Growing up in a conservative church and Christian school, I knew we were to worship God. But if I was honest, I worshiped the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible.
The Holy Spirit? I thought He was a kind of spiritual force.
But I was embarrassed to ask anyone about Him, because I assumed everyone else already knew.
I often write articles for Christianity.com. They answer current popular questions that their audience of millions is asking. Looking at their questions, apparently, I was not the only Christian with confusion as to who the Holy Spirit is and what He does.
Questions like, “Who is the Holy Spirit? Do we worship Him? Where is He in the Bible? What does He do?” were top questions Christians are currently asking!
In this article, we are going to tackle these questions, and fall more in love with the Holy Spirit. (Read the original article on Christianity.com here)
1. The Holy Spirit Was With God in the Beginning
The first lines of the Bible read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2, NLT).
If we were to stop here, we would only know two things: God created the heavens and the earth, and that the “Spirit of God” was there, as well.
The phrase “Spirit of God” is the Hebrew phrase Ruwach Elohim, and it is the phrase used for Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.
Whenever we see the phrase “the Spirit of God” in the Old Testament, the writer is referring to the Holy Spirit.
It is the same phrase used when the Holy Spirit filled someone, like in Exodus 35:31, “… and he has filled him with the Spirit of God …”
It is the same word King David uses when he says in Psalm 51:11, “Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.”
It doesn’t get much clearer than that! King David called him the “Holy Spirit.”
Before we ever meet Adam and Eve, we meet the Holy Spirit. Before we even know about Jesus, we know about the Holy Spirit!
This tells us that He is uncreated and eternal. Unlike all angels, demons, even the universe itself, the Holy Spirit has been with the Father since the beginning.
This alone should make Him worthy of our worship and praise! But if that isn’t enough, He also helped the Father create us.
2. The Holy Spirit Created Us
Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.”
Wait. “Let us?”
Who is God talking to at that moment? Answer: The only others who were also co-eternal with him — Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
He also said, let’s create man in “our image,” showing that we don’t just look like the Father or Jesus, but there are attributes of the Holy Spirit that we created in us, as well.
Like a child born with his father’s eyes, we have elements in our being from the Holy Spirit.
Job says, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4).”
Wow! That means you were created by the Holy Spirit, as well, and His breath gave you life!
We will forever worship the One who created us with the Father and gave us life!
3. The Holy Spirit Is the One With Us and In Us
Jesus values the Holy Spirit so much that He claimed that it would be better for Him to leave so that the Holy Spirit could come!
“…And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17, ESV).
This tells us that Jesus appeared before the Father, asking that the Holy Spirit would come to earth in His place, to dwell inside of humanity and be with us forever.
When we get saved and we “ask Jesus into our hearts,” we are really asking the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
We only get saved by the grace of Jesus and His work on the Cross. But it is this work of Jesus that made way for the Holy Spirit to enter into us.
Jesus opened the door to our hearts, and the Holy Spirit filled our hearts.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).
The fellowship, friendship, and connection that we have with God while here on earth is with the Holy Spirit. He is the one who never leaves, abandons, nor forsakes us.
Have you ever had a moment when you felt God’s presence or nearness? That was the Holy Spirit!
The only proper response for such love and commitment for us is to worship Him!
4. The Holy Spirit Is the Voice of God to Us
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14).
The Holy Spirit is the one who hears the words of the Father or Jesus and then speaks them to us and guides us according to their words.
Have you ever had a moment when you heard His voice? Or has a thought that didn’t seem to be your own popped into your head, and you know it was God?
That was the Holy Spirit!
Every time we feel or hear God speak, the One we are hearing is the Holy Spirit.
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5. The Holy Spirit Connects Our Prayers to God
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
Have you ever known that you needed to pray but had no idea where even to start? Have you ever just groaned or cried for the lack of words?
The Holy Spirit takes this and somehow interprets the language too deep for words and prays them on our behalf to the Father. He then adds His own words that are perfect according to the will of the Father.
Wow! I can’t even pray at all without the help of the Holy Spirit! He is so deep in my heart that He knows what I don’t know, and then prays this to the Father for me.
Just another reason why we should worship Him. We are helpless without Him.
We know that He is the One who fills us and is God’s representative with us here on earth.
His voice is the one we hear, and He is the One guiding us to the will of the Father. We can’t even pray without His help, because He is God.
6. The Holy Spirit Is God
The final and most important reason why we must worship the Holy Spirit is that He is God.
Even the Apostle Peter believed the Holy Spirit was God, for when Anais lied to God, he said, “You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself” (Acts 5:3), and then in the next verse states, “You have not lied just to human beings but to God” (Acts 5:4).
Peter clarified that Anais lied to the Holy Spirit and then explains further that he has lied to God Himself, showing that the Holy Spirit and God were one.
As Christians, we believe in a “Triune” God, meaning we believe in One God with three distinct personalities. Though this concept has kept theologians and scholars fascinated for thousands of years, here is a simple analogy to try and help.
St. Patrick of Ireland used a three-leaf clover to describe the Trinity of God. “Is a three-leaf clover, one clover or three leaves?” he would ask.
“Both,” the people would reply.
When speaking of a three-leafed clover, the name itself is a plural name speaking of three leaves, but you understand that I am speaking of one plant.
The plant is one clover but has three leaves, all with distinct unique characteristics, yet still connected and one in every way.
When we speak of God, we understand it to be similar. Three distinct parts, one God.
Together, we have seen that the Holy Spirit was at the beginning with the Father and Son. We also know that He helped design and create us in His likeness with the Father.
Yes, with everything in us, we should give Him eternal worship.
I’m very appreciative of this article to help me know better about the Holy Spirit in me and it can connect my prayers to God. Thank you, Taylor, and I love you !
Awesome Alan! Glad to hear it blessed you and your relationship with the Holy Spirit! Blessings!
Absolutely! So many Christians aren’t taught about our Holy Spirit who is in and around us, and who He is and what he does.
It’s like ignoring a third of God!
Brilliant articles. People need this revelation.
Bless you.
Thank you Jenny! It is so true, for some reason so many of us grew up never knowing who he is, it is absolutely vital for us to get to know the third person of the Trinity! As you said, that’s a third of God! Blessings!
Fantastic article Taylor! From the analogies to stories, and most importantly laying out the scripture is undeniable proof why we need to know who the Holy Spirit is and why we need to worship equally as the Father & Son! Amazing article keep it up brother!
Thanks, man! Amen, He is all over scripture! Getting to know the Holy Spirit changed my life forever!