Galatians 4:6 – “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
So often, many Christians treat the Holy Spirit as the power lines that run between the electrical company and their home. They think that by “having more of the Spirit” that the power of God will become manifest in their life and enable them to accomplish the will of God. Some think of the Spirit of God as a repository of knowledge and discernment, almost like an internet search engine. Still further, some see the Holy Ghost as some incorporeal manifestation of the Father’s or Son’s influence. All of these individuals are grossly incorrect and will never find what they seek from the Spirit.
The misconceptions about the Holy Spirit are prevalent because people try to understand the Spirit without first knowing the Spirit as a person. Make no mistake, The Spirit of God is as much a person as the Father and Jesus Christ. The Spirit is just as omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent as the Father and Son; the Spirit is God. What’s more, the Spirit is the part of the Holy Trinity that indwells the believer and seals their soul from sin at the moment of salvation. Those that think of the Holy Spirit as a commodity to be owned are undoubtedly destined to spiritually bankrupt.
The fact that the Spirit inhabits your soul means that we ought to desire to know the Spirit. But when one endeavors to learn the intricacies of the Spirit’s role in our spiritual life, it becomes evident very quickly that we NEED to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that illuminates the Word of God to reader, He is the one who searches those very deep things of God and makes such divine knowledge plainly understandable to your soul. It is the Spirit, in immaculate love, whom carries those groaning and utterings that we can express from our hearts to the Father in Heaven. It is the Spirit that makes known the will of God and what way we ought to walk in this world. The Spirit is the very set of hands that inwardly molds our life to make us conform more to the image of Christ. In short, as our text verse alludes to, with the Holy Spirit we would be as separated from God as man had been from the Garden of Eden until Christ dwelt among man. So for those that treat the Spirit as a resource to be possessed, or a power to exert control over, they are robing God of His due reverence and holiness by failing to develop a relationship with the Spirit.
The scriptures make is plain that the Spirit of God has a personality. The Spirit is not a conduit to The Father and Son in Heaven. The Spirit is God, and that God lives in your soul. If you desire the power of God in your life you do not need more of the Spirit, you need to give more of yourself over to the Spirit.
How can Christ live in me when I desire to wield the Spirit as a power line, encyclopedia or a telephone to God? No. I must know the person of the Holy Spirit, for it is the only way for me to have a relationship with God while I am still bound to this fleshly body. I must yield control of my life over to the Spirit so that the Spirit may live not just in my soul but live in my actions and words. I must develop my relation with the Spirit so that God can use this unworthy vessel as mouthpiece and tool for the furthering of the Kingdom of Heaven.
I know this thought was a little deep, and I could go one for hours because I truly do love the Spirit and do desire to know Him in a more perfect understanding. However, I can’t simply write an entire book for today’s devotion. So, if you, too, wish to know the Spirit more completely, try asking Him about Himself. As your relationship grows, you will also see the realization of everything the New Testament described as Christ living in me.
Your fellowservant in Christ,
Bro. Jordan Foster