The Holy Spirit is uncontrollable, unpredictable, exciting, all-powerful, is everywhere at the same time and full of wisdom. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8 NIV). Those who are born of the Spirit have the opportunity to do great and mighty things through the power of the Holy Spirit if they give Him freedom to lead without any restraints.  With the Holy Spirit leading, you never know what is going to happen next.

The Holy Spirit was with God from the beginning of time and we see His mighty acts in the creation of the heavens and the earth. God spoke the word and the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit brought it into existence.  (Genesis 1:1-3).

The Holy Spirit has been working among mankind for 4,000 years prior to the great outpouring on the Day of Pentecost. He worked mightily during the time of the Laws and the Prophets but was not gifted to everyone.  He was gifted only to certain individuals, for example, Noah, Daniel, David, Moses, and the prophets for specific ministries.

In the case of Moses, the Holy Spirit was placed upon Him to empower him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Later, as they journeyed through the wilderness, God took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and placed it upon seventy of the elders of Israel to give them power and wisdom to bear with Moses the burden of leading the people of Israel.  When the Spirit of God rested upon these seventy elders, they all prophesied.  (Numbers 11:16-25)

Who exactly is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God whom He promised to pour out upon all flesh.  “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28 NKJV).  See also Roman 8:9 where the apostle Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.  This is because Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus taught, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30 NKJV). In John chapter 14, Jesus told His disciples that if they know Him, Jesus, then they also know the Father and have seen Him.  Phillip, one of the disciples, then asked Jesus to show them the Father.  Jesus responded, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:9-10 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit is fully God but one with the Father and the Son, Jesus.  1 John 5:7 tells us that there are three that bear witness in heaven, that is, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit and that these three are one. Jesus is the “Word” as John chapter one declares.  He was in the bosom of the Father from the very beginning of time. He later became flesh and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:1-18).

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were together from the very beginning of time yet God said in the book of Isaiah, “Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11 NKJV).  In another scripture, God declared, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV).  The apostle Paul taught, “…In Him [Jesus] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV). “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6 NKJV).

For three and a half years Jesus prepared His disciples to eventually take over the ministry of taking the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth. By the time Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples were well grounded in the Word but there was one thing that they needed to get them started in their ministry.  They needed power!  That power could only come from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had promised to send them another comforter, the Spirit of Truth, to be with them forever. (John 14:16-17)  He further comforted them saying, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18 NKJV).  In one breath Jesus told His disciples that He will send them another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and in the next breath, He said He will not leave them comfortless, He will come to them.  If the Holy Spirit lives in you then Jesus also lives in you. Jesus taught, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23 NIV).  If you have the Holy Spirit, you have the Father and the Son also. The Holy Spirit is a deposit to every born again believer guaranteeing him eternal life (Ephesians 1:13-14) and seals our adoption as sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:14-16). He is available to everyone.  If you want eternal life, I would strongly encourage you to seek Jesus for this vital gift.

The role of the Holy Spirit is to declare the glory of God, to reveal things to come, to teach us, to guide us into all truth, to comfort us and to empower us for service. (John 14:26; John 16:13-14).  The Holy Spirit also convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. (John 16:7-10).  It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the sinner of sin and leads him to repentance.  Without the Holy Spirit working on our behalf, our ministries would utterly fail.

It was necessary therefore for Jesus’ disciples to wait for His Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit. “…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV).

More to come next week…