6 Facts About the Holy Spirit: Who is He and What is His Role?
As Christians, we all know the parts of the Trinity: God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father and Christ Jesus are typically quite easy to understand, but the Holy Spirit can be quite mysterious. Let’s dive into six facts about the Holy Spirit, and understand a little more about who He is and what His role is in our Christian walk.
1. He is Our Assurance that We are One with God
When we give our lives to Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit who then dwells within us. Why? One reason for the Spirit’s indwelling is to provide us with assurance. As Christians, we can know that we live in God, and God in us, as we “share” in the gift of the Spirit. By sharing in God’s Spirit, we can receive assurance of a personal relationship with God himself. Also, as we live in God through the Spirit and he in us, we are called and enabled to love and believe.
1 John 4:13 “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.”
2. He is Our Guarantee of Life in Heaven
An interesting role of the Holy Spirit is that God gave Him to us as a guarantee of our life to come in Heaven.
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks of how we long for our heavenly home while we are in our earthly body. As a tentmaker, Paul likened our present bodies to “earthly tents” that can be destroyed. But the reality of physical death should not cause us fear because we can be assured of receiving a permanent heavenly house – a spiritual body given by God. Although we groan and long to be with Christ, we have great hope for we are destined to possess a spiritual body perfectly suited to the geography of heaven. God has prepared us for the resurrection transformation by giving us his Spirit as a down payment, guaranteeing what is to come!
What we experience with the Holy Spirit on earth is God’s way of saying, “My child, here is just a small piece of what I have in store for you in eternal life.”
2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
3. He Gives Us God’s Love, Strength, Hope, and Freedom
Living with the Holy Spirit comes with great spiritual blessings. Take a read of what Scripture says the Spirit brings to us as followers of Christ:
Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Romans 5:5 “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
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4. He is Our Intercessor
Have you ever heard the term intercessory prayer? It is basically the act of praying on behalf of another, praying for a fellow brother or sister in Christ. You are acting as the mediator between that person and God, asking for their needs for them.
It is such a blessing to know that a fellow Christian has been praying for you, but did you know that the Holy Spirit can also pray for you?
Romans 8 describes a situation that we have all most likely experienced. It is a situation where we do not know what to pray for and/or how to pray. As Christians, we don’t always know the mind and will of God, but the Spirit does, so we can rest assured that despite our ignorance, God will be guiding us through our trials and working out what is best for us. As we pray in an uncertain world, we have the sovereign God over that world guiding our affairs and the Spirit who is with us both, praying for and empowering us through them.
The next time you don’t know what or how to pray, give it over to the Holy Spirit. He is in your situation petitioning your Father in heaven more intensely than you ever could.
Romans 8:26 ”In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
5. He Produces Godly Virtues in Our Lives
If you’ve ever wondered what these virtues are, they are listed in Galatians 5, otherwise known as the fruit of the Spirit.
In Galatians 5, Paul lists the various virtues of the Spirit-led life. These virtuous qualities will naturally result where the person who has received God’s Spirit allows the Spirit to control and guide their Christin walk. Therefore, as Christ-followers, we are responsible for keeping ourselves oriented toward God and Christ so that the Spirit can produce a bountiful harvest of spiritual fruit in our lives.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
6. He is Our Advocate and Teacher
When Jesus told His followers about the sending of the Holy Spirit, He described the Spirit’s role as that of an Advocate. Once Jesus ascended to his Father, the Spirit would be sent to dwell in their hearts and would teach and remind the disciples of the things their Savior had previously taught.
The Holy Spirit’s role in our lives is likened to a helper and counselor as we navigate the world and grow in our relationship with Christ. Just as Jesus insisted that his teaching was not his own, but represented the teaching of God, so it is with the Spirit: he teaches us spiritual truths, helps us understand the meaning of Scripture, convicts us of sin, comforts us in times of trouble, guides our decision-making, and reminds us of Jesus’ commands.
Having the Holy Spirit abiding in our hearts is the equivalent of having Jesus in our very midst.
