of Believers – the pledge of our inheritance in redemption!
Ephesians 1:13-14: “In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him (Jesus Christ), were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”
· Helps in Our Weakness, knowing not how to pray and Intercedes for Us in prayer
Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
· Makes Believers New and Grants Us Eternal Life
2 Corinthians 3:18: “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Romans 8:10-11: “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
· Sanctifies us (sets us apart for holiness) and enables good fruit in our Lives
2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16: ” I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:22-25 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
These are the replacements for our works in the flesh.
By far, love is the most important of His fruit to cultivate as it fuels all the others:
God’s love is the FIRST fruit to cultivate, so that the other fruits blossom
a. Peace is love’s security
b. Long-suffering is love’s patience
c. Gentleness is love’s conduct
d. Goodness is love’s character
e. Faith is love’s confidence
f. Meekness is love’s humility
g. Temperance (self-control) is love’s victory
In our walk in and with the Spirit of God we should ask ourselves how developed our spiritual fruit is: It is by these the things we become holy!
Are you still searching for happiness in your life or have you found it in the finished work Jesus Christ and if you have happiness in Him, do you also have these fruits in you?
Love: First and foremost, love is a verb!It’s unconditional too.The kind of love that God shows us is against our carnal nature which is to only love those who love us so it can be a struggle for us. God wants us to love our enemies. God wants us to love those who use us spitefully. Do you serve for the good of your brothers and sisters and is love the motive that drives you when you serve?
Joy: The opposite of joy is Sorrow, Sadness, and constantly Being Negative. God gave us the supernatural ability to laugh when we feel like crying. Do you rejoice in who God is and in what He has done for you through His Son Jesus Christ? Do you delight in the Christlikeness of God you see in other people? Do you have a joyful assurance that God is in control of all the details of your life? Are you joyful knowing that the Holy Spirit of God is working in and for you?
Peace: Peace is love’s security. Do you strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit, giving way so as not to offend others? Do you still worry and have anxiety over things that might happen? These are fleshly things which are the opposite of Gods Peace. God’s peace is the ability out of our love for God to feel in our hearts that all things work out for the good. Can you think of some instances of some good things working out in your lives after something bad happened?
Patience (longsuffering): Long-suffering is the supernatural ability to endure troubles, and yet still stay in love and be full of joy while you are struggling through the fiercest of storms in your life. We all love good things but can we have the same mindset when someone does us wrong or do we succumb to hate and contention? Are you growing in your ability to overlook offenses and instead, imagine a future with God beyond them?
Gentleness: Forms of this are being considerate or kindly in attitude; Tenderness, mild and soft. Having carefulness, politeness and mildness of temper toward others exhibiting a calmness of spirit and an unruffled disposition. The work of the flesh is to hurt others who have hurt you. Do you use your strengths to serve the weaker? Do you recognize the need for a helping hand and act on it?
Goodness: God is ONLY GOOD. It is His characteristic and can be ours too. Do you look for opportunities to be helpful and to make things right and then step forward to fulfil the need, even when others don’t?
Faithfulness: Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of those things not seen. Do you talk to others about what you hope for from God (our own resurrection in glory) and why you’re assured of His promises? Do you encourage or build up faith in others, persuading them of God’s promises to us in times of trouble? Do you live like God is two steps ahead, clearing the way before y0u as blessing?
Meekness: Do you put others first out of love for God? Do you yield to others because of Christ? Do you put the “me” out of life’s equation so that Christ is all in all? Are you happier giving rather than receiving?
Temperance (under-control): It means being able to master our own desires and passions and resist letting them cause us to sin. Do you resist temptation and avoid making it a practice of conforming to the things of this world for the most part (none of us are perfect, you know)?
What if I only produce a few of these fruits?
Don’t worry if you only produce a few of these fruits and others are lacking altogether or others are not as developed as some of the other ones.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t just make us completely new once we receive him so that all of his fruit suddenly appears fully developed in us but rather, He renews us day by day in a transformative process.
So, brothers and sisters, let each new day if necessary, be one of confessing and repenting and then renewal through the Spirit as grow toward maturity and follow our Lord along the way to the end.
Remember too that we are not justified (made righteous) by our fruit, but by our faith.
Over time as the Holy Spirit works in and through us, we will find fewer and fewer instances of weakness and lack of self-control in our lives and of under-developed fruit because that is proof that the Holy Spirit is getting His work done – transforming us into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If any of us are well developed in certain fruit, let us encourage others with them and help develop them by being an example to strive for. I think the Holy Spirit wants and needs us to help each other out of love. After all, we are all in the “Body of Christ” and meant to serve one another.
What happens if we quench the spirit by ignoring what He’s influencing us to do and instead focus on the things in our lives?
1 Thessalonians 5:19: “Don’t quench the Spirit”
This is possible if we let the cares of life and our problems change our focus and our thinking and we stop listening to His influences and let His gifts fall into disuse and stop developing fruit. He will go quiet but we never lose the Holy Spirit and we can rekindle Him in us once again.
Do not fear says the Apostle James as he sums it up when he says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.“
Christians are declared righteous by faith in Christ and once we are saved, there is nothing that can remove us from our redeemed status – nothing that can cancel God’s glorious promises to us for He has told us that once He starts a good work in us, He’ll see it to the end. We can take great comfort in this.
However, sin is a barrier that can put our relationship with the Lord on hold, leading to the quenching of the Holy Spirit. If a child of God begins to practice sin, then fellowship with our Heavenly Father is broken – but if we confess and repent from our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That’s what drawing near to God means and He is faithful to forgive us.
Paul tells Timothy to reignite and stir up the embers of the Holy Spirit in him.
We can do that by adding proverbial fuel to the embers such as kindling and then timber. That means we draw our attention back to Him with daily prayer, bible study and act upon His influences. His influence will then grow stronger and stronger in our lives as we continue to walk with Him.
Paul speaks to Timothy about this:
2 Timothy 1:6-7: “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” Brothers and Sisters, with these things let us comfort and encourage one another, never losing sight of our goals in Christ.