HIS SIGWORK, Principle 3 of 10 - Spirit of God

Spirit of God
Principle 3 of 10 Principles of Responsible Scripture Interpretation from HIS SIGWORK
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We must acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s presence in and with us and our reliance on Him for understanding. He invites us into an intimate relationship with Himself through His Word.

This writing is part of the entire HIS SIGWORK Group Study. For the overview, see HIS SIGWORK – 10 Key Principles of Responsible Scripture Interpretation. This writing is also in the form of a Short Devotional called His Fullness at Shale Fragments.com.

The Hebrew words for the Holy Spirit are Ruach HaKodesh. I quickly drew this image I saw in the early morning hours of February 2019 for a conference where I was to speak. It is a hovering covering of angels and the Ruach over, in and surrounding us!

He comes in His fullness
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. When someone receives Jesus as Lord, 100 percent of the Holy Spirit enters and resides within that person forever. This is called the new birth (See John 3:3). The Holy Spirit is a Person. He does not dip His toe into a heart. He may gently influence us from the outside over a period of years, but once He enters, He enters in all His fullness. Astounding! No words can describe this amazing truth!

Any lack we experience after our new birth does not mean we need more of Him. It might mean we need more understanding. It might mean we should yield to Him in a greater way. It might mean that He is teaching us to walk by faith rather than by feelings or sight. Our lack might mean many things, but the truth of His constant, full presence remains. He entered in fullness because we turned to the Father’s beloved Son, Jesus.

It is necessary that we fellowship with the Holy Spirit and nurture our relationship with Him. We do this by acknowledging His presence and by relying on Him throughout the day. The phrase being filled is present tense because we have the Living Person of the Holy Spirit moving and acting in and through us as we yield. The actions we take stem from being in Him. We do not do to gain more of Him. We allow Him to take control and live through us.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) How can I or any other human being grieve Almighty God? This verse carries astounding implications. The reason we can grieve Him is because He is in us, and in His complete sovereignty, He has chosen to live in us and never leave. He is sealed in us (See Ephesians 1:13-14). When we hinder Him, He is 100-percent there by the Holy Spirit, but not freely flowing as He desires. However, we can repent and walk forward in newness because Jesus the Messiah paid our debt on the cross! His forgiveness of our sin and His power to change us is continually available and free.

He shares His thoughts with us
In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul writes about God’s mysterious hidden wisdom that can only be received and understood by those who have received the Holy Spirit through Jesus. Listen closely to these astounding claims of Paul:

¹⁰For to us God revealed them [those things that God has prepared for those who love Him, from Verse 9] through the Spirit for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³which things we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

I remember the first time I read these words as a new Christian in 1980. I sat in amazement at their enormity.

In Verse 10, Paul writes about our thoughts. They are private and complex. They emanate from our history, personality, influences, longings, and circumstances. No one knows our thoughts unless we choose to reveal them. And even when we share them, they are subject to our attempt to convey them and the recipient’s attempt to understand them.

Sometimes I wonder what my husband is thinking. Often, He seems deep in thought. When I say, “A penny for your thoughts,” he may say, “I’m hungry,” or “I wasn’t thinking about anything,” or “we need a vacation,” or “I’m planning the agenda for the next meeting.” But, if Dusty’s spirit was inside of me, I would know his thoughts. I would not have to ask! Wouldn’t that be amazing… to see the inside thoughts of another person? However, we know this is impossible!

BUT, the Lord God (Adonai), Maker of the heavens and the earth (Elohim), the God Who sees all things (El Roi), and the Father (Abba) through His Son Jesus has chosen to freely give us His heart and mind by living in us through the Holy Spirit! He invites us to grow more and more in our perception of His thoughts. He is Inexhaustible Treasure! He is Indescribable Love… in us! He gently reveals His thoughts as we can receive and understand them.

This truth is reflected in Jesus’ teaching throughout the book of John. Jesus said,
He who keeps my teachings loves Me, and he who loves Me is loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. (John 14:21)

Our Bridegroom intimately reveals Himself to us as we spend time with Him and yield to His ways! Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit:

abides with us and is in us. (John 14:17)
bears witness of Jesus. (John 15:26)
guides us in truth and tells us what is to come. (John 15:13)
reveals Jesus’ thoughts. (John 16:15)

Then, in His timing, we can humbly reveal His thoughts to others.

When the Holy Spirit fell on people in the Old Testament or filled them in the New Testament, God’s sons and daughters prophesied. Prophecy is not only the foretelling of events. It is also speaking God’s thoughts audibly for His purposes in His timing.¹ As He reveals His heart to us, we speak His words to others, often without knowing it. They may be words of comfort, exhortation, warning, hope, direction or any other words from the Holy Spirit.

Father, I want to be keenly aware of Your presence in the Holy Spirit. Help me to yield and move with Him as He discloses Jesus to me.

For more about the Holy Spirit as a distinct person, please keep reading.
The Holy Spirit:

Helps, teaches, reminds
John 14:16-17
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
that is the Spirit of truth Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
John 14:26
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 15:26-27
When the Helper comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Convicts, discloses, guides, glorifies Jesus
John 16:7-14
But 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 He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment… But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, 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 of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Speaks
Acts 21:11
And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

Searches
1 Corinthians 2:10
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Bears witness and intercedes for us
Romans 8:16,26
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…

Apportions gifts as He pleases
1 Corinthians 12:11
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Can be grieved
Ephesians 4:30
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Reflects
Acts 15:28
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials.

Appoints
Acts 20:28
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Sends
Acts 13:4
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Is lied to
Acts 5:3
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?”

Fills and endows
Luke 4:1; Acts 2:4

Is a gift
Luke 11:13; Romans 5:5

 

¹See my Greek-word study here on the gifts of the Spirit at Flower Girl Greetings/Learning Tools/Spiritual Gifts and ShaleFragments.com/spiritual-gifts

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