There is much confusion concerning the Holy Spirit and there is much that is written and can be written.* The Lord says in His Word that God is not a God of confusion. If you are confused in your thinking then you need to stop and do more research in God’s Word. God’s Word is who He is and the Bible says that “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. The more that you know the Lord then the more you will understand. We have no understanding on our own concerning the Lord God.
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. Romans 3:11
We do not seek God on our own and we can not understand God on our own. The knowledge and understanding that any of us has of the God the Father, Jesus, who is God’s Son and equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who is God the Spirit, is what He has revealed to us in His Word. Even then we only know in part and see as through a glass dimly. One day, we, who have received and trust Him now, will see the Lord face to face and know fully.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. I Corinthian 13:12
We can only know the Lord if we have a relationship with Him, that is, if we are His child. God’s desire for all humans is that they would surrender their lives to Him now and come into a relationship with Him and become His child.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, John 1:12
When we become a child of God then we are born again into His family. It is a spiritual birth. We become spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit awakens our conscience and comes to live within us.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:5-7
When we are born again by the Spirit of God, We become a child of God and a recipient of God’s great love. When we are born again by the Spirit of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, then we become a part of God’s family. It is not enough to know about God. We must have a relationship with God through receiving Jesus Christ personally to experience eternal life.
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and we are. I John 3:1a
Before a person becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit makes known to a person their need for a Lord and Savior by showing them that they have sinned. Sin is missing the mark of perfection. We have all sinned. The Holy Spirit makes known to us that we are under condemnation because of the judgment of sin against us. Condemnation brings death. It is an eternal death. Apart from Jesus Christ each person will spend eternity separated from God, who is all goodness and all love. They will be in a place of torment.
And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; John 16:8
The Holy Spirit convicts the world, which includes everyone, concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. However, once a person receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit no longer convicts the Christian. The Holy Spirit comforts the Christian. The Lord promised His followers that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to them to be their Comforter, Helper and Teacher.
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 said to you. John 14:26
He no longer convicts the Christian because conviction involves judgment and judgment involves condemnation and condemnation involves death.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
The Holy Spirit comes and lives within the Christian. He becomes our Helper and the Holy Spirit never leaves us.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:16,17
The Holy Spirit is the promise of our salvation.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13
When we become a Christian, a child of God, we receive all of the Holy Spirit at the time of our spiritual birth. He comes into our life, into our innermost being, which is our conscience. The Holy Spirit cleanses our conscience and that is why when someone becomes a Christian they are clean on the inside, they are set free from their sin and guilt. The Lord Jesus redeems us through His blood by dying on the cross for each one of us. He took the judgment, the condemnation and the death that we all deserved and He gave us His righteousness and life. We were given His life through His resurrection. Jesus Christ lives today and because He lives, we can live.
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14
Before a person becomes a Christian they will often “hope” that their good works will outweigh their bad works. There are no good works but they are dead works and can never appease for our bad works, which is sin. When a person becomes a Christian it is out of love that the child of God serves the Lord. They realize how a great a love it was that paid for their sins.
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. I Peter 1:18,19
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
A Christian can and does grieve the Holy Spirit when they sin, for there is no one who does not sin, even after becoming a Christian. However, it is their conscience that makes known to their own self that they have sinned. It is very important that the Christian learns to confess their sin to the Lord so that He can cleanse their conscience so that they may continue in fellowship with God.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
When a Christian sins, the relationship does not change but the fellowship is not experienced. They have grieved the Holy Spirit.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
If they continue to sin then it is a matter of time before they will doubt their salvation. The Holy Spirit gives the Christian the assurance that they are indeed a child of God.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:16
No one can give to another the assurance of their salvation. Only the Lord can give that assurance through His Holy Spirit and through His Word. The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and makes it come alive for the Christian. A nonChristian can read the Bible but it will often seem boring to him or He won’t get anything out of it. An evidence that someone has indeed become a child of God is that there will be a hunger for God’s Word.
like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. I Peter 2:2,3
When a person becomes a child of God then they taste the kindness of the Lord and they will hunger for more of God. God’s Word is called the living Word because it gives life and is life. Is God’s Word alive to you? Come to Him and give yourself to Him. He will give you life and allow you to drink of the living water that comes from Him.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10
- I realize that this is not a full explanation of the Holy Spirit. Rather, I am hoping that this may clarify some of the understanding of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s life. I too, am on a journey to know the Lord and this a devotional of some of what the Lord has taught me through His Word. How good He is and patient with His children.
Instructions To A Young Life 