Satan, the great deceiver, has done an incredible job. He has convinced the world even dedicated ministers of the gospel that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than an influence or a special power. This deception is a priority of Satan because he knows that the moment you discover the personality and reality of the Spirit, your life will bed ramatically transformed.
Just look at history.
Every great revival was accompanied by a revelation of the Holy Spirit. Even Martin Luther credits the great Reformation to the work of the Spirit. He said that Galatians was his favorite book in Scripture because of the verse that says, "Walk in the Spirit,and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). But today few people know what it means to "walk" in the Spirit.
The root of the word means in unison with, onewith, or connected to even fellowship with. It's astounding, but people who have been raised in a "spirit-filled" church have asked me: "Am I supposed to talk to the Spirit?" Recently I was invited to speak in a large historic pentecostal church, and the congregation was shocked when I said, "You are the ones who have rediscovered the Holy Spirit, but you have placed Him in a cage."
I explained, "You thought that the Catholics couldn't have Him. You thought that the Baptists couldn't have Him. But I've got news for you. He's jumped over your fence and walked into Saint Michael's, First Baptist, United Methodist, and all the rest."Millions of people have been touched by the Spirit, but their spiritual growth has been stunted by clergy who, for whatever reasons, choose to subordinate the third person of the Trinity.
Unfortunately the Church of Jesus Christ has ignored what I am sharing with you. The fact that you are reading this book, however, tells me that you have a personal hunger to know the Holy Spirit. You can be "filled" with the Spirit and have an undeniable encounter with Him, but a deep understanding of the Holy Ghost does not come overnight. For me it has taken years and years of His leading and revelation in Scripture. And I am still learning every day.
The apostle John, in Revelation, described Him as the reflected brilliance of precious stones. He said,"Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat therewas like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance" (Rev.4:2-3).The prophets describe the features of God in greatdetail. Isaiah says, "His lips are full of indignation, And Histongue like a devouring fire.
His breath is like an overflowing stream" (Isa. 30:27-28). And God revealed the fact that He can see. "They did evil before My eyes" (Isa. 66:4).To my amazement I found that God is described as having the likeness of fingers and hands and a face. After the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the tablets of stone, "written with the finger of God" (Ex.31:18).
Then the Lord said to Moses, "You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex. 33:20). He even talked to Moses about His "back." He said,"While My glory passes by I will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand,and you shall see My back; but My face shall not beseen" (vv. 22-23). If God reveals himself as only invisible spirit, how was it possible that Adam and Eve heard His footsteps? "And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8).
God also has a heart: "The LORD was sorry that He hadmade man on the earth, and He was grieved in hisheart" (Gen. 6:6). ( Like a "Blazing Fire") Now let's look at the Son. Before the Lord Jesus came to earth, He, with God the Father, had only an immaterial form. His earthly body off lesh, blood, and bone was given Him when He was born asa babe in Bethlehem. And, like you, He grew to be a man. If I were to ask "Of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,which is a real person?"most people would say the Son.
We can identify with Christ because He took the form of ahuman being. In fact, if you do not believe that Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead, it is impossible for you to be a Christian. It is the foundation that makes possible your salvation. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus part of the Godhead has a soul. At Gethsemane, before the crucifixion, he said to His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death" (Mark 14:34).
We have a physical description of Christ that shapes our image of Him. We know, for example, that he wore a beard and had long hair. In Old Testament prophecy concerning the suffering of the Messiah, the Lord says, "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard" (Isa. 50:6). Christ was also a Nazarite, from a city where the men customarily wore longhair. Today, Christ in His resurrected body sits at the right hand of God the Father.
And what does He look like? John,in Revelation, saw a vision of Him "clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. . . . His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength" (Rev.1:13-14,16). On his head was "a golden crown" (Rev.14:14). And on his robe were written the words,
Without question we all agree He is a "Spirit." That's part of His name. But what about His inner being? Is Here ally a "person"?First, the Holy Spirit has a mind of His own. Speaking of the Holy Ghost, Paul said, "Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27). The mind of the Spirit is distinct from that of the Father and the Son. He also has emotions.
He has deep feelings that allow Him to grieve and to love: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). His heart can be touched, and it has the capacity to express love. Paul, writing to the Christians at Rome, said: "I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God forme" (Rom. 15:30). Can you imagine loving without emotion?
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda . . . has prevailed" (Rev. 5:5). He turned, expecting tosee a roaring lion, and instead he saw a gentle lamb that had been slain. Now Jesus went to heaven with a physical body,with nail prints in his hands. But the symbol John saw was alamb. Why? The lamb symbolized the Lamb of God Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit was seen by Jesus immediately following His baptism: "the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove an dalighting upon Him" (Matt. 3:16). Just as the Father and the Son can be seen, so can the Holy Spirit. But His descent as a beautiful dove does not mean that He flies around in heaven like a dove. Nor does Jesus walk around heaven with the body of a lamb.
In Revelation the Holy Ghost was seen again as "seven lamps" of blazing fire (Rev. 4:5). If the Spirit came as a dove in Matthew, you can't expect Him to have a body made out of seven candles or seven pieces of fire. The Holy Ghost is not seven lamps, nor is He a dove. A lamb, a dove, a lamp—these are all symbols, not physical forms of bodies.
Since you were created with ears, a mouth, and eyes, wouldn't you expect the Creator Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be able to understand and talk to you? I also believe the Holy Ghost can make His presence known through bodily forms, and yet remain without limitation and fully omnipresent. The Bible makes this clear when it says, "The Spirit of God was hovering overthe face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). Now the Bible does not tell me what He "looks" like.
I am told a little of how the Father reveals himself. And I am given some description of Christ. But details regarding the way the Holy Spirit unveils Himself to us are rare in Scripture. Sometimes He is seen but not heard; other time sheard but not seen. At any time, however, he can reveal His presence and message through any kind of form he chooses.
I can only come to one conclusion: When we see Jesus, we see the Father also. And I believe that Jesus reveals the Holy Ghost as He does the Father. Look at Jesus and you see the Spirit too. Someday soon I'm going to find out for certain. And I believe that you are planning to be there too. Again, the Holy Spirit is not a heavenly breeze or a hazy cloud floating in and out of your life.
He is God, and He resides in us equal with the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, said, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Cor. 3:16-17). He is saying that the Spirit lives in God's temple. We are that temple, and the Father and the Spirit are equal in us.
Satan cannot be at all places at the same time.Why? Because angels cannot be at all places at the same time, and the devil was an angel, an archangel. The angels Michael or Gabriel are not omnipresent, and neither is Satan. The omnipresence of the Holy Ghost is described in thePsalms: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10). But not only is He omnipresent; the Holy Spirit is omnipotent all powerful. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35). The power of the "Highest" speaks of the Spirit of God. That same power of the Highest is the Holy Ghost, and He is omnipotent. All glorious. All powerful. Almighty God! The Holy Spirit is also omniscient. He's all knowing.
I get excited when I read the words, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-11)
Think about it! The Holy Ghost actually searches themind of God. He finds what's there and presents it to you. He says, "Here's what I've found." How can He search the" deep things of God"? Because He is all knowing. There's something else you need to know about Satan.
I thought,"How can I worship Him? It's just not the way I've been taught."The Holy Ghost, however, is much more than a bird flying in the sky who gives you the pentecostal experience. If He is all the things we've been discussing equal with the Father and the Son, then He is to be worshiped. After all, don't we worship the Father? And don't we worship the Son?You may wonder, "How should the Holy Spirit be worshiped?" Well, how do you worship God the Father? And how do you worship the Son? There should be no difference. You should shower Him with your devotion and your love.
The Bible tells us that the Godhead Father, Son, and Spirit is self-existent: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:14). When we learn about angels, we find that they only are present because of the existence of Jesus. But I've got news for you. God the Holy Spirit can be referred to as the "I Am," just like God the Father and God the Son.
I was wondering, What does it really mean to "grieve" the Spirit? What I learned was that the Holy Ghost is not just aspirit who can have shape. He's so real He can be resisted. Now many people think the Holy Ghost is a wind. But He isn't. That's just another in a long list of descriptive symbolsused to communicate the Spirit oil, water, a dove, a cloud, light, and so many more. It certainly doesn't mean that helooks like His symbols.Wind is invisible to the eye, but you cannot resist it.The word resist means to oppose. You cannot oppose wind.
Try to stand against wind and it will pass right by you. Yet you can oppose the Holy Ghost. You can actually stop Him from working. Stephen, in his speech to the Sanhedrin, quoted Moses saying: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; As your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51).They opposed Him and, unfortunately, they were successful.
Remember this: you cannot resist wind, oil, oreven a dove that will just fly away, but you can resist aperson and that is what the Holy Spirit is. Then I traced the words grief and grieved in the original Greek. The root word is loopa. And here is what it means: to feel pain in body and mind. It means to suffer mental and physical anguish. The Holy Ghost is a person, or Paul would not have said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit" (Eph. 4:30).
The Holy Ghost doesn't just hurt. Hurt operates at the level of the emotions. He grieves, and that goes much deeper. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit can be quenched. The word means to put out. Paul warned the church at Thessalonica, "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19).You cannot quench the wind or other symbols. But you can stop a person. And that is what the Holy Spirit is.
In the original language, to vex carries the meaning of wearing down, troubling, even afflicting. Only a person can become the target of such torments. A strong wind cannot be quieted, but the Holy Spiritcan: "And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, 'See, those. . . have given rest to My Spirit'" (Zech. 6:8). The Holy Spirit is a person who responds to your wishes. You can tell Him to be quiet and He will. But then you run the risk of grieving Him.
So many times in public meetings, I have seen the Holy Spirit about to speak and then quieted by some fleshly manifestation. At such sacred moments I have felt the Holy Spirit with drawing.The Holy Spirit is not a fighter; He's a lover. If you resist Him, He will just leave. He's not like Satan, who the Bible says will "flee" from you if you resist him. The Holy Spirit will not run away in fear, but rather He will leave your presence with a wounded heart.
If He is grieved, He will gently retreat. If He is quenched, he will quietly depart. How tragic to think that people would vex or attempt to quiet such a lovely person. But they do. The Children of Israel did. And today while he is still longing for our love and our fellowship, we wound him through our ignorance and rebellion.I can still hear Kathryn Kuhlman in Pittsburgh sobbing with such agony: "Please! Don't wound Him. He's all I've got."
Every great revival was accompanied by a revelation of the Holy Spirit. Even Martin Luther credits the great Reformation to the work of the Spirit. He said that Galatians was his favorite book in Scripture because of the verse that says, "Walk in the Spirit,and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). But today few people know what it means to "walk" in the Spirit.
The root of the word means in unison with, onewith, or connected to even fellowship with. It's astounding, but people who have been raised in a "spirit-filled" church have asked me: "Am I supposed to talk to the Spirit?" Recently I was invited to speak in a large historic pentecostal church, and the congregation was shocked when I said, "You are the ones who have rediscovered the Holy Spirit, but you have placed Him in a cage."
I explained, "You thought that the Catholics couldn't have Him. You thought that the Baptists couldn't have Him. But I've got news for you. He's jumped over your fence and walked into Saint Michael's, First Baptist, United Methodist, and all the rest."Millions of people have been touched by the Spirit, but their spiritual growth has been stunted by clergy who, for whatever reasons, choose to subordinate the third person of the Trinity.
Unfortunately the Church of Jesus Christ has ignored what I am sharing with you. The fact that you are reading this book, however, tells me that you have a personal hunger to know the Holy Spirit. You can be "filled" with the Spirit and have an undeniable encounter with Him, but a deep understanding of the Holy Ghost does not come overnight. For me it has taken years and years of His leading and revelation in Scripture. And I am still learning every day.
( THE GODHEAD)
What I am about to share with you regarding the Godhead gave me an entirely new picture of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I found that God is eternal spirit yet with nonmaterial form, but He often reveals Him self through human form and other human traits.
( God the Father)
What about the way God frequently appears to man? When Ezekiel had his vision of God in 593 B.C., he described Him seated above an expanse that separated creatures from the glory of the Lord. He saw "the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone,... with the appearance of a man high above it" (Ezek. 1:26).
What was the appearance of God the Father? Like that of a man.You say, "I've been taught that God is spirit." Yes, but He is spirit with mysterious form, not some cloud floating in space. The apostle John, in Revelation, described Him as the reflected brilliance of precious stones. He said,"Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat therewas like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance" (Rev.4:2-3).The prophets describe the features of God in greatdetail. Isaiah says, "His lips are full of indignation, And Histongue like a devouring fire.
His breath is like an overflowing stream" (Isa. 30:27-28). And God revealed the fact that He can see. "They did evil before My eyes" (Isa. 66:4).To my amazement I found that God is described as having the likeness of fingers and hands and a face. After the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the tablets of stone, "written with the finger of God" (Ex.31:18).
Then the Lord said to Moses, "You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex. 33:20). He even talked to Moses about His "back." He said,"While My glory passes by I will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand,and you shall see My back; but My face shall not beseen" (vv. 22-23). If God reveals himself as only invisible spirit, how was it possible that Adam and Eve heard His footsteps? "And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8).
God also has a heart: "The LORD was sorry that He hadmade man on the earth, and He was grieved in hisheart" (Gen. 6:6). ( Like a "Blazing Fire") Now let's look at the Son. Before the Lord Jesus came to earth, He, with God the Father, had only an immaterial form. His earthly body off lesh, blood, and bone was given Him when He was born asa babe in Bethlehem. And, like you, He grew to be a man. If I were to ask "Of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,which is a real person?"most people would say the Son.
We can identify with Christ because He took the form of ahuman being. In fact, if you do not believe that Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead, it is impossible for you to be a Christian. It is the foundation that makes possible your salvation. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus part of the Godhead has a soul. At Gethsemane, before the crucifixion, he said to His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death" (Mark 14:34).
We have a physical description of Christ that shapes our image of Him. We know, for example, that he wore a beard and had long hair. In Old Testament prophecy concerning the suffering of the Messiah, the Lord says, "I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard" (Isa. 50:6). Christ was also a Nazarite, from a city where the men customarily wore longhair. Today, Christ in His resurrected body sits at the right hand of God the Father.
And what does He look like? John,in Revelation, saw a vision of Him "clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. . . . His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength" (Rev.1:13-14,16). On his head was "a golden crown" (Rev.14:14). And on his robe were written the words,
( KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS")
(Rev. 19:16).It is not God the Father that John is talking about. It is the "Son of man." And His glorified human body is distinct from the divine form of God the Father.
( A Mind of His Own )
But what about the Holy Spirit? Does He also have a mind, a will, and emotions? Does He have a body? He certainly does. It's a subject that most ministers are afraid to discuss, but I have experienced the person of the Holy Ghost.Without question we all agree He is a "Spirit." That's part of His name. But what about His inner being? Is Here ally a "person"?First, the Holy Spirit has a mind of His own. Speaking of the Holy Ghost, Paul said, "Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27). The mind of the Spirit is distinct from that of the Father and the Son. He also has emotions.
He has deep feelings that allow Him to grieve and to love: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). His heart can be touched, and it has the capacity to express love. Paul, writing to the Christians at Rome, said: "I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God forme" (Rom. 15:30). Can you imagine loving without emotion?
( THE PERSON OF THE SPIRIT)
What about the will of the Holy Spirit? Perhaps you have never considered it possible for the Holy Spirit to make His own decisions. He certainly can, but His decisions are always in harmony with the Father's and the Son's. Speaking of spiritual gifts, Paul wrote, "One and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). In other words, the Holy Spirit makes the decision.
( Doves and Lambs )
It is the question of the "body" of the Holy Spirit that causes much confusion. A man recently said to me,"Benny, the body of the Holy Spirit is really that of a dove. That's how He descended from Heaven." I replied, "If that's true, then you must believe that Jesus was really a little lamb. That's how He is presented in Revelation."In the book of the Revelation John the apostle heard an elder say, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda . . . has prevailed" (Rev. 5:5). He turned, expecting tosee a roaring lion, and instead he saw a gentle lamb that had been slain. Now Jesus went to heaven with a physical body,with nail prints in his hands. But the symbol John saw was alamb. Why? The lamb symbolized the Lamb of God Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit was seen by Jesus immediately following His baptism: "the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove an dalighting upon Him" (Matt. 3:16). Just as the Father and the Son can be seen, so can the Holy Spirit. But His descent as a beautiful dove does not mean that He flies around in heaven like a dove. Nor does Jesus walk around heaven with the body of a lamb.
In Revelation the Holy Ghost was seen again as "seven lamps" of blazing fire (Rev. 4:5). If the Spirit came as a dove in Matthew, you can't expect Him to have a body made out of seven candles or seven pieces of fire. The Holy Ghost is not seven lamps, nor is He a dove. A lamb, a dove, a lamp—these are all symbols, not physical forms of bodies.
( Hearing, Speaking, Seeing )
Scripture, however, tells me that the Holy Spirit can communicate although He doesn't have ears or a mouth. He certainly can listen and speak to us: "Whatever He hears Hewill speak" (John 16:13). And we must listen to him: "Let him hear what the Spirit says" (Rev. 2:7). And even though He doesn't have eyes like mine, "the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). Since you were created with ears, a mouth, and eyes, wouldn't you expect the Creator Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be able to understand and talk to you? I also believe the Holy Ghost can make His presence known through bodily forms, and yet remain without limitation and fully omnipresent. The Bible makes this clear when it says, "The Spirit of God was hovering overthe face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). Now the Bible does not tell me what He "looks" like.
I am told a little of how the Father reveals himself. And I am given some description of Christ. But details regarding the way the Holy Spirit unveils Himself to us are rare in Scripture. Sometimes He is seen but not heard; other time sheard but not seen. At any time, however, he can reveal His presence and message through any kind of form he chooses.
(A Striking Resemblance")
What does God the Father sometimes look like?"Although I've never seen Him make a visible, physical appearance, I believe as with the Holy Spirit that Hecan make Himself look like Jesus looked on earth. In fact, many divine character traits are best made known through human nature, which is created in God's image (Gen.1:26-27; Jam. 3:9).
Hebrews speaks of Christ as "being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person" (Heb. 1:3).I can only come to one conclusion: When we see Jesus, we see the Father also. And I believe that Jesus reveals the Holy Ghost as He does the Father. Look at Jesus and you see the Spirit too. Someday soon I'm going to find out for certain. And I believe that you are planning to be there too. Again, the Holy Spirit is not a heavenly breeze or a hazy cloud floating in and out of your life.
He is God, and He resides in us equal with the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, said, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Cor. 3:16-17). He is saying that the Spirit lives in God's temple. We are that temple, and the Father and the Spirit are equal in us.
( Co-equal with Father and Son)
The Holy Spirit is not simply a person, distinct from the Father and distinct from the Son. He is much more. He's God, coequal with the Father and Christ. First, we find that the Holy Ghost is omnipresent. In other words, He can be at all places at the same time."Spirits" are not omnipresent, but the Holy Ghost is. He's just as real in Los Angeles as He is in Leningrad.
Just asalive. Just as full of glory. Now some people have needless problems with Satan.They think the devil is omnipresent. Let me assure you that he is not. Satan cannot be at all places at the same time.Why? Because angels cannot be at all places at the same time, and the devil was an angel, an archangel. The angels Michael or Gabriel are not omnipresent, and neither is Satan. The omnipresence of the Holy Ghost is described in thePsalms: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10). But not only is He omnipresent; the Holy Spirit is omnipotent all powerful. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35). The power of the "Highest" speaks of the Spirit of God. That same power of the Highest is the Holy Ghost, and He is omnipotent. All glorious. All powerful. Almighty God! The Holy Spirit is also omniscient. He's all knowing.
I get excited when I read the words, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-11)
Think about it! The Holy Ghost actually searches themind of God. He finds what's there and presents it to you. He says, "Here's what I've found." How can He search the" deep things of God"? Because He is all knowing. There's something else you need to know about Satan.
He cannot read your mind. Angels can't read your mind, and the devil is an angel. If he could read your mind, he would be an all-knowing spirit. But that place is reserved for the Father and the Holy Ghost. Satan cannot read your mind.
(Should He Be Worshiped?)
Here is an important question I must ask. If the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, if He is omnipotent, if He isomniscient, should we worship Him as God? Does He deserve our praise and adoration? Christians have a major problem when it comes to thetopic of worshiping the Spirit. It's a subject they would rather not discuss.
And if you ask them, "Why don't you worship the Holy Ghost?" they can't seem to find an answer. Oh, they'll say something like, "Well, we're not supposed to."To be honest, I had the same problem. Why? Because the devil deceived me as he has deluded so many.I thought,"How can I worship Him? It's just not the way I've been taught."The Holy Ghost, however, is much more than a bird flying in the sky who gives you the pentecostal experience. If He is all the things we've been discussing equal with the Father and the Son, then He is to be worshiped. After all, don't we worship the Father? And don't we worship the Son?You may wonder, "How should the Holy Spirit be worshiped?" Well, how do you worship God the Father? And how do you worship the Son? There should be no difference. You should shower Him with your devotion and your love.
The Bible tells us that the Godhead Father, Son, and Spirit is self-existent: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:14). When we learn about angels, we find that they only are present because of the existence of Jesus. But I've got news for you. God the Holy Spirit can be referred to as the "I Am," just like God the Father and God the Son.
( Oil, Water, Clouds, and Light)
Since my first encounter with the Holy Spirit, I have experienced a growing reality of His presence. Every scripture, every encounter, and every revelation makes my walk in the Spirit more complete. Recently, during a time of study in the Word, I said to my wife, "You know, I feel the presence of God all over me." Here's what touched me that night while I was tracing the meanings of words and their connection with the Spirit.I was wondering, What does it really mean to "grieve" the Spirit? What I learned was that the Holy Ghost is not just aspirit who can have shape. He's so real He can be resisted. Now many people think the Holy Ghost is a wind. But He isn't. That's just another in a long list of descriptive symbolsused to communicate the Spirit oil, water, a dove, a cloud, light, and so many more. It certainly doesn't mean that helooks like His symbols.Wind is invisible to the eye, but you cannot resist it.The word resist means to oppose. You cannot oppose wind.
Try to stand against wind and it will pass right by you. Yet you can oppose the Holy Ghost. You can actually stop Him from working. Stephen, in his speech to the Sanhedrin, quoted Moses saying: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; As your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51).They opposed Him and, unfortunately, they were successful.
Remember this: you cannot resist wind, oil, oreven a dove that will just fly away, but you can resist aperson and that is what the Holy Spirit is. Then I traced the words grief and grieved in the original Greek. The root word is loopa. And here is what it means: to feel pain in body and mind. It means to suffer mental and physical anguish. The Holy Ghost is a person, or Paul would not have said, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit" (Eph. 4:30).
The Holy Ghost doesn't just hurt. Hurt operates at the level of the emotions. He grieves, and that goes much deeper. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit can be quenched. The word means to put out. Paul warned the church at Thessalonica, "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19).You cannot quench the wind or other symbols. But you can stop a person. And that is what the Holy Spirit is.
( So Easily Wounded )
You also need to realize that the Holy Spirit can be afflicted and tormented. He can be vexed. Isaiah talked about the lovingkindness of the Lord and his mercy toward Israel: "But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them" (Isa. 63:10 KJV). It's difficult to imagine, but it'strue. The Holy Ghost can be tormented by human beings. In the original language, to vex carries the meaning of wearing down, troubling, even afflicting. Only a person can become the target of such torments. A strong wind cannot be quieted, but the Holy Spiritcan: "And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, 'See, those. . . have given rest to My Spirit'" (Zech. 6:8). The Holy Spirit is a person who responds to your wishes. You can tell Him to be quiet and He will. But then you run the risk of grieving Him.
So many times in public meetings, I have seen the Holy Spirit about to speak and then quieted by some fleshly manifestation. At such sacred moments I have felt the Holy Spirit with drawing.The Holy Spirit is not a fighter; He's a lover. If you resist Him, He will just leave. He's not like Satan, who the Bible says will "flee" from you if you resist him. The Holy Spirit will not run away in fear, but rather He will leave your presence with a wounded heart.
If He is grieved, He will gently retreat. If He is quenched, he will quietly depart. How tragic to think that people would vex or attempt to quiet such a lovely person. But they do. The Children of Israel did. And today while he is still longing for our love and our fellowship, we wound him through our ignorance and rebellion.I can still hear Kathryn Kuhlman in Pittsburgh sobbing with such agony: "Please! Don't wound Him. He's all I've got."
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