Who Is The Holy Spirit?
- A Heart Refined with Rachel Menard
- 16 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Growing up in a Southern Baptist home, we mentioned the Holy Spirit, but I do not remember learning anything about His role in my life or my responsibility to Him. We would openly praise God and surrender to Jesus. However, belief in and worship of the Holy Spirit were honored at most through songs like "The Doxology" and, at worst, left alone as simply a mystical idea due to a lack of education or understanding.
As I have grown in my faith and knowledge of God, I have come to understand and adore the Spirit of Jesus so much more. In the text, Billy Graham notes that anyone who does not grasp, accept, or embrace the deity of the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinity is robbing themselves of His awe-inspiring joy and life-changing power. He goes on to add, "Of course, a defective view of any member of the Trinity will bring about this result because God is all important. But this is especially true for the Holy Spirit, for although the Father is the source of all blessing, and the Son is the channel of all blessing, it is through the Holy Spirit at work in us that all truth becomes living and operative in our lives."
Based on my experience with the Spirit of Jesus over the past ten years, I can attest to Pastor Graham's words. I can remember at a young age experiencing moments and offering prayers that could only have come from Him. Yet, where the Holy Spirit became most evident to me was when I truly began to study the Bible. The Word came alive inside of me, and the ability to discern things that are of and for God in personal moments and the discipleship of others predominates my thoughts and feelings. The Spirit of Jesus threads God's Word in and through my heart, mind, and mouth for His purpose, and I genuinely do feel and know and have an unparalleled Joy.
Consider what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 1. He is proclaiming his weakness and the Spirit's unending power. He says, "Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people" (Christian Standard Bible, 2017, 1 Cor 1:12-13). Paul is saying that God delights in instructing the Holy Spirit to give His wisdom to one of His children who is actively seeking Him.
The knowledge of Him, of Them, is beyond comprehension, yet so penetratingly personal. I speak of ten years' worth of beautiful moments, but in this season, the truth and distinction of the Spirit in my heart resonate through the development of my prayer life and desire to share the gospel. I have been a Christian for many years, but I have never before prayed and lived like this. The Spirit has so graciously led me away from shallow, selfish prayers to a deep longing for others to be saved. One by one, God is opening doors for me to share His love with others.
Therefore, Pastor Graham's closing thought from Chapter 1 is like a song that I have always wanted to know, but I am just learning to sing, and it causes my heart to rejoice! He said, "We can say of Him exactly what was said of Jesus Christ in the ancient Nicene Creed: He is very God of very God! So we bow before Him; we worship Him; we accord Him every response Scripture requires of our relationship to Almighty God. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God!" Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Amen!
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