Who is the Holy Spirit? His role & how His power transforms your life.
The Holy Spirit, a name that sounds mysterious, almost out of this world. Who is this Spirit that Christians speak of with such reverence? What role does the Holy Spirit play in faith and in daily life?
In Christianity, the Holy Spirit is not a distant force but an essential part of God Himself. Together with the Father and the Son, the Spirit forms the Holy Trinity (one God in three persons). The Holy Spirit is often called the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, the Comforter, and the Guide. Yet, the Spirit is much more than a concept or symbol. He is a living presence who empowers, transforms and brings believers closer to God.
Read on to understand who the Holy Spirit truly is and how His presence continues to move in the world today.
The God of the universe is infinite. We know that although we have many words used to describe him, they don’t encompass him because he is beyond description and comprehension. Since he is infinite in all his character, there is no end to him, but that doesn’t mean we can’t know him at all. The opposite is true, we can know him and he wants to be known by us! So we are given insight into his being and character. Often we are given pictures, metaphors or analogies that we can piece together to fill out a picture of Him. As part of the Holy Trinity, the same is true for the Holy Spirit. We cannot completely understand him, but we should still try.
Holy Spirit Meaning
The Holy Spirit is part of the personhood of God. He is the third person of the Holy Trinity, which is composed of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the presence of the personhood of God among us. When we come into an awareness of being divinely guided, supported or comforted, we say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. In Hebrew, the words for Spirit, wind and breath are almost the same.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is compared to several things. In the original texts of the Bible, the ancient Hebrew word Ruach is often used to identify the Holy Spirit. It means both "spirit" and "wind." Wind is, therefore, a good comparison to explain the Holy Spirit.
You cannot see, touch or catch the wind. You have no control over it and you cannot possess it. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. However, you can experience the presence of both. Not by seeing them but because you can see what they do. You perceive the presence of the wind, for example, because the trees are moving or because the clouds are moving. Another description of the Holy Spirit is "God in action." Christians often refer to the actions God performs on this earth as the Holy Spirit or "the work of the Holy Spirit."
Although He is called the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures make it clear that He is a unique person within the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is often attributed characteristics that would be given to a person, such as being called "Helper" or "Comforter." Not only that, but He is equal to God the Father and the Son, and shares the fullness of their divine attributes.
Who is the Holy Spirit according to the Bible?
We read about God from the beginning of the Bible. We read hints about Jesus in the Old Testament and come to know Him better in the New Testament. Now the question is, where in the Bible do we read about the Holy Spirit?
The answer is immediate: In the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. At the beginning, after introducing God as creator, we read about the Holy Spirit. Here He is referred to as "the Spirit of God" hovering over the water.
People Who Received the Holy Spirit in the Bible
There are many people who receive the Holy Spirit in the Bible, including in the Old Testament. Two examples are Bezalel and Samson.
Bezalel was a designer chosen by God to create the artistic design of the Tent of Meeting. This tent was located in the Israelites' camp and symbolized God's presence. God says that He has filled Bezalel with His Spirit. The Spirit can thus give him wisdom, understanding and knowledge to do this work perfectly.
Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God and given him great wisdom, ability, and skill in all kinds of crafts and crafts. 4 He is a master craftsman, skilled in working with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is skilled in engraving, in setting precious stones, and in carving wood. He is a master in every artistic work!
Samson was another man God had given a special purpose to. The Bible says he was blessed by God and inspired by God's Spirit.
In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit often enters many people at once. This is also known as an ‘outpouring of the Holy Spirit’. One of those outpourings occurred at Pentecost. That was the first time that happened.
We learn more about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament as well. We know that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. This means that in his choices, Jesus left a lot of room for what the Spirit wanted and was led by the Spirit. This is also known as “being full of the Spirit.” John, the nephew of Jesus, baptised him, and after this, the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove.
Have you ever heard of Pentecost? It is one of the lesser known Christian festivals. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, he went back to heaven after being on earth for a while. He made the promise that something would come after he left. Jesus’ followers waited for this while praying in Jerusalem. After 10 days it finally happened, the Holy Spirit came! Everyone present is filled with the Holy Spirit and extraordinary things happen. Read more about this story here.
Understand how the Holy Spirit works in the Bible
From the very beginning, the Holy Spirit has been God’s personal presence: Breathing life, beauty and order into creation. Yet when humanity turned away, chaos and corruption followed. Still, God’s Spirit never stopped working. Through the prophets, He promised renewal, a transformation of hearts and lives so people could truly love God and one another again.
Want to see this story unfold? Watch how the Holy Spirit moves through the entire biblical narrative, bringing life out of chaos and hope out of despair.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
When people decide to follow Jesus, they often feel guilty about the lifestyle they've led or about the harm they've done to others or to themselves. God can help you, through His Holy Spirit, turn away from bad traits or actions.
The Bible speaks of baptism: When you come out of the water, you begin your new life. Anyone who does this receives the Holy Spirit. God Himself guides you in your heart and mind to do what is right.
Experiencing the Holy Spirit
Have you received the Holy Spirit and now want to experience Him more in your life? The Holy Spirit doesn't force His way into your life. You have to give Him space. Therefore, the most important thing is to pray. Ask Him to come into your life and work in and through you. Ask Him for help, wisdom, peace and fulfillment. He will always accept your invitation, whether you realize it or not. For some people, great changes occur suddenly. Others don't see what the Spirit has done until they look back on certain periods of their lives after a long time.
Living with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean being comfortable. The Holy Spirit will live in your heart and cleanse your house of clutter and darkness. If you invite Him to do so, He will heal old wounds and make things better.
Difference between the fruit and the gifts
The fruit of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not there to make life easy. His job is not to remove all obstacles so that you never have to put in the effort again. In fact, living with the Holy Spirit can sometimes be uncomfortable. The Spirit challenges people to become a better person and that is not always easy. It also sounds quite vague now, how is he going to do that? Does he have a manual somewhere? But it really isn’t that vague.
Besides the Bible being a good manual for improving your life, the Spirit has properties that it gives to you as a kind of bonus. We call these qualities the fruit of the Spirit. It is a fruit that consists of several aspects like a passion fruit. One fruit with several segments. When you live close to God, the fruit of the Spirit, through trial and error, becomes more and more visible in your life.
All aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit
All aspects of the fruit of the Holy Spirit
The fruit of the Spirit consists of 7 aspects. You can read about it in Galatians 5:22. They are all beautiful qualities from God that you receive. It doesn’t have to be perfect all at once. Strive, along with God, to practice these qualities as much as possible.
Love
In 1 Corinthians 16:14 it says: “Do everything in love.” In other translations it says ‘Let love and kindness be the motivation behind all that you do.’. That is quite a challenge, but a good way to live. The world would be a much nicer place if everyone lived with this text in mind!
Joy
This quality does not mean that you should always be happy. Jesus wasn’t always happy either. Joy is much deeper than happiness, joy is a foundation. A beautiful and good foundation. You can find that foundation with God. How? Start praying. That’s a good first step! Find a step-by-step plan here if you find it difficult to start praying! Finding that foundation also has everything to do with knowing and realizing what Jesus has done for you. Through Him we receive grace and therefore also joy!
Peace
Another quality is peace. Peace with God and peace from God. Peace with others and peace with yourself. It doesn’t mean that you should always avoid confrontation, sometimes confrontation is good. But consider whether it is necessary and do not argue. That makes living for the other, but also for you much nicer.
Patience
“Give me patience, and I want it now!” A well-known phrase for many people, you may have heard it too. Patience is difficult, especially in a culture where everything has to be done as quickly as possible, preferably yesterday. But patience will get you so much further! This quality is directed at the other in the first place; be patient with others. But after that it is also focused on yourself; also be patient with yourself.
Kindness
Dealing with others in a good way is also a beautiful quality. A quality that is also aimed first at the other person and then at yourself. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. You can’t achieve everything with it, but often you can achieve more than you think! In addition, be kind to yourself, also with that you often achieve more than if you are very hard on yourself.
Goodness
This one is quite similar to the previous quality, but this one is more practical. Be good to others. Give them a hand if you can. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something of yourself for that, but you get gratitude in return! With this quality it is again meant to first focus it on others and then on ourselves.
Faithfulness
This aspect of the fruit asks you to strive to be trustworthy. Or as the Bible says it; “If you say ‘yes’, it has to be ‘yes’. And if you say ‘no’, it has to be ‘no’.” Make sure people know you as a trustworthy person.
Gentleness
Don’t hurt others. Sometimes put yourself aside and choose the other person over yourself. This is not always necessary, of course, you also have to take good care of yourself. But sometimes it’s good to put the other person above yourself.
Self-control
If you live close to God, you also receive this quality. It’s a quality we all struggle with from time to time. Self-control is about keeping your emotions in check. That you don’t take your anger out on someone who doesn’t deserve it. Self-control is also about enjoying things that are actually not good for you. You can lose yourself in your focus on your position in your work, sexuality or eating patterns that are not healthy for you. You can come a long way with resisting these kinds of things yourself. But you receive this quality from God and He is going to help you! It will certainly not always be easy, but you are no longer alone! You can now learn step by step to let self-control be more of a part of yourself.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit isn't there to make life easy. His job isn't to remove all obstacles so you don't have to struggle anymore. In fact, living with the Holy Spirit can sometimes feel uncomfortable. The Spirit challenges people to be better.
In addition to using the Bible as a manual for improving your life, the Holy Spirit builds your character in specific ways. He helps you grow. Do you want to grow and become more like God? Learn more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Examples of gifts
Examples of gifts
There are many gifts of the Spirit and you can read about many of them in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28. The Holy Spirit distributes these special gifts as he pleases, because he knows which gift is best for whom. But you can always ask for specific gifts!
Encouraging other christians
This is a gift that often takes place behind the scenes, but it is indispensable. Everyone gets discouraged from time to time, including Christians. That is precisely why it is so important that there are people who have the gift of really encouraging people. This can be done in many ways. You can send cards to those who need it, but there are also Christians who travel to other countries to encourage Christians there. The gift can be found in Romans 12:8.
Be helpful and serve
For the people around you it’s quite nice if you have this gift! People with these gifts are extremely helpful. They figure out where they can best help and relieve you so that you can focus on tasks that require your gift. Servant people put their own interests aside in order to help someone else. This gift is mentioned in Romans 12:7.
Sharing their faith with others
A gift that is needed to let more people come into contact with the good news about Jesus. Many Christians find it difficult to talk about their faith, afraid of the reaction of others. People with these gifts talk about it very easily. They can adapt well to how much the other already knows about the faith. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 tells of someone who, by adjusting, wins others for the Lord. That means he tells them about God and then these people choose to follow God.
Healing
Some people have been given the gift of healing sick people! This gift is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. They do this through prayer and it is often accompanied by the laying on of hands. It sounds super unrealistic, straight out of a fairy tale. But it really happened! Take a look at this testimony of Sutton about how God healed her!
Miraculous powers
The previous gift is of course also doing a miracle. This gift is broader. Do you know the story about Jesus turning water into wine? There was something that was not present at the time, but it was needed. In such a case, a person with this gift can perform a miracle with the help of the Holy Ghost. Curious about the story? Check it out right away! This gift can also be found in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
Music
Music is a big and important part of the Christian faith. Musicality and honoring God with music is therefore a gift of the Spirit. You can read about this in Colossians 3:16. This is a gift that, like the others, is meant to build up the church. People often sing together and you can use this gift at such a moment to accompany the rest.
Hospitality
This gift is obviously directed towards others. People with this gift open their homes and welcome people with open arms. You can read this in 1 Peter 4:9-10. But it’s not just about opening up their home, they’re also there for their guests. They take care of them and offer practical help where necessary or just a listening ear.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
There are many prayers to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit,
Fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them
the fire of your love.
Send forth, Lord, your Spirit.
May it renew the face of the Earth.
Oh God,
who filled the hearts of your
faithful with the light of the Holy Spirit;
grant us,
guided by the same Spirit,
that we may feel righteousness and
always enjoy your consolation.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Amen.
Praise Songs about the Holy Spirit
Welcome, Holy Spirit
There is nothing else that can equal
Or compare the hope You give
Your presence, Oh God
Knowing Your love has restored my soul
Fear is gone, freedom He gave me
Your presence, Oh God
Welcome, Holy Spirit
Fill us with Your presence, Jesus
Your glory fills this place today
We long for more of Your love, Lord
Make us hunger for Your presence
Make us live in the power of Your grace
Miracles about The Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit VS Holy Ghost? What's the difference?
Curious about the difference between the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost? Uncover the origins, the role and the impact on your faith today.