Knowing the Holy Spirit as an Individual Person

By Raymond McGough

To be able to understand the work of the Holy Spirit you need to know him as you
would know someone close to you. I believe, because He is in each believers spirit it
is like knowing your wife or someone close to you. When I became a Born Again
Christian, it was because of the work the Holy Spirit did within me, bringing the
knowledge of God to me, made visible by his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my
Lord, and who continues to work within me revealing what God would have me do.
You can see what I mean, I am in Christ, and Christ is in me, the same applies to God
the Father and the third person of the trinity God the Holy Spirit. Therefore; it is very
important that we should know God the Holy Spirit as a very important person to you,
and me. He is the means, thereby to help us to please God in how we live. We
therefore must listen to him when he speaks to us.
We need to decide from how you and I worship God, if God the Holy Spirit is a
divine individual person worthy of our love, adoration, praise, gratitude, and
appreciation, surrendering our self will to him or that he is not a person, but a power,
and an influence that comes from God the Father, and God the Son. It is on these
premises, and what we decide will provide the correct interpretation of our study on
the Person, and work of the Holy Spirit. I have already provided a clue to the proper
understanding of God the Holy Spirit. He is a person in his own right. As such he
deserves our worship, our love, our adoration, our submission of our lives to him. To
give him honour, and praise, and to realise that without Him it is impossible to live a
life pleasing to God. From a very practical point we have to decide whether God the
Holy Spirit is a mysterious and wonderful power that we can use. Or realise that God
the Holy Spirit is indeed a very real person with infinite holiness, wisdom, mightiness,

and tenderness, who desires to take hold of us, and use us for the furtherance of Gods
Kingdom. But if we think as many of the body of Christ may think, how we can get
more of the Holy Spirit we really have not understood that he is a divine person in his
own right, and our thinking should be how we can know more of this very dear divine
person God the Holy Spirit. When we start thinking like that our feet are walking on
the right track. The thought should be is how can God the Holy Spirit get the whole of
me? But the most misleading idea is to think of how can I get more power from the
Holy Spirit, because it leads to the exaltation of self, and the biggest danger of all
which is the curse of our present age self sufficiency. Anyone who thinks along these
lines will believe, although she or he has not received the Holy Spirit, has received
him, never tiring of telling the brethren how they have been chosen by God to be
leaders over them. But on the other hand when we truly believe that God the Holy
Spirit is a Majestic Person of divine origin full of holiness, and perfection, who has
condescended to take up residence in our hearts taking possession of our physical
lives in order to use them it will make us realise exactly what we are earthen vessels
chosen to be used by the Spirit of God. I can think of a no more humbling experience
than that of the most holy God of immeasurable majestic majesty infinite in his
personality as an individual person God the Holy Spirit consenting to take up
residence within my heart, a heart of a mere mortal ready to use someone like me I
fall to the ground in praise, and honour to him, because of who he is God the Holy
Spirit the third person of the glorious trinity.
The reality of God the Holy Spirit and knowing him as a divine individual person is
not only my experience, but the experience of millions of Gods people who rely on
him to help them to overcome this present evil world. He is as real as Jesus Christ our
Lord an ever present help who continues to love each of us and a gracious dear friend
a mighty helper. Most wonderful of all is that he dwells in the hearts of every believer
twenty four hours a day seven days a week ready to help us in every emergency. It is
from those who have really experienced God the Holy Spirit from which you see the
glow of God radiating from their eyes no matter how difficult their circumstances
from every walk of life. The reality of a Christ like life is not merely theological but
with it when we experience a meeting with the merciful, loving, and compassionate
God the Holy Spirit it takes our faith in Jesus Christ to new levels it is then we begin
to get to know Him.
There are a number of proofs from Holy Scripture that point to the evidence of
God the Holy Spirit being a divine person
(a) The distinctive characteristics of what makes a human being an individual
person are ascribed to God the Holy Spirit in the Bible is evidence of being a real
person.
We have to ask ourselves what it is that goes into making our own personality. I
suggest wisdom, feeling, and our will. A superior being independent of anything to
support him will have knowledge, feeling, and a will. This can also be said of God the
Holy Spirit. When we speak of God as being a person many think of him as having
arms, legs, and a mouth, and so on, but that is not of his personality it is of a material
substance. Most of these distinguishing marks of personality describing the Holy
Spirit as a person can be found in the Old Testament and the New Testament. He
possesses infinite knowledge. The Apostle Paul wrote of the Holy Spirits knowledge

in his First Letter to the saints in Corinth. (1.Cor.2:10, 11.) But God has revealed
them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of
God. (11) 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. He is a
person who clearly knows all the things that God the Father knows, and God the Son.
He being the third person of the holy trinity clearly knows the truth that can see
actually what a man or woman thinks at any given time. He is truth, because God the
Father and God the Son is truth.
Next we come to the will of God the Holy Spirit, like any other person he has a will
of his own, but he is not any other person he is God. Again we turn to Pauls First
Letter to the saints at Corinth. (1.Cor.12: 11.) But one and the same Spirit works all
these things, distributing to each one individual as He wills. The fundamental
principle here is that the Spirit of God is a person who possesses his own will. We
cannot get him to bend to our will, and make him do what suites us. He is a glorious
Sovereign God who will use us for his purposes. We need to realise that as the
Sovereign God in his person as that of the Holy Spirit, you and I have to subject our
will to him, in order to have any proper meaningful relationship with Him, because he
only wants to help us to please God, and by doing this he will help us to overcome the
hurdles of this world. It is at this precise point in time that those who seek the power
of the Holy Spirit to enable them for service, never really get it, because it is not about
that, it is about becoming like my Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and showing his
love to the world. What a tremendous God that we all have in God our Father, and our
Lord Jesus Christ that both should give us the gift of God the Holy Spirit, who in
every respect is the very same in person as the Lord Jesus Christ perfect, and not
some invisible power that could have the same negative faults as we have. Bless his
holy name. He who provides to us the gifts he sees fit, and uses us to bring glory to
the Kingdom of God by his very power. One more distinctive characteristic of the
Holy Spirits Person is that he loves us with the same love God our Father and his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord loves us with.
Following this we discover that God the Holy Spirit possesses a mind of his own,,
he he has infinite intelligence, and intellect comparative with God our Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul made a comment upon this in his letter to the saints in Rome. (
Rom.8:27(Rom.8:27.) 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.
On his own volition God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for you and I who know
and love the Lord Jesus Christ, absolutely astonishing, because he is God part of the
trinity. I fall, and lie prostrate on the ground before God, because of who he is God
over all, the immortal God who is in substance God the Father, God the Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. But God the Holy Spirit tells me to get up on
my feet. Jesus Christ, my risen glorified Lord, because of his love for me gave me the
gift of his Spirit, who is known as God the Holy Spirit, who is a person in his own
right, a very beautiful person, who loves me, and who wants to help me to become
more like my Lord, the risen glorified Christ, and as the text provides text provides
the proof that he has a mind of his own, which I know by experience, because he
speaks to me. If you want to know more of him like that, then you need to surrender
more of your life to him, the only way to know the will of God for your life. We then
come to the love of God the Holy Spirit, of which he provides to us without measure,
before we knew God the Father and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit was

seeking after us with his love to bring us back to God. Without his intervention we
would be heading to a lost eternity. What an incredible, merciful, compassionate, and
loving God is the Spirit of Christ, our Lord, who is God the Holy Spirit, praise and
worship him. Once more we turn to Pauls letter to the saints in Rome which speaks
of this very subject.(Rom .15:30.) Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus
Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers
to God for me. Notice how important the love of God the Holy Spirit was to the
apostles of Jesus Christ who made a tremendous significance to the life of the apostle
Paul and his brethren gleaned from this text. It is as important for our lives, as men
and women of God, as it was then. I have to love God the Holy Spirit in the same
fashion as I love God our Father and his Son our Lord Jesus Christ. We think of first
and foremost of the love of Jesus Christ our risen glorified Lord, how immense it is,
and without limit showering his love upon us on a daily basis, not only his love which
would be more than enough, but with it comes the love of God our Father. This more
than anything else should occupy our hearts when we rise in the morning. But more
than anything else God the Holy Spirit brings that love with his own love into our
lives. He is the one who makes us effective for the purposes of the Kingdom of God.
We have in a nutshell the three individuals of the one triune God in the person of God
the Holy Spirit who brings his love to us the third person of the trinity. To know more
of God I have to submit the way I live to the influence and guidance of God the Holy
Spirit, he brings to my spirit what God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord would
have me know and do in every minuscule fraction of a second with my life which
really is His, a beautiful person who shares in his beauty with God the Father and God
his Son Jesus Christ. The importance of God the Holy Spirit cannot be dismissed in a
negative fashion, without him there would be no church! His importance to the
members of Christs body cannot be over emphasised enough. Jesus spoke of how his
Spirit, once received would help believers in their daily lives become more like him
every day as long as they submitted themselves to him in how they live. John the
apostle recorded the words of Jesus for our benefit in his narrative of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. (Jn.14:16) And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another
comforter that He may abide with you forever. Before I fall into temptation the
thought to do something wrong is already there, it is how I act upon it that may lead
me into sin. God the Holy Spirit is there to stop me from taking the wrong action to
that thought, but I have to ask Him to help me to overcome these thoughts. My
prayers should be that God the Holy Spirit would stop these wrong thoughts from ever
reaching my grey cells. If I didnt have the Holy Spirit living in me it would be
impossible to please God. The very same holds good for all of the members of
Christs body the church. How glorious that God our Father has thought of our every
need, and graciously supplied it to us, His Son Jesus Christ who took the penalty of
our sins by dealing with them by his death upon the cross, then gloriously resurrected
to life by the Father who then provided each believer with the gift of God the Holy
Spirit to help them live lives committed to Him. Hallelujah! Let us praise God from
the heart. It is hard to imagine, but this tender loving person, God the Holy Spirit was
chasing me even before I was born, so that I would not end up in the clutches of
Satan. He made sure that I would experience the love of God through His Son Jesus
Christ, who made visible his love, and the love of God his Father by his death and
resurrection from the cross by the Father who has become my Lord in this life and the
one to come. However; He who made it real to me was and is God the Holy Spirit I
have to do whatever he asks of me, because it comes from God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ, because I want to.

The Personality of the Holy Spirit can also be found in the books of the Old
Testament as well as the New. Nehemiah the prophet spoke of him. (Neh.9:20) You
also gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from
their mouth, and gave water for their thirst Here we find the characteristics of
personality ascribed to God the Holy Spirit of goodness, and intelligence. Although
there is not a fully developed doctrine in the Old Testament, nevertheless it is there. It
is fully developed in the New Testament, but we have to keep in mind that there is no
such thing as a closed theology God cannot be tied to a book it is there for us. How
ridiculous. There is no better passage than the Apostle Pauls letter to the believers at
Ephesus that touches the gentleness and emotional feeling of God the Holy Spirits
personality. (Ephes.4:30) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. He the Holy Spirit is a person who can be
grieved by what we do when we go in the opposite direction to the direction That God
would have us take. He has to go where we go because he lives in us. Our lives would
be better ordered before God, if we took on board the fact that what we think, say, and
do, he is there to see it every moment of the day, and while we sleep at night. God the
Holy Spirit is not just an influence or a power he is infinitely a very dear person of
divine origin. Let us praise His wonderful name.
(b) The Acts of the Person of God the Holy Spirit who belongs to the trinity

You cannot interpret Holy Scripture to God the Holy Spirit as an impersonal
influence or some kind of invisible power, coming from the Father, and the Son,
especially, when the bible ascribes it to a person, it would be not be comprehensible.
Take for instance Pauls letter to the church at Corinth. (1.Cor.2:10) But God has
revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God. We have to understand that God the Holy Spirit like God the Father
and God the Son is a person just like them. He is independent of God the Father and
God the Son as a person in his own right, but as the third person of the trinity, he is in
harmony with them, as well as being subjugated towards them. He as an individual
person, being of the same substance of God he searches the deep things of God, and
then reveals what he is allowed to reveal to us from God the Father, and God the Son,
that which he has been given consent to be revealed to us. How precious the gift of
God the Holy Spirit is to each and every believer. He leads me into all truth as he does
you. Now we turn to the book of Revelation in the New Testament. (Rev.2:7) He,
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who
overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of God When God speaks to us it is through the person of God the Holy Spirit, he
whispers to us. He is a person who possesses a tongue, and an ear to hear us, when we
speak to him, but we must listen with our ears to him, he possesses infinite divine
wisdom of which he desires to pass on to us, enabling us to become more like Christ
in this earthly life, and to know more of Gods plans for the future Not only does God
the Holy Spirit whisper to us he cries while he is in our hearts. Yes, he abides in our
hearts. (Gal.4:6) And because you are sons, God has sent forth, the Spirit of His Son
into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father! Crying out, the term crying out means
to shout out He corroborates with his Spirit to ours that we have been adopted by God
our Father to be his sons. The apostle Paul mentions this topic again in his letter to
Ephesus which is also repeated a number of times on the pages of the New Testament.
(Ephes.1:5) Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will. The inescapable conclusion is God made
man in his own image, and after the fall, redeemed him through the death, and
resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, for his own good pleasure. The gift of
his Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit to us who believe and call Jesus Christ
Lord is for his own good pleasure. I should be gratified and I am that it is because of
his pleasure he has made visible his love towards me by the work of God the Holy
Spirit upon my spirit, convincing me, and bringing faith to help me to believe the
Lordship of Gods Son Jesus Christ upon my life. Without an encounter with the risen
glorified Lord brought about by the work of God the Holy Spirit the Bible would
remain a lifeless book. God the Holy Spirit is paramount in the life of the saints of the
Lord Jesus Christ you cannot live without him, and please God. An extraordinary
absolutely marvellous God whom we should worship, and appreciate while living on
earth

One of the most significant characteristics of God the Holy Spirit which is
ascribed to him as a person is that of the teacher. Jesus Christ our Lord spoke on this
to his disciples. So obviously again he is a person. (Jn.14:26) ( But the comforter,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things,
and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you. ) God the Holy Spirit is not
replacing Jesus Christ our Lord, but he is being sent or has been sent to us who
already know him. Notice how our Lord emphases that he will teach us all things, that
is, all we need to know from God. Not only will he do that, but he will also bring to
remembrance all that the risen glorified Lord taught, such a beautiful person with his
own position in the deity as the third person of the one triune God. But he is
subordinate to God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our Father. He only does
what our risen Lord asks of him to enable us to keep to the narrow path leading to
righteousness. Again we read of it in the Apostle Johns narrative of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. (Jn.16:12-14,) (I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now. (13) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide
you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears
He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.(14) He will glorify Me, for He
will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.) I said earlier that you can find
references to the Holy Spirit on the pages of the Old Testament. The prophet
Nehemiah wrote of this. (Neh.9:20.) (You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct
them, And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And gave them water for
their thirst.) We can therefore take from this, if we open our hearts to what the
Blessed God the Holy Spirit has to say to each of us as individuals on every new day,
and then we will learn the truth of our God. But what a marvellous, and incredible
God that you, and I have in God, the Holy Spirit, who comes daily into our lives,
when we let Him, no matter from what walk of life you may come from to tutor us in
the divine knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and help us to become more
experimental like him bringing glory to his name. But even although he has great
power, he is ever so gentle with each of us, who are in Christ leading us softly into the
paths he would have us walk. The operative clause for the disciples of our Lord Jesus
Christ is to be in him, the same applies to God the Holy Spirit. John in his First Letter
of the New Testament writes of it. ( 1.Jn.2:27) (But the anointing which you have
received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as
the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and
just as it has taught you abide in Him tremendous importance to us as members of
the body of Christ is his ability to pray, and intercede for us before the throne of God.
When God the Father chose each of us to be redeemed in the blood of his Son Jesus
Christ it was not because we somehow merited such an action, in fact it was, and is
for some, quite the opposite. After the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, he, and his
generations afterwards were condemned to die, and go to a lost eternity. Without
Christ that is the destiny of multitudes of people in this world. It is only by the work
of God the Holy Spirit who is even now working in the hearts of some of these
multitudes which will enable him to bring them the saving knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I cannot help, but marvel at all of this, I am speechless. The other
astounding factor is that God the Holy Spirit in person is representing me on my
behalf in me without me consciously knowing before the throne of God. The
incomprehensible made comprehensible by one who is God in the same substance of
the one triune God, immortal, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal representing a
mere mortal like myself, mere words fail me, to express my gratitude. I am in total
awe of such a divine being, nothing can match his love and the love of the first two

persons of the trinity God the Father and God the Son from whom he came. We turn
to the Apostle Paul and his letter to the church in Rome for his confirmation on this
subject. (Rom.8:26) Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not
know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession
with groanings that cannot be uttered. The impossibility of letting the person of God
the Holy Spirit take over all of our being, as we see it, even praying on our behalf, but
he also wants to take over the human way that we think by us being submissive to him
in order that we will obey willingly what our risen glorified Lord would want us to
do. If we allow the Holy Spirit to help us to think like Jesus Christ and what he done,
and does we will become more like him, and be ready to do what he asks. Systematic
Theology is a proper study of the Bible with the help of Gods Spirit, who enables us
to put the principles learnt to the practical side of our lives, which in turn makes us
become more, and more like Jesus Christ our Lord, every day, and enables us to know
him. But what is more important, although both verses are of equal importance, is
because God the Holy Spirit lives in us all, when we submit to his sovereign will we
will witness towards one another with the love of the risen glorified Christ, when that
occurs he enables us to do that, and of course to the world. (Jn.15:27) (And you also
will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.) Without God
the Holy Spirit witnessing to your spirit, and mine, it would be impossible for us to
witness to the world showing the love of Christ to all whom the Spirit would lead us
too. Let us continue being submissive to our Lord Jesus Christ by listening and doing
what his Spirit would have to say to us by continuing to pray by asking the Spirit what
he would have us pray for? We can see another distinguishing mark of the personality
of the Holy Spirit in his actions of praying, and interceding for us before God. Paul
the Apostle commented upon this in his letter to the church at Rome. (Rom.8:26)
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we
should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession with groanings
that cannot be uttered. How marvellous that we have the third person of the trinity
God Himself the Holy Spirit praying for every saint in and through you and I. But
what is most astounding is that we have two blessed persons of the one triune God
making intercession before God the Father on our behalf. Jesus Christ our Lord and
God the Holy Spirit. The author of the book of Hebrews comments upon Christs
intercession on our behalf before the throne of the Lord of hosts. (Heb.7:25)
Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him,
since He always lives to make intercession for them. He is our great High Priest the
Lord Jesus Christ who lives to continually make intercession for us. But how
marvellous and wonderful that the third Person of the trinity God the Holy Spirit
dwells in deepest and innermost depths of our being he knows immediately of our
weaknesses, and knows our every need and meets every one of them. As a person the
Holy Spirit has authority over each and every one of us who are the members of the
body of Jesus Christ who is the Head. (Acts.16:6, 7 ;) Now when they had gone
through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to
preach the word in the Roman province of Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they
tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. It points to the full
supremacy of authority held by God the Holy Spirit appointed to be the spokesman of
the first two persons of the one triune God: God the Father and God the Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. He it is who calls men and women into the service of our risen glorified
Lord, Jesus Christ by the will and purposes of his Father. (Acts.13:2.) As they
ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to Me Barnabas
and Saul for the work to which I called them. We read a further text which

corroborates the former, and again in the book of Acts. (Acts.20:28.) Therefore take
heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers to shepherd the church of the Lord and God which He purchased with His
own blood. There is no doubt that the person that the authors of the New Testament
portray in the texts already mentioned, who is in me, and stands before me is radiantly
glorious, divine, and deified by the Godhead to whom he belongs, God the Father and
God his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How absolutely marvellous and wonderful that
such a very dear, and the kindest person that there is should be in me. He lives in all
of the members of the body of Christ to help and enable us to overcome this present
evil world. What is even more astonishing is that our Lord promised us that once he
had died upon the cross, and his Father had resurrected him on the third day, and after
his ascension he would send one like him to be with us until we have been called
home. No matter our circumstances he is there with us to help us to overcome
whatever this world brings against us. Hallelujah and Amen! But to also take the
glorious message of the Gospel of my Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ to men, women,
and children still in darkness
Actions taken against the Holy Spirit to which his response shows his personality
The Holy Spirit is like a person he has his own emotions and feelings, and he will
react to whatever response is given to him. I turn to the book of Isaiah which is in the
Old Testament. (Isa.63:10.) But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He
turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them. After all that
he had done for Israel they turned against God, and continue that rebellion. The very
same Holy Spirit mentioned here by Isaiah the prophet of the Old Testament is
precisely the same spoken of in the New Testament. Paul the apostle reiterates what
Isaiah had to say concerning the person of the Holy Spirit in a letter to the saints in
Ephesus. (Ephes.4:30,) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. You can only grieve a man or a woman, even
a small child, the very same thing applies to God the Holy Spirit. You cannot insult or
grieve a mere impersonal power or influence, because that is all that it is. The author
of the book of Hebrews puts flesh upon the bones of the person of the Holy Spirit.
(Heb.10:29.) Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will be thought
worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the
covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of
grace. To insult the Holy Spirit is to reject the work he does in each of us ascribing it
to something else rather than to him, that without him there is nothing that can be
done. Give praise to God the Father God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The
Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit. You can only blaspheme a person. Jesus spoke
these words recorded by Matthew in his narrative of the gospel he was an eyewitness
to this. (Matt.12:31, 32 ;) Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. (32)
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but
whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age
or in the age to come. It is imperative that I know the person of God the Holy Spirit,
and that I am able to hear him speaking to me, that I give him the first priority in my
life, that I do what he asks of me, that I give him my love as I do to God my Father
and God the Son, my Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is there to help me to do that
very thing. Hallelujah, praise his wonderful name. After all that the Lord God had
done for the house of Israel they rebelled against him, and continued to do so, and that
is why he became their enemy. God speaks in an intimate and personal tone of the
Holy Spirit which is His, in similar fashion God the Father and God the Son, our Lord

Jesus Christ is his. Therefore it is very personal to God how I react to His Holy Spirit
making it very important that I listen to him, and obey. What happened here in Isaiah
of the Old Testament can still occur if I choose to rebel. But if I keep my eyes fixed
upon my God and Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ I will not do this with the help of His
Spirit.
I used to think wouldnt it be great if my Lord was here in the flesh, but that
would have taken away the work he accomplished upon cross. Marvellously my Lord
is always here in his Spirit. I can talk to him, listen to him, confide in him that is why
it is important to understand that he the Holy Spirit is a person, a person like Jesus
Christ, one like him. John the disciple and apostle whom he loved so much
commented or witnessed what Jesus said in connection with this. (Jn.14:16, 17 ;)
And I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever-(17) the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will
be in you. We have to get to know the Spirit of Christ as a person, because He is a
person submitting to His will and purposes for our lives seeing that he receives this
from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. It is just like having Jesus
Christ in the flesh before us, and how he would help us, but this is infinitely better,
because now he can be with every believer no matter where. Let us praise the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thank you Holy Spirit, because you are right here in
my heart, you abide with me, because you are the living presence of God the Father
and God the Son the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough to know intellectually the
doctrinal creed of God the Holy Spirit as a person, but a person who lives, speaks, and
talks to you, in order to do that you have to give the whole of your life over to Him.

The Holy Spirit the third Person of the Godhead

In the previous chapter we discovered that God the Holy Spirit is a person , but what
kind of person is he? Is he finite or infinite? Is the Holy Spirit truly God, what
precisely is he? This is clearly answered from the Bible with answers from both the
Old Testament and the New Testament. There are five positive pieces of evidence
from both testaments that collaborate the fact of the genuineness of the Holy Spirit
being God, sharing in the deity of God the Father and God the Son.

There are four attributes that stand out as being divine, and they are as follows:
eternity,omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. The Bible describes them all
as belonging to the character of God the Holy Spirit.
Turning to the book of Hebrews the Holy Spirit is described as the eternal Spirit.
( Heb.9;14.) ...how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience to serve the
living God? The Psalmist points to his omnipresence the fact that he can be
everywhere, both one, and at the same time. Psalm.139:7-10 . Where can I go from
your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You
are there;If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the
morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall

lead me,And Your right hand shall hold me. An indirect reference to God the Holy
Spirit's omnipresence, but still more positive proof of Him being God. Now turning to
the New Testament again that provides another piece of the evidence proving the deity
of God the Holy Spirit, that of His omniscience. The Apostle Paul provides us
evidence of this attribute belonging to God the Holy Spirit in his first letter to the
saints at Corinth, his ability to know all that passes through a man's heart.
( 1.Cor.2:10,11.) 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the
Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.11 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. John the Apostle collaborates, and
confirms what Paul is writing of here in his narrative of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
John.14:26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all the things I
said to you. And for one more piece of Biblical evidence proving the omniscience of
the Holy Spirit the fact that He is truly God, and that we should listen to him when he
speaks comes from John's gospel. John.16:12,13. I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth,has
come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority.
But whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. Does God
the Holy Spirit speak today, from my own personal experience I affirm, and confirm
what has been written in God's word, not only me, but also to the faithful members of
Christ's body, the church. Last but not least is the attribute of the Holy Spirit's
omnipotence, and we find that in the gospel of Luke. Luke.1:35. And the angel
answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be
called the Son of God. The mighty power of the Holy Spirit's omnipotence shows
that He is truly God. I will continue with these studies later with God's help, my
prayer for you is that it will spill over into your personal life, that God's Spirit will
bring you closer to God our Father, and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and that you
allow the Spirit of God to help, guide, and influence you in all that you do showing
the fruit of the Spirit, but you have to give Him permission to do that. Amen
The Holy Spirit is a person separate and distinct from the Father and the Son
In previous studies we have seen that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not only that
he is a divine person belonging to deity, in other words he is God. But what of his
relationship which is between the Father, and the Son. We will see what the bible has
to say on the subject. Is he a separate individual person distinct from God our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ? We will find that Holy Scripture will conclusively come
down on the side that he is indeed that. Turning to the book of Lukes gospel we will
find evidence that supports the separateness, and distinctiveness of God the Holy
Spirit. Luke.3.21,22; When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus
also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened 22 And the Holy
Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven
which said, You are My beloved Son; In You I am well pleased. The first thing to
notice is that Jesus is standing in the River Jordan praying which takes him out of the
equation, next the heavens are opened which he has nothing to do with, at this time,
from which the Holy Spirit descends, illustrating that he is a separate, and distinct
from God our Father, and Jesus Christ his Son, and our Lord standing in the River

Jordan. The fact that God the Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord in the shape of a
dove signifies his gentle nature. Thirdly the Fathers voice spoke from heaven
portraying he is a separate person from God the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ his Son
who was standing in the River Jordan. But more importantly it conclusively proves
God the Holy Spirit is separate, and distinct from the Father, and the Son in his very
nature of deity. To conclude, God the Father is distinct, and separate to God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, each are their own person, distinct, and separate from each
other, but in one substance God. The very concept of God as defined by the Bible
blows away every vain worldly imagination of him. How can the creature or man
made by Gods hands have any proper thought towards him without having prior
knowledge granted to him by his grace which is applied by the work of God the Holy
Spirit through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our Lord to a man or womans life?
Therefore you have to know that God the Holy Spirit is in your life is fundamentally
important, without him your faith could die? Finally, but not exhaustively we will
look at one more text which comes from the Book of Acts which belongs to the New
Testament. (Acts 2:33.) Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having
received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you
now see and hear. Jesus Christ, our risen and glorified Lord sits with God the Father
in heaven, with that said, he is a separate person to his Father, and similarly his Father
is a separate person to him. The Holy Spirit whom our Lord pours out upon all flesh is
a separate person from the Father and the Son, and similarly each are separate
individuals from each other, but in substance one God who love each other, and live in
harmony. The very same love that God through Christ our Lord bestows upon us
through God the Holy Spirit. He it is who brings alive the Father and the Son to the
spirit within us. Let us praise his wonderful name. In conclusion, we have three
individual persons, who live together in one substance, always referring to each other,
who belong to the holy trinity whom we acknowledge as the one triune God.

The Holy Spirit is under the authority of the Father and Son
We know that God the Holy Spirit is a divine person, but in many senses he is not
equal to God our Father. However; we are taught from Holy Scripture that in Christ
Jesus our Lord all of the Godhead dwelt in him in bodily form.Col.2:9. For in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Him being our risen glorified
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Being fully and truly the divine Son of God that he could
say of Himself that he and his Father are one. Jn.10:30. I and my Father are one.
Even more vividly he could say with extreme authority whoever has seen me has seen
the Father. Jn.14:9. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you
have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you
say, Show us the Father? The Holy Scriptures also teach that Jesus Christ our Lord
is directly under the authority of God our Father, and in many ways is not equal to
him. In quite a similar fashion we are taught that God the Holy Spirit is under the
authority of the Father and Son. We see this quite clearly from another passage of

Johns gospel. Jn.14:26. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
things I have said to you. The Comforter or God the Holy Spirit under the authority
of God the Father is sent by him, and being under the authority of the Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ He will bring to remembrance all the things Jesus Christ had taught the
apostles as He does with us. But elsewhere we are taught that it is our Lord that sends
the Spirit from His Father Jn.15:26. But when the Comforter comes, whom I shall
send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will
testify of Me. In quite a similar fashion we are taught in other passages of Scripture
that the Son of God was sent by God our Father. Jn.6:29. Jesus answered and said to
them, This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent. Likewise we
have seen in John Jn.15:26, Jesus Christ our Lord sent His Spirit.
We can also see how God the Holy Spirit comes under the authority of God the
Father and God the Son by some of the names given to Him from the Father, and the
Son. The apostle Paul in his letter to the believers in Rome, he describes the Holy
Spirit as being the Spirit of God. Rom.8:9. But you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he is not His. But there are two names God the Holy Spirit derives
from the authority under God the Father, and God the Son, he is the Spirit of God, and
also the Spirit of Christ. You and I who have been born of the Spirit from above have
in each of us the Godhead individually in bodily form, it is from this source from
within we have our Lord Jesus Christ, God our Father, and God the Holy Spirit, all
that we need to do is to hear Him, and be provided by the power of God to be
obedient towards him by his Spirit that dwells from within. We have residing in each
of us who believe, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, from that
source we receive our energy to be obedient towards God, if we truly love Him?
Further to this we can add another name God the Holy Spirit has derived from our
risen glorified Lord, he is called the Spirit of Jesus found in the book of Acts.
Acts.16:7. After they had come down to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the
Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
The very fact that God the Holy Spirit is under the authority of our Lord Jesus
Christ, means He cannot speak from his own person, but rather only on what he is told
to speak from God our Father and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is borne out in
the gospel of John.Jn.16:13. However; when He the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He
hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. Jesus reiterated the very
same thing concerning his own deity. Again we turn to Johns gospel. Jn.7:16. So
Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent Me. This
point is reiterated in Matthews gospel.Mtt.11:27. All things have been delivered to
Me by My Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son. Nor does anyone
know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
But again it is God our Father who delivers all things in to the hands of our risen
glorified Lord.
In all that we have studied so far it is pretty transparent that you cannot put God the
Holy Spirit on equal parity with either God our Father and his Son, our risen glorified
Lord, Jesus Christ he is subordinate to the first two persons of the holy trinity, which

is also the Godhead. We can also see that in the fact that God the Holy Spirit had not
come to glorify himself, he had come to glorify the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ
Speaking of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ our Lord said this of him from Johns
gospel.Jn.16:14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and take it to
you. This can in similar fashion can be said of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he had
come to glorify God the Father.Jn.7:18. He who speaks from himself seeks his own
glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no
unrighteousness is in Him. You and I who have received the grace of God the Father
by accepting the free gift of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ are meant to glorify him in
all that we do, and say, nothing is hidden from him.
From all the relevant passages of holy Scripture that has been studied we have
gleaned that while in his present work God the Holy Spirit having all the attributes of
deity, nevertheless is under the authority of God our Father, and of his Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is not a dry as dust academic study, it is the means, whereby, with
the help of God the Holy Spirit, you, and I will be brought closer to God, spending
our time, and efforts loving and obeying only Him.
The names of God the Holy Spirit which reveal his person and work
There is roughly in number twenty- five names in both the Old Testament, and the
New that speak of God the Holy Spirit. Of course as we study them with the help of
God the Holy Spirit, the revelations of such a study will penetrate our very souls, and
hearts, not to say in the least our spirits, and the grey cells that makes up our intellect,
which will have stunning effects upon our very own personal spiritual lives, if we
hand over full authority, and control of our lives to God the Holy Spirit?.
The very first name to describe God the Holy Spirit is that of the Spirit of God. We
find reference to that in the first book of the Bible, which is called Genesis, and it is
found in the first chapter of Genesis, and verse 2.The earth was without form, and
void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters. Here God the Holy Spirit in the first instance is simply
called the Spirit, a name which is generally used in conjunction with other names to
describe his person and work. I believe this to be a good starting point.
It comes from the Hebrew word for Spirit which is ruach meaning spirit, wind, and
breath, when ascribed to God the Holy Spirit it means the breath of life, he is the wind
who breathes life into the mortal soul. He is indirectly called the breath of life in the
second book of Samuel of the Old Testament, cf; 2.Sam.23:2. The Spirit of the Lord
spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The Spirit is the English translation
of the Hebrew word, ruach, meaning wind. What I believe is meant by this is that the
wind (ruach) God breathing into the man spoken of here, and that very wind of God
breathing out of the man in the verbal language of his tongue, and what can we say of
this, is that the ruach or wind is in control of the man, and not the other way round. Is
that not how it should be for all who profess to love the Lord, especially in these last
days? But both these concepts, Wind, or Breath, are indeed ascribed to the name
of the Spirit of God, otherwise known as God the Holy Spirit.
Continuing this on the subject of the breath of God I would like to first of all turn
to the book of Genesis at chapter two, and verse seven, because this is the very first

instance we find God using his breath to bring to life the very first man. Gen.2:7. And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The psalmist looks back upon this
event, and he makes a comment in regard to it. Psalm.104:30. You send forth your
Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth. Righteous Job remarked
upon the Spirit of God. Jb.33:4. The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of
the Almighty gives me Life. Jesus also breathed his Spirit upon the disciples.
Reference to that can be found in the gospel of John.Jn.20:22. And when He had said
this, He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. What is very
transparent in all of this is the active role given to the Holy Spirit to execute the plan
of God our Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ, our risen glorified Lord. He is the third
person of the glorious trinity, he himself is fully divine and of the deity. When the
Lord God breathed into the first man from the dust of the earth making him a living
soul, it was actually the wind or breath of God the third person of the trinity actively
engaged in doing this, both God the Father, and God the Son in his pre- incarnate state
were in attendance with God the Holy Spirit being the eternal Godhead. All of the
prophets, and the men and women of God could do absolutely nothing without the
help of the wind or breath of God once he had called them to do the will and purposes
of God our Father revealed to them by the appearance of his Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ in his pre- incarnate form. But still as every bit as important as we have found
in the New Testament taking our evidence from Johns gospel in chapter twenty and
verse twenty two, it is God through the Holy Spirit who provides us with his calling,
which is provided by our risen glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, equips, strengthens us for
the task at hand, but only if we give him the authority to control our lives, and by
these means only, we please our God and Father, and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Praise God. It is Jesus Christ our Lord who breathes the Holy Spirit into them;
it has to be the same for us, Jn.20:22.
I have already broached the subject that the name Spirit as applied to God the
Holy Spirit from New Testament Greek means, Wind. We will see from the gospel of
John how he describes this. Jn.3:6-8. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must
be born again. 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but
cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So everyone who is born of the
Spirit.
It is worth repeating that this is not a dry as dust academic study that is
meaningless. On the contrary with God the Holy Spirits help he brings us closer to
God. The New Testament word for Spirit is pneuma, which belongs to the group of
words as follows, pneumonia, and pneumatology, pneumatic. Breath, breeze, a current
that blows air, the Wind, the spirit. The Apostle Paul spoke of continually being
refreshed by the newness of Gods Spirit in his letter to the saints in Rome. Rom.7:6.
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died by what we were held by,
so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. To fully understand what it means for the Spirit of God to be called the Holy
Wind can only be interpreted very partially, and furthermore, to be able to understand
fully by the human intellect is at once totally incomprehensible. He is there to help
you and me to be able to please God, our Father, who is in God the Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Bless his holy name!

The concept of the Spirit of God being like the wind, depicts his sovereignty to us, he
can go wherever he chooses. Although we feel, and hear him, as he continues with his
presence, you and I cannot dictate to him, and tell him, what he should, and not do.
He supplies evenly all things evenly to all men working through us all as one, being
one, and the same Spirit. When the wind drives the windmills of some of the wind
farms we see scattered around the country someone has harnessed the wind mills to
the wind in order that they may turn. It is by the same token we can harness our free
will to the sovereignty of his divine purpose, and will for our lives, thereby using our
physical bodies instrumentally for the building of the Kingdom of God.

God the Holy Spirit is totally invisible, but nevertheless very real, he can be likened to
the wind, which you cant see also, but you can see the evidence of, when leaves are
blown down the street. John the Apostle remarked upon it in his narrative of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Jn.3:8.) The wind blows where it wishes, and you
hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is
everyone who is born of Spirit. You can also say that the term sound is also
interchangeable with the word voice. Storms at sea are driven by the wind as do boats
with sails, a mighty power that you cant see, but you can feel it blowing in your face,
and see what is happening all around you. Similarly God the Holy Spirit breathes
upon our spirits, and we see the powerful things, mighty things he does in our midst,
but we never see him with human sight. I have experienced at first hand an encounter
with God the Holy Spirit before I went to Bible College only because God sent me
there, after I had heard the voice of his Spirit giving me that instruction. There are
many godly men and women who each of them have had an encounter with God in
order that he may glorify his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through them, by his Spirit,
which is in each individual saint. You and I have the very one and same Spirit of God
living in each of us, let us draw nigh to him.

You cant see the wind it is inscrutable, but you can feel the force of it, and see the
effects of it. In similar fashion that is how God the Holy Spirit operates, but he is far
more powerful and effective. We hear of the mighty work of God the Holy Spirit from
different parts of the world with his mighty force, and influence coming upon people
converting them to our Lord Jesus Christ in his invisible Spirit which comes and goes
in his divine mysterious manner. The other attribute of this August Majestic Person
who is indeed God in his own right being the third person of the one triune God is
the ability to breathe his wind in different parts of the world one and at the same time
simultaneously effecting the change in humanity towards God via his Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
The wind ( Ruach) that the Holy Spirit breathes.
Without the wind being in the air we would all find it very difficult to breathe, within
an hour without the wind everyone on the planet would be dead. Jesus taught that
unless the Holy Spirit breathed upon or into a person filling his or her persons spirit
with his that person cant enter the Kingdom of God. Jn.3:5 Jesus answered, Most

assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
Kingdom of God. But perilously for the life of Christs church in the local
fellowships all over the world, when the Spirit of God ceases to blow his breath into
them they whither and die.
The Spirit of God also breathes life, precisely like the wind blows a mixture of air
and oxygen in to all earthly creatures including mankind. John the Apostle in his
narrative of the gospel of Jesus Christ.Jn.6:63.recorded these words of Jesus, It is the
Spirit; the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are
life. Again Jesus is speaking of God the Holy Spirit providing eternal life, which is
the Spirit of Jesus. The Apostle Paul writes of the fact of the life giving Spirit of Jesus
the Christ in his second letter to the saints in Corinth. He had become the anointed
Son of God, the risen, resurrected, and exalted Lord of glory in Pauls lifetime. 2.
Cor.3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the
letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Unless we have the
love, the mercy, the compassion, and the passion of Christ that his Spirit provides to
us, by yielding our self will to the sovereign will of God giving our authority to the
Spirit of God to be used by him in whatever role he would want to use us in we will
become like empty vessels only fit for the wrath of God which is to come. I will
reiterate this study on the doctrine of the Person and Work of God the Holy Spirit is to
bring each of us closer to God, our Father, and God his Son, our risen, resurrected,
and exalted, Lord of glory, Jesus Christ. It is no mere academic exercise for the grey
cells of human thought to expostulate in an earthly manner for ones own selfish
appetite, and desire to dominate, the ambition of self over the body of Christs earthly
church for purely selfish motives.