Chapter ( Ten )

Part 3 Understanding the Governor 

The Nature of the Governor 

We have seen that the presence of the Governor is essential for transforming the world into the king-dom of heaven. It is now vital that we consider in more depth the nature of the Holy Spirit because, though the Governor is the most important person on earth, he is also the most misunderstood and ignored. People who are not yet in the kingdom don’t understand the Holy Spirit’s indispensable role in their lives because they’ve been led to believe that he is mysterious and unknowable. Or they think he is a kind of apparition because of our modern connotation of the word spirit and the use of the term Holy Ghost for Holy Spirit in the King James Version of the Bible. Even people who have received the Governor have misconcep-tions regarding who he is. I said earlier that some think he’s a sensation or a thrill whose purpose is to make them feel good.

 Let’s explore the nature of the Governor beginning with what he is not. Rather than referring to the Spirit as a kind of ethereal mist, Jesus talked about the Spirit using the word he. In fact, this statement of his could not be clearer:But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.Jesus could have said, “When the Holy Spirit comes.” He kept repeating the word he, however, as if he wanted to make sure we knew the Holy Spirit is not just a force or cloud. 

Not a Feeling or Sensation 

The Holy Spirit is also not just a “feeling.” Again, I think we have often relegated him to a kind of strange, goose-pimple-raising experience. I think part of the reason for this is that some people come to corporate worship experiences so pent up with frustration about their lives that, when they can’t take it anymore, but they sense an accepting environment, they run around screaming, roll on the ground, and call it the Holy Spirit. 
They are simply releasing tension.You don’t need to make noise to experience the Holy Spirit. You don’t need loud drums and cowbells and scream-ing, shouting, and clapping. If you read the Bible carefully, most of the time when the Spirit manifested himself, it was in quietness, not feelings. The prophet Elijah had this experi-ence: A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. 
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”Let me add this statement, however: The Holy Spirit is not a feeling, but his presence can certainly affect your emotions as you experience his peace, joy, and comfort. 

Who Is the Holy Spirit? 

The Holy Spirit Is God Extended The most important thing we must know about the nature of the Holy Spirit is that he is God. I like to use the term “God extended.” He is God extended to a person and/or situation to work the purpose and will of his kingdom in the person’s life or in the circumstance. 
One with God !!
Earlier, we talked about the fact that Jesus is fully God, even though he is also fully human. God the Son became Jesus of Nazareth for the purpose of his redemptive task in the world. His dual nature never diminished His oneness and equality with the Father. The Scripture says that Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men.”You don’t need to grasp for something that you already have. 
Jesus is equal with God, even though he is distinct in personality and function from God the Father and God the Spirit. The Scripture tells us that Jesus was sent from the Father through the Spirit. The heavenly messenger told Mary, the mother of Jesus, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” And Jesus spoke of his oneness with the Father, saying, “I and the Father are one,” and “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. 
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”The word Father in relation to God doesn’t mea n fat her t he way one is related to a human father, or in the sense of some-one who is “greater” or “older.” God is not “older” than Jesus Christ. Jesus is eternal, as God the Father is eternal. Rather, the word Father refers to God’s being the Source from which Jesus was sent.Likewise, the Holy Spirit is God, and he is equal to the Father and the Son. John wrote in his gospel, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Jesus spoke of the Spirit as “another Counselor” who would continue his work on earth.
 So God is one, but he expresses himself in three distinct personalities and dimensions. Jesus told his disciples, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father....” Both Jesus and the Spirit proceeded from the Father to accomplish the work that needed and still needs to be done on earth. 
 Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem us; the Spirit was sent by Jesus to empower us. Jesus was sent to restore us; the Spirit was sent to release us into a new kingdom life.I like to describe the concept of the triune God by the anal-ogy of water. Water, in its liquid state, is like God the Father; it is the natural source. If you were to take some water and freeze it, it would become solid ice. 
Ice is like Jesus, the Word who became flesh; he was tangible, someone who could be seen, heard, and touched. If you were to take the same ice, put it in a pot, and heat it to boiling, it would become steam. Steam is like the Holy Spirit, the invisible influence that generates power. Ice and steam can return to their original liquid state. All three are in essence water, although in different forms. 
Receives the Same Honor as God !!
Another confirmation that the Holy Spirit is God is Jesus’ statement about the consequences of blaspheming him. “I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be for-given them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” The only sin Jesus said you can never be forgiven of is a sin against the Holy Spirit. Why did he say this? I believe that he was saying it is the Holy Spirit who,
(1)convicts people of their need to be cleansed from sin by the work of Christ,and (2) who enables us to be spiritually reborn and brings us into the heavenly king-dom. Therefore, if someone totally hardens himself to the Spirit and his work, he won’t be drawn to forgiveness through Christ, and he won’t be able to receive the regenerating work of the Spirit in his life. Jesus Christ cleanses us, the Father forgives us, and the Spirit renews us. The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote, quoting Psalm 95, “As the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebel-lion.’”
 In other words, if you hear his voice, if you feel his con-viction, if you hear him saying, “It’s time,” then do not harden your heart because there is going to come a day when he will stop calling you. The Scriptures speak about God as long suf-fering or patient; it doesn’t say that he is forever-suffering. He will allow foolishness for a long time, but only for so long. 
The term apostate refers to someone who has entered a state where he can’t hear the Spirit of God anymore. You don’t want the Holy Spirit to stop convicting you. If the Holy Spirit convicts you about your need to repent, receive forgiveness, and enter the kingdom of God, you should run to him! Why? Because that means you are still in good relationship with him, and he is able to talk to you. Don’t let your pride prevent you from respond-ing because you wonder what people will say. 

You should rather worry that the Spirit will stop talking!I hope that you will listen to the most important person from heaven, who is the most important person on earth! He is vastly more important than angels, which many people hope to see. Angels, however, work for the government, but he is the government. So the Holy Spirit is first of all “God extended.” Second, as we have seen, the Holy Spirit is a person. A person has qualities and characteristics that distinguish him from others, so that he is a separate being. 
The Governor has a distinct personal-ity, characteristics, and will. As the Representative of heaven, the Resident Governor in the colony, his main desire is for us to fulfill the King’s purposes on earth.Jesus described the person and work of the Holy Spirit, revealing at various times that among his characteristics are his abilities to teach and guide. A feeling or a force cannot be a governor. A mist can’t teach or guide. Most citizens of the kingdom have no real relationship with the Governor because they haven’t realized they have someone invaluable dwelling in them. Someone. 
 The Spirit Has Spiritual Senses:::::!!
 The Holy Spirit also has “senses” that are part of his per-sonality. By this, I mean that he has spiritual senses similar to the way human beings have physical senses. Spiritually speak-ing, the Holy Spirit sees, hears, feels, and smells or discerns in his dealings with the earth and its inhabitants. 
 The Spirit Has Feelings or Emotions :::::!!
Paul wrote, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We can grieve the Spirit when we actively resist him, behave in ways that are contrary to the kingdom of heaven, or neglect him.I want to focus on the area of neglect. Think about this: When you ignore someone, he generally stops talking to you. 
And the more you ignore him, the more he will ignore you. For example, if you don’t acknowledge me, eventually I will come to the conclusion that I’m not important to you and that you don’t have any regard for me. Or, if you keep ignoring me when I talk to you, then, eventually, I should have a little sense to say, “He really doesn’t want to listen to me.” Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. I used to be a teacher in the classroom, and let me tell you, there is no worse experi-ence for a teacher than to have a group of students who have no interest in learning. 
We must realize that the Holy Spirit is a person who knows when we are ignoring him. If we disregard his teaching and leading, we aren’t treating him with the respect and devotion he deserves. We also miss opportunities to learn and serve in the kingdom. And it is not only we who are negatively affected by this. Suppose the Governor prompts you five times to bring food to a neighbor. Finally, he stops speaking to you about it. Two things happen: You miss a blessing, and your neighbor may go hungry. 
Or suppose the Governor prompts you during the night to get up and pray for someone, but you say, “I’m tired, and I’ve had a long day, so I need to sleep.” The Holy Spirit says, “Yes, but someone is in need of help, and I need a human vessel through whom to intercede because this is the way the kingdom of heaven works on earth.” You think, “That’s just my imagination; I’m tired.” So you stay in bed and no longer sense his prompting. 
You find out the next day that someone was in a dangerous or troubling situation, and your prayers were urgently needed.We listen to other people more than we listen to the Spirit of God. We seek other people’s advice more than we seek his. Sometimes, he withdraws our sense of his presence in order to get our attention.Some people have not heard the voice of the Holy Spirit for a long time. Why? They get up in the morning and don’t acknowledge him at all before plunging into the day. They never refer to him when they make decisions, invest their finances, work at their jobs, run their businesses, or go to school. Therefore, he’s quiet toward them.You literally have to learn to fellowship with and listen to the Holy Spirit. He speaks to us through the Scriptures, through our thoughts, and through promptings and impressions. We need to practice hearing his voice and not ignore him, but acknowl-edge him as a person who is inti-mately interested in who we are, what we do, and how we fulfill our role in the kingdom. 

The Governor’s Nature Expressed to Us...!!!
 Let us now look at how the Governor attends to us in ful-fillment of his nature. The Scriptures describe and define par-ticular roles and responsibilities of the Holy Spirit on earth. Again, in all his works, the Governor acts only according to the word of the King. “The Spirit of truth,” Jesus said, “...will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
 Counselor and Comforter ...!!
Jesus told his disciples,But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.intentionally. Some people purposely do what is contrary to the kingdom, and then they want to be automatically forgiven by the King. This does not reflect a true transformation into a kingdom citizen. If we really desire to live by heavenly stan-dards, even though we sometimes may slip up, the Governor will help us to live them out. He wants us to succeed. 
Guide and Teacher .....!!
Jesus also said about the Governor,But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.As we have seen, governors were placed in colonies not just to give information, but also to train the citizens to think, act, and live the standards, the customs the entire culture of the home country. This involved both general teaching and individual training. 
Because the governor of a colony was sent from the throne of the sovereign, he knew the sovereign’s intent. In the same way, the Governor from heaven is the only one who can enable us to understand the truth of the statements that Jesus made and the instructions he left for us. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can reconnect us to original information about the King and his kingdom. 
He protects us from error and from others’ opinions that are not according to the mind of the King.One of the jobs of a governor in a colony is to interpret for the citizens what the sovereign means by the words he delivers to them. We saw in the last section that the Holy Spirit is called the Counselor. The word counsel has to do with one who inter-prets law, and the Governor reveals and explains the laws of the King to us, bringing those words to life. 
The prophet Isaiah said of Jesus, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding.” We, too, have this Spirit of wisdom and understanding living within us. Knowledge is information, and wisdom is how to apply it. In other words, wisdom is the proper use of knowledge. The Governor shows us how to take our knowledge and apply it to life. He is the one who makes us practical people in the world. In some religious circles, this has been reversed. The Holy Spirit is considered to be the one who makes people act in strange ways. However, the Governor couldn’t be more sensible. He shows us how to apply our k nowl-edge to family, business, community, national, and worldwide issues. 
 Helper and Enabler .....!!
When the King-Son was on earth, he quoted from the prophet Isaiah concerning himself,The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to pro-claim the year of the Lord’s favor.When a sovereign declared what he wanted for a colony, it was the governor’s job to make sure it happened, encouraging the citizens to work toward its fulfillment.
 As the Holy Spirit carries out the will of God in the world, we are to be in unity with his desires and intent for the earth in carrying out our role as vice governors over the territory. We are not here to establish our kingdoms. We are here to establish the kingdom of our Sovereign, whom we represent. 
 In Fulfilling the Purposes of the Kingdom...!!
 The above passage from the book of Isaiah emphasizes the focus of the kingdom on earth: telling the inhabitants about the promise of the Father, freeing them from the kingdom of darkness, and showing them the nature of the kingdom and how to enter in to it. 
It is the Governor who helps us to do all these things.It is the King’s ultimate purpose, as spoken through the prophet Habakkuk, that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” We can take this statement as an instruction concerning the kingdom. Again, the glory of God refers to the nature of God. 
Jesus said that, under the Governor’s direction, we are to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded.” In this way, the prophecy will be fulfilled. 
 The Governor calls upon us to bring the culture of the kingdom into the foreign culture that has taken over the earth the culture of the kingdom of darkness. We saw ear-lier that to disciple means to teach kingdom philosophy and values, so that the students are immersed in the mind-set of the King. The term nations is the Greek word ethnos, refer-ring to races or people groupings.
Every special grouping of people on earth is to be converted into kingdom culture. The royal governor of the Bahamas used to appoint local commissioners, or council people, from the colony, and he would empower them do different improvement projects, such as fixing the roads. Likewise, the Governor empowers us to do good works in the world on behalf of the government. As Paul wrote, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
 In Reconnecting to Our Gifts ...!!
Every human being is born with gifts from God, but in order for these gifts to reach their maximum potential in ser-vice for the kingdom, they need to be reconnected to their original source. No one really knows the true essence of his gifts unless he reconnects with the Spirit of the Creator. More-over, the Governor activates our gifts to a level that we wouldn’t naturally bring them. Paul wrote, quoting the prophet Isaiah, “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. 
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”The Governor reconnects you to the source of your gifts so that you can understand what you have been given not just the value of your gifts, but also the magnitude of them. In other words, no one’s intellect alone can discern or under-stand the gifts that the King has placed within him for the purposes of the kingdom. This is why, if you want to know what the Spirit of God really created inside you, you have to connect to the Governor. 
Paul also said, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” This statement tells us that we don’t even realize what we have until the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. This truth is vital for fulfilling your purpose and poten-tial. There are things about yourself that you will never know unless the Holy Spirit reconnects you to the deep things in the mind of the Creator and enables you to use your gifts most effectively.
Paul likewise wrote, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Without the Governor, we can never recognize what has been placed deep within us. We cannot know who we are without the Spirit of God. This is why many of us are living far below our poten-tial.
We should note here that there are gifts we are born with and additional gifts that we are given when we receive the Spirit. I believe there is a distinction between these two types of gifts, and we’ll talk more about “gifts of the Spirit” in coming chapters. However, the gifts I’m referring to here are the gifts you were born with to fulfill a specific purpose on earth for the kingdom. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to execute these gifts. 
This empowerment is not necessarily to give us the ability to do them because that ability already exists within us. Rather, he empowers us by revealing them to us fully and even introducing us to gifts we didn’t even know we had. Moreover, he shows us how to use them for the kingdom rather than for selfish purposes because the gifts our King gives us are always given to benefit other people. 
Jesus told his disciples concerning the Governor, When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 
 The word world in the above statement is not referring necessarily to people but to a system or mind-set. It’s the system based on the kingdom of darkness that influences the behav-ior of humans. Therefore, it is the Governor who convicts those outside the kingdom that they need to be forgiven and connected to their Father in the heavenly government. He also convicts the citizens of the kingdom of attitudes and actions that are contrary to the nature of the kingdom. 
 It is the Gover-nor who works through our consciences so that we will choose to live according to kingdom standards. We should realize that the Holy Spirit is not given to us to “take over” our lives. He prompts us, but he never forces us. In other words, he makes all the citizens conscious of the expectations, the standards, the laws, the regulations, and the customs of the kingdom, and he also convinces them of the benefits of these things.The King-Father is not in the business of controlling his citizens. 
He wants his children to desire what he desires. He respects our wills. The Governor shows us what the Father’s will is and helps us to fulfill it as we look to him for wisdom, strength, and power.In accordance with being Convicter and Convincer, the Holy Spirit is heaven’s divine attraction to the throne of the King. As the Governor works in people’s lives, he draws them to the Father in a gentle way. Again, he is not overbearing. The prophet Hosea gave a beau-tiful illustration of this approach when he recorded these words of the King to his people: “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.” 
Communicator.....!!
 A true governor would never communicate anything to the people that violated the king’s wishes. Likewise, as we have seen, the Holy Spirit communicates only what comes from the heavenly throne. Jesus said, “He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”This statement reminds me of a practice we observed when the Bahamas was still under the kingdom of Great Britain. Every year, the people would gather at Clifford Park in Nassau to hear the royal governor read a document, sent from the queen in England, known as The Speech from the Throne. 
To ensure that everyone heard the speech, the whole country had a holiday; everything was shut down.The royal governor would sit in a chair, surrounded by local government officials, and he would read the mind of the queen of England for our colony. That speech became the plan and the mandate for the new year. We were gathered together to be reminded of the sovereign’s desires for the kingdom and the colony, and her expectations from the colony. 
It was a review of the laws, customs, and standards of the kingdom, and it also expressed her plans for the future of the colony.Similarly, the Holy Spirit regularly brings us The Speech from the Heavenly Throne as we set aside the busyness of life to listen to him. The Governor’s words will never disagree with the King’s words or bring a message that is contrary to them. He will remind us of what the King has already said and what he desires, and he will also speak prophetically of the future of the kingdom. 
Sanctifier ...!!
Paul wrote to the first-century kingdom citizens in the city of Thessalonica,From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
As Sanctifier,the Governor helps free us from things in our lives that are contrary to the nature of the King and that diminish our capacity to maximize our gifts for the kingdom. Earlier, we saw that to be sanctified or holy means to be both pure (integrated, whole) and set apart. The Holy Spirit there-fore eliminates hindrances to our development and progress. It is like separating the chaff from the wheat. The chaff is no good to us. 
The separation involves some painful “winnow-ing,” but it is for our benefit. The King doesn’t want anything to stop us from fulfilling our potential and accomplishing our purpose. The Governor also sanctifies us in the sense of setting us apart for the service of the heavenly kingdom, and for the day when the King will once more return to the earth to live for-ever with his people with the creation of a new heaven and earth. 
When the queen of England was going to visit the Baha-mas, the royal governor would require everyone to prepare for it. We would have to sweep the roads, clean the lampposts, and plant trees and flowers. We even had to mow our own private yards, even though the queen would never see them. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to prepare every aspect of our lives for the King’s coming.These, then, are the major ways in which the Governor attends to us according to his nature. In the next chapter, we’ll take a closer look at the culture of the kingdom that the Governor desires to instill in us.