holy_spirit | Piercelights

Making Jesus known.

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 NASB

The truth about the HOLY SPIRIT

Refer to The truth about the TRINITY to learn more about the person of the Holy Spirit.

Before we can fully understand the work of the Holy Spirit, we must understand more about our human condition.

THE HUMAN CONDITION

We are composed of three aspects: a body, a soul and a spirit.

Body – Our body is temporary, necessary for while we live in this world.
Soul – Our soul is composed of our mind (what we think), our will (what we desire), and our emotions (what we feel).
Spirit – Because of the fall, we are born spiritually dead and slaves to our sin nature.

Now, let’s discuss the roles of the Holy Spirit and then we’ll integrate the two below on this page.

THREE ROLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. He CONVICTS us of our need for redemption.

But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. John 16:7-11 (NASB)

Because we are spiritually dead in our sin, we would never seek to be redeemed. The Holy Spirit works in the life of a non-believer to bring them to the point of conviction.

IMPORTANT: The non-believer still has free will and must choose to respond to the conviction.

2. He REVIVES our Spirit at the point of CONVERSION

In Him, [Jesus] 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 the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NASB)

This provides answer to the question, “When does a Believer receive the Holy Spirit?”. Immediately upon repentance and acceptance of Jesus Sacrifice, as full payment for our sins, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and born again spiritually.

But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 (NASB)

Because our spirit is now joined with the Holy Spirit, it is in perfect union with God and desires what God desires.

3. He SANCTIFIES throughout our life

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but [i]the life that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.

Romans 6:5-14 (NASB)

Because we are a new creation, we are no longer a slave to sin, but our flesh is still weak, and our will and our emotions are piqued to tempt us to live our old life.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13-14 (NASB)

We do not have to yield to the temptation because the Holy Spirit provides strength and guidance to align our behavior with what our spirit knows to be God’s will.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NASB)

This process of taming our old self to live a redeemed life is called sanctification. It can be a long and slow process, but we can be confident that nothing can separate us from our God.

Don’t you know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

(1 Corinthians 3:16 HCSB)

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9 ESV)

Who has the Holy Spirit?

All believers have the Spirit, regardless of their spiritual condition.

You cannot be a believer without the Spirit and without the Spirit, you cannot be a believer.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

As promised above, let's take a look at what a life looks like without (non-believer) and with (believer) teh influence of the Holy Spirit.

The life of a Non-believer

The diagram shows the life of a non-believer with the three aspects of the person functioning improperly.

The life of a Believer

This diagram illustrates the life of a believer with all three aspects of the person working according to God’s design.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)

BEING FILLED vs. REFILLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

A believer receives access to all of the Holy Spirit that they will ever need at the time of conversion.

The amount of the Holy Spirit that we experience is directly related to our level of submission to His influence on our lives. The more we yield to the process of sanctification, the more aligned to God's will we become. The more aligned we become the more fruit is produced in our life.

If we can never exhaust the supply that we have, there is no reason to need a REFILL.

The world tells us that we have more power and influence when we are "in control" but the ways of the God's Kingdom are the opposite. The more submitted we are to the ONE who is "in control" (and has our best in mind) the more He can demonstrate His power and His influence to further His Kingdom. And, the amazing this is that we end up experiencing more satisfaction than we ever did when we thought we were "in control".