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Our relationship to the Holy Spirit
Hans-Claus Ewen
Jan. 2021
Our relationship with the Holy Spirit
„But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come“ (John 16:13).
Introduction
The Holy Spirit is the person of the Holy Trinity with whom we are most concerned today. The theological construct of the Trinity (a term that does not appear in the Bible) is intended to help us understand God better overall. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three and one at the same time - a mystery. One attempt of an explanation that has helped me is as follows: God the Father is love (1 John 4:8). Jesus the Son is the Word (John 1:14) and the Holy Spirit is, as one might say today, the action. In other words: love must be expressed in word and deed if it is to be real and to benefit the object of love. So a husband who loves his wife should tell her, preferably every day, that he loves her. If, however, only the verbal expression of love remains, the wife will, rightly, at some point demand confirmatory actions. Thus the love of the Father is expressed through the living word of the Son and the related works of the Holy Spirit.
Living together with the Holy Spirit
One of the greatest honors of Christians is the fact that God has made our bodies the temples of His Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6.19; 2 Corinthians 6:16. Honoring that fact is our task. We can learn the following from the baptism of Jesus: "John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him" (John 1:32). If a dove lands on our shoulder, how should we act to make it stay there? The dove was certainly taken as a symbol of the Holy Spirit for a reason. We know of the Holy Spirit that he is a person who feels. A request in relation to the Christian's relationship with the Holy Spirit clearly points to this: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God ..." (Ephesians 4:30). To grieve is to cause HIM pain and discomfort. One grieves the Holy Spirit by not honoring his presence, his speaking to us, his impulses, and his holiness in ourselves. He is also grieved when we do not honor his presence and activity in others. Wise Christians will learn how to behave in such a way that the dove is not startled and flung away. How valuable is the presence of our divine „roommate“ for us?
How much the Holy Spirit is an emotional personality, we also see in James 4:5: "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?" In the translation ´Bible in basic English´ this verse reads: „Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?“
Jealousy is a strong emotional impulse. The Holy Spirit responds to our cheating! When other things become more important and we devote more time, energy and attention to them, it hurts Him. Just as HE passionately loves us, He expects a lifestyle of passion for God´s causes from us. Indifference saddens Him. Many Christians, who have grieved the Holy Spirit end up in a soulish lifestyle, which is still occupied with many pious topics, but which definitely lacks the manifestations of the presence, the power and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture warns very clearly: "Do not to quench the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but rather urges us to be constantly filled by Him (Ephesians 5:18) and to walk in Him (Galatians 5:16) .
Holy Spirit - A brief job description
HE has five major tasks in relation to us:
1. He reveals our new identity to us - Romans 8:15-16
2. He gives us his power - Acts 1:8
3. He makes his character grow in us - Galatians 5:22-23
4. He gives us His supernatural gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
5. He glorifies Jesus through us in this world - John 16:14
If we as Christians are to fulfill our destiny on this planet, we need supernatural resources to enable us to do so. We need a clear understanding of who we are, what we have and what we are meant to be. The Holy Spirit is our support and active helper in all of these things when we have learned to live with HIM.
Working with the Holy Spirit
In principle, the Holy Spirit has unlimited possibilities of communicating with us, so we should always keep a certain openness to new paths. However, some major modes of communication can be clearly seen in the Bible.
Vision - seeing
Man has the ability to see things without using his eyes. Since our brain is our actual organ of vision, we can see without the eyes perceiving anything. In this way the Holy Spirit can skip the normal process of seeing with your natural eyes and show us pictures or movies that contain messages.
SEEING is stronger than all other ways of natural perception. Our eyes as a visual organ have a five times greater effect on our brain than all other four senses combined! The firstborn of Jacob was called Reuben, which literally means: ´See, a son!´ (Genesis 29:32). The meanings of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel describe, in a way, the characteristics of the people of God. Just like Israel, the church urgently needs people who see how God sees. We must never forget that there is a very real, invisible world that we can only see when God opens our eyes: “Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). We are made to be visionary people. God is light! Dreams, for example, are always visionary and never pure auditions.
The New Testament speaks more about SEEING than we think:
““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8) . Paul prays: “ I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Ephesians 1:18-19). Jesus speaks to the church in Revelation 3:18: „I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see."
See also Matthew 13:11-17; 2 Corinthians 3.18; 4.6; Hebrews 12:1-2. There are three ways of visionary perception mentioned in the Bible:
Visions, dreams, and states of trance.
There are two types of visions: external - you see something in the spiritual realm - and internal - you see something on the screen of our imagination. In visions, the person sees fixed or moving images (movies) in the waking state, when fully conscious. It is not always possible to interpret these immediately, and one should not try too hard either. God shows the meaning either immediately or in time.
Trances are called “ekstasis” in Greek. It is the highest visionary condition that Christians can have. These states are always the result of the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Peter had such an experience in Acts 10. The meaning only became clear to him in the next few days. The result of this trance was the opening of the gospel preaching to the Gentiles. In the case of trances it is important to mention that they are definitely given sovereignly by the Holy Spirit and cannot humanly be produced, controlled or influenced.
Night visions or dreams are very common in the Bible. Only the dreams of Joseph in the Old Testament and those of Joseph in the New Testament are mentioned here. This type of prophecy should be used extremely carefully and cautiously. A solid knowledge of biblical and related symbolisms is a basic requirement for a beneficial dream interpretation.
Audition - hearing
As with sight, the Holy Spirit can skip the normal hearing process through the ears and let us hear His voice. He reveals himself here through an internally heard word, a sentence or a message. You could also call it “hearing the voice of God”. This ability is also evidenced by the following verse: "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). We can perceive this "inner witness" of the spirit in our inner being. The New Testament bluntly mentions the fact that the Holy Spirit (or the LORD) “speaks”. If someone reports that the Holy Spirit has spoken, then something must have been "heard":
“Then the Spirit said to Philip ...” Acts 8:29.
“Now there was a disciple at aDamascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision ...“ Acts 9:10.
“While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, ...” Acts 10:19.
"While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ..." Acts 13:2.
“And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision ...“ Acts 18:9.
“And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says ...” Acts 21:11.
Inspiration - feeling
The Holy Spirit can also “speak” to us through feelings, pain and so-called inner impressions. Some Christians feel the pain of those they are praying for without knowing about it. This perception can also reveal the presence of evil spirits.
Paul experiences this in the following story: “ It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I com-mand you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment“
(Acts 16: 16-18).
A woman is saying something completely correct in terms of content, but the message comes from a false, evil spirit. How can you tell something like that? Vincent Wordstudies describes the word here translated with „greatly annoyed“ as a term that expresses deep grief, feeling worn out, annoyed and indignant. It is a word used for a very strong negative emotion of sadness, anger and annoyance. In this particular case the Holy Spirit “communicated” with Paul not through thoughts and arguments, but through strong, negative feelings.
Wishes / Desires
Wishes and desires are more common from the Holy Spirit than we are likely to suspect and perceive. As Christians, we must believe in realities that God has created inside of us. Logically, we are allowed to have certain expectations, because if God creates something, then it will work. Take an often used picture in the Bible - the seed. Every child knows that a seed that is properly planted will sooner or later produce something visible. Nor is it magic to know that tulip bulbs produce tulips, and neither do carrot seeds sprout lettuce. What is true in nature and taken for granted, also applies to the new creation we are in Christ. Should the divine seed in us bring forth something other than divine life including the thought and desires of God? A verse I often quote talks about the potential inside of us: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). If carrot seeds produce carrots and lettuce seeds produce lettuce, then God's seed produces what? Christians can, may and must actually assume that God's seed will produce God's life out of the secrecy of their spirit, just as a natural seed from the secrecy of the earth produces exactly what it bears within itself.
What does that have to do with my wishes?
The Bible gives believers in Jesus Christ the new identity of the righteous (Romans 5:19; 2 Corin-thians 5:21). The righteous will have righteous wishes through which God will reveal His will to them in certain situations. Why shouldn't a positive wish represent the speaking of the Spirit? Are
we perhaps making our Christian life too complicated? In Proverbs we read:
"The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath" (Proverbs 11:23).
“What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted.” Proverbs 10:24.
The desire to do something or to be something can be a first indication of the Holy Spirit speaking to us, as the following verses show:
“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1 kjv).
„But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). Jesus says nothing against the wish itself, but only points to the correct attitude of the heart.
Of course, as already mentioned, the possibilities of the Holy Spirit to communicate with us are unlimited. We have all heard the Spirit of God speaking to us in many ways. I just want to mention the means of communication the Holy Spirit may use in our lives. He may speak through
> a preaching or teaching - Acts 2:37.
> the prophetic gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
> a prophet - Acts 21:10-11.
> a word of counseling from el church leader - Hebrews 13:17.
> circumstances - Acts 16:6-9.
> Bible reading or studying - 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Scriptures taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD UPDATE (NAS95S) unless otherwise indicated.
View all episodes
By Hans-Claus EwenHans-Claus Ewen
Jan. 2021
Our relationship with the Holy Spirit
„But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come“ (John 16:13).
Introduction
The Holy Spirit is the person of the Holy Trinity with whom we are most concerned today. The theological construct of the Trinity (a term that does not appear in the Bible) is intended to help us understand God better overall. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three and one at the same time - a mystery. One attempt of an explanation that has helped me is as follows: God the Father is love (1 John 4:8). Jesus the Son is the Word (John 1:14) and the Holy Spirit is, as one might say today, the action. In other words: love must be expressed in word and deed if it is to be real and to benefit the object of love. So a husband who loves his wife should tell her, preferably every day, that he loves her. If, however, only the verbal expression of love remains, the wife will, rightly, at some point demand confirmatory actions. Thus the love of the Father is expressed through the living word of the Son and the related works of the Holy Spirit.
Living together with the Holy Spirit
One of the greatest honors of Christians is the fact that God has made our bodies the temples of His Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6.19; 2 Corinthians 6:16. Honoring that fact is our task. We can learn the following from the baptism of Jesus: "John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him" (John 1:32). If a dove lands on our shoulder, how should we act to make it stay there? The dove was certainly taken as a symbol of the Holy Spirit for a reason. We know of the Holy Spirit that he is a person who feels. A request in relation to the Christian's relationship with the Holy Spirit clearly points to this: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God ..." (Ephesians 4:30). To grieve is to cause HIM pain and discomfort. One grieves the Holy Spirit by not honoring his presence, his speaking to us, his impulses, and his holiness in ourselves. He is also grieved when we do not honor his presence and activity in others. Wise Christians will learn how to behave in such a way that the dove is not startled and flung away. How valuable is the presence of our divine „roommate“ for us?
How much the Holy Spirit is an emotional personality, we also see in James 4:5: "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?" In the translation ´Bible in basic English´ this verse reads: „Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?“
Jealousy is a strong emotional impulse. The Holy Spirit responds to our cheating! When other things become more important and we devote more time, energy and attention to them, it hurts Him. Just as HE passionately loves us, He expects a lifestyle of passion for God´s causes from us. Indifference saddens Him. Many Christians, who have grieved the Holy Spirit end up in a soulish lifestyle, which is still occupied with many pious topics, but which definitely lacks the manifestations of the presence, the power and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Scripture warns very clearly: "Do not to quench the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but rather urges us to be constantly filled by Him (Ephesians 5:18) and to walk in Him (Galatians 5:16) .
Holy Spirit - A brief job description
HE has five major tasks in relation to us:
1. He reveals our new identity to us - Romans 8:15-16
2. He gives us his power - Acts 1:8
3. He makes his character grow in us - Galatians 5:22-23
4. He gives us His supernatural gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
5. He glorifies Jesus through us in this world - John 16:14
If we as Christians are to fulfill our destiny on this planet, we need supernatural resources to enable us to do so. We need a clear understanding of who we are, what we have and what we are meant to be. The Holy Spirit is our support and active helper in all of these things when we have learned to live with HIM.
Working with the Holy Spirit
In principle, the Holy Spirit has unlimited possibilities of communicating with us, so we should always keep a certain openness to new paths. However, some major modes of communication can be clearly seen in the Bible.
Vision - seeing
Man has the ability to see things without using his eyes. Since our brain is our actual organ of vision, we can see without the eyes perceiving anything. In this way the Holy Spirit can skip the normal process of seeing with your natural eyes and show us pictures or movies that contain messages.
SEEING is stronger than all other ways of natural perception. Our eyes as a visual organ have a five times greater effect on our brain than all other four senses combined! The firstborn of Jacob was called Reuben, which literally means: ´See, a son!´ (Genesis 29:32). The meanings of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel describe, in a way, the characteristics of the people of God. Just like Israel, the church urgently needs people who see how God sees. We must never forget that there is a very real, invisible world that we can only see when God opens our eyes: “Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). We are made to be visionary people. God is light! Dreams, for example, are always visionary and never pure auditions.
The New Testament speaks more about SEEING than we think:
““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8) . Paul prays: “ I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Ephesians 1:18-19). Jesus speaks to the church in Revelation 3:18: „I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see."
See also Matthew 13:11-17; 2 Corinthians 3.18; 4.6; Hebrews 12:1-2. There are three ways of visionary perception mentioned in the Bible:
Visions, dreams, and states of trance.
There are two types of visions: external - you see something in the spiritual realm - and internal - you see something on the screen of our imagination. In visions, the person sees fixed or moving images (movies) in the waking state, when fully conscious. It is not always possible to interpret these immediately, and one should not try too hard either. God shows the meaning either immediately or in time.
Trances are called “ekstasis” in Greek. It is the highest visionary condition that Christians can have. These states are always the result of the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Peter had such an experience in Acts 10. The meaning only became clear to him in the next few days. The result of this trance was the opening of the gospel preaching to the Gentiles. In the case of trances it is important to mention that they are definitely given sovereignly by the Holy Spirit and cannot humanly be produced, controlled or influenced.
Night visions or dreams are very common in the Bible. Only the dreams of Joseph in the Old Testament and those of Joseph in the New Testament are mentioned here. This type of prophecy should be used extremely carefully and cautiously. A solid knowledge of biblical and related symbolisms is a basic requirement for a beneficial dream interpretation.
Audition - hearing
As with sight, the Holy Spirit can skip the normal hearing process through the ears and let us hear His voice. He reveals himself here through an internally heard word, a sentence or a message. You could also call it “hearing the voice of God”. This ability is also evidenced by the following verse: "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). We can perceive this "inner witness" of the spirit in our inner being. The New Testament bluntly mentions the fact that the Holy Spirit (or the LORD) “speaks”. If someone reports that the Holy Spirit has spoken, then something must have been "heard":
“Then the Spirit said to Philip ...” Acts 8:29.
“Now there was a disciple at aDamascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision ...“ Acts 9:10.
“While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, ...” Acts 10:19.
"While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ..." Acts 13:2.
“And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision ...“ Acts 18:9.
“And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says ...” Acts 21:11.
Inspiration - feeling
The Holy Spirit can also “speak” to us through feelings, pain and so-called inner impressions. Some Christians feel the pain of those they are praying for without knowing about it. This perception can also reveal the presence of evil spirits.
Paul experiences this in the following story: “ It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I com-mand you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment“
(Acts 16: 16-18).
A woman is saying something completely correct in terms of content, but the message comes from a false, evil spirit. How can you tell something like that? Vincent Wordstudies describes the word here translated with „greatly annoyed“ as a term that expresses deep grief, feeling worn out, annoyed and indignant. It is a word used for a very strong negative emotion of sadness, anger and annoyance. In this particular case the Holy Spirit “communicated” with Paul not through thoughts and arguments, but through strong, negative feelings.
Wishes / Desires
Wishes and desires are more common from the Holy Spirit than we are likely to suspect and perceive. As Christians, we must believe in realities that God has created inside of us. Logically, we are allowed to have certain expectations, because if God creates something, then it will work. Take an often used picture in the Bible - the seed. Every child knows that a seed that is properly planted will sooner or later produce something visible. Nor is it magic to know that tulip bulbs produce tulips, and neither do carrot seeds sprout lettuce. What is true in nature and taken for granted, also applies to the new creation we are in Christ. Should the divine seed in us bring forth something other than divine life including the thought and desires of God? A verse I often quote talks about the potential inside of us: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). If carrot seeds produce carrots and lettuce seeds produce lettuce, then God's seed produces what? Christians can, may and must actually assume that God's seed will produce God's life out of the secrecy of their spirit, just as a natural seed from the secrecy of the earth produces exactly what it bears within itself.
What does that have to do with my wishes?
The Bible gives believers in Jesus Christ the new identity of the righteous (Romans 5:19; 2 Corin-thians 5:21). The righteous will have righteous wishes through which God will reveal His will to them in certain situations. Why shouldn't a positive wish represent the speaking of the Spirit? Are
we perhaps making our Christian life too complicated? In Proverbs we read:
"The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath" (Proverbs 11:23).
“What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted.” Proverbs 10:24.
The desire to do something or to be something can be a first indication of the Holy Spirit speaking to us, as the following verses show:
“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1 kjv).
„But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). Jesus says nothing against the wish itself, but only points to the correct attitude of the heart.
Of course, as already mentioned, the possibilities of the Holy Spirit to communicate with us are unlimited. We have all heard the Spirit of God speaking to us in many ways. I just want to mention the means of communication the Holy Spirit may use in our lives. He may speak through
> a preaching or teaching - Acts 2:37.
> the prophetic gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:7-10.
> a prophet - Acts 21:10-11.
> a word of counseling from el church leader - Hebrews 13:17.
> circumstances - Acts 16:6-9.
> Bible reading or studying - 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Scriptures taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD UPDATE (NAS95S) unless otherwise indicated.