UNDERSTANDING THE HOLY GHOST OR HOLY SPIRIT!

It is the activity of God in a universal sense or present everywhere at the same time. It is the moving force in the universe taken as a whole. The Spirit is the infinite “breath” of God. The life essence of Being. "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost'” (St. John 20:22).

What they were receiving was the very mind of God:  His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, power, authority, dominion! This was the same “breath” that was breathed into Adam in Genesis 2:7. This is the same wind or “breath” that was breathed on the bones in the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. This was the same “wind” or “breath” that was in the upper room at Pentecost!!

This is the power that caused a man named Peter, who denied Jesus in St. John 18, to stand up at Pentecost and preach Christ until thousands were saved!!! This is the same “breath” or Spirit that gives us the power to do what we do for the Kingdom of God!! The Holy Spirit is the “love” of God taking care of the human family. The Holy Spirit is in the world today with great power and wisdom, ready to be poured upon all who look to it for guidance. Its mission is to bring all men into communion with God; to guide men in order that they will not mistake the way into the light.

This “light” is the very life of God that He wants His people brought into! St. John 1:4 states “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”. The “life” is the zoe, which means to live, quicken or be alive; breath; spirit; to be rational (sound or whole); an immortal soul!

**Two things are imperative for “life”! 1) Light 2) Love

The LIGHT is the phos or pha’o, which is the taking on of the mind of Christ - His intellect, wisdom, knowledge. We must think with God’s mind!

Then we must LOVE, or aga’pe, unconditionally as God loves. God's love is not emotional! "God is a Spirit" (St. John 4:24), and "God is love" (1 John 4:8). This lets us know that “love” is a “spirit”. When we “love” with God’s Spirit that lives in us, we can love folks regardless of what they say or do to us. We may not like what they say or do, but we must love the person. When I hear someone say, “ I used to love them, but I don’t love them anymore”, especially speaking of a relationship that has "gone south", I know then that they never really loved the other person. They were operating out of soul (emotions). When we love with the love of God, you can go your separate ways and still love the other person. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him" (1 John 2:9-10).

The Holy Spirit is third in the Trinity or God Head, which in theology is designated: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In metaphysics, it’s approached as mind, idea, and expression. To be “filled with the Holy Spirit” is to realize the activities of Spirit in individual consciousness. The quickening of a man by the Holy Spirit is peculiar to each individual and must be experienced by each to be understood.

The Holy Spirit is the authority on the gospel of Jesus. It is the only authority that Jesus ever recognized, and whoever attempts to set forth His gospel from any other standpoint is in the letter and not the spirit. No man can know what Jesus’s doctrine is except he gets it directly from the one and only custodian. It is not to come secondhand nor traditionally, but each for himself must receive it from the Holy Spirit, which is sent by the Father in the name of the Son.

Ghost and Spirit are from the Greek word pneuma meaning:
(1) a current of air, ie breath or a breeze. This was the same “breath” that the Lord God breathed into the nostrils of the man Adam in Genesis 2:7; the same “breath” that was breathed upon the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14; the same “breath” that Jesus breathed on the disciples in St. John 20:22; also the same “wind” that came into the upper room at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4:

(2) by analogy or figuratively a spirit, ie (human) the rational soul: rational meaning to be of a sound mind or made whole in God. According to 1 Corinthians 2:11, man has his own spirit that came from God, yet he (man) needs the Holy Spirit to purify him and lead him! (1 John 1:9, Galatians 3:27 & Romans 8:14)

(3) (by implication) vital principle: because it is necessary, essential, and the primary source of life. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

(4) mental disposition: what pose (position or place) is your mind in. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

(5) superhuman which is being above that which is “human”. This is when God puts His “super” power (of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit) on our “human” and causes us to do exploits for His glory!! “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (St. John 14:12).

(6) also means: an angel, demon, or divine God, Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit (Ghost); Spirit (of the Lord; of Truth; of Christ), human (spirit), (evil) spirit, life, spiritual (ly), wind; it is rarely used as wind, but when it is, it is known for its strength, vigor, and force

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALED HIMSELF AS A PERSON AND DEITY
• St. John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".
• St. John 1:14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth".
• St. John 4:24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in `spirit and in truth". God is Spirit, but He put on flesh in Jesus Christ! God is Light! Light travels at the speed of 286,282 miles per second. That’s natural light; what about our GOD!! But He slowed Himself down enough to “materialize” as man, and yet maintained His identity as GOD!!! AWESOME!!!

He has the attributes of personality (characteristics that constitute an individual).
• INTELLECT
Romans 8:27: “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”. When we are walking in 1 Corinthians 2:16 ("We have the mind of Christ"), it's stating that we have the intellect of Christ. Intellect means that we not only have the ability to understand knowledge, but we also accept knowledge and grasp the revelation as Peter did. He not only saw the man Jesus, but he came to know the Christ (Matthew 16). Hallelujah!
1 Corinthians 2:10-13: “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual”.

Our God is OMNISCIENT, meaning He is ALL KNOWING! Nothing is hidden from Him! "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee" (Psalm 139:12).

• EMOTIONS
Ephesians 4:30: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption”.
Mark 14:34: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death”. He (the Holy Spirit) feels what we feel. He has passion, sensitivity, warmth, etc.
Hebrews 4:15: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin".

• WILL
1 Corinthians 12:11: “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will”. Having a will gives us the ability to choose or decide what you want to do in a given situation. Even Jesus Himself said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (St. John 6:38). 

He Performs the Actions of Personality:
• TEACHES
St. John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”.
As we mature in God we also become teachers and instructors in the Word of God and by our lives. Therefore we must study, spuda’zo (use speed, labor, make an effort, be prompt and earnest, endeavor, or diligently), to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly (orthos) or correctly dividing (orthotome’o), making a straight cut, dissecting or anatomizing and expounding the divine truth of the message of the Word of God! (2 Timothy 2:15)

• TESTIFIES
St. John.16:16: “and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father”.
He is still testifying through us because people are still being healed, saved, delivered and made free from the bondages of the enemy by the HOLY GHOST!!

• DIRECTS
Acts 8:29: “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot”.
Acts 13:2: “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”.

• GUIDES
Romans 8:14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”.

• WARNS
1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils”.

He is Deity because He is the Spirit of God and of Christ: and proceeds eternally from the Father. Romans 8:9: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”.
St. John 15:26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”.
Galatians 4:6 : “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father”.

Scripture places the Holy Spirit on a level with the Father and the Son:
• 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen”.
• Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-6: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all”.
• 1 Peter 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied”.

The works of God always involve all three persons of the Trinity. It was the triune God who created the world and who reveals Himself in it and by His word to man. It was the triune God who redeemed His people from their sin. Even so, some of these works are specifically the concern of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings about the consummation of the works of the triune God!

IN CREATION:
• The Spirit hovers over His creation:
Genesis 1:1-2: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”.
• The Spirit spreads throughout the heavens
Job 26:13: “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent”.
• The Spirit gives life to men
Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life”.
• The Spirit provides them with excellent gifts - both natural abilities and spiritual powers
Exodus 31:2-3: “See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship”.
1 Corinthians 12:8-11: “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”.
• The Spirit convicts and pleads with men to repent and return to God:
Genesis 6:3: “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years”.
St. John 16:8-9: “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me”.
Romans 2:4: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

It is especially through the Spirit that the triune God bears witness of Himself to men!!

IN REVELATION AND INSPIRATION:
Inspiration: the stimulation within the mind of some idea, feeling, or impulse which leads to creative action; a divine or holy presence which inspires; the act of inhaling air or should I say, “breathing in God”!
Revelation: something revealed; manifestation of divine truth

THE HOLY SPIRIT is the divine Author of God’s revelation to mankind!! The prophets and apostles were the human instruments that spake from God being moved by the Holy Spirit!
• 2 Peter 1:21: “For the 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”.

It is clearly stated that Old Testament prophets received the words of the Lord by His Spirit:
• Zechariah 7:12: “Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts”.
• Ezekiel 2:2: “And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me”.
• Nehemiah 9:30: “Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands".
• Isaiah 6:9-10: “And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed”.
• Acts.28:25: “And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers”.

The Spirit of God is the One who inspired the Scriptures, ie, taught the very words so that they are accurate, infallible, and authoritative! Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach His apostles all things and bring to remembrance, all that He had said to them.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual”!
2 Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness".

Being inspired by God is Him breathing into us His wisdom, knowledge, power, or His very mind to stimulate, enliven, spur, and stir us to not just be hearers of His Word, but be doers of it for His glory!! St. John 15:26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”!

Remember, it is in Him we live, move, and have our very being. So whatever we say, let it glorify our Father! Whatever we do, let it be an example of Jesus Christ the Son! As we do this, the Holy Ghost will bear witness that we are the sons of God!

~ Apostle Gracie Perry