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The Fellowship Of The Holy Spirit

ISBN: 978-9966-1790-6-7
E- Book Copyright 2016 by Jesse Jackson Mirega
E-mail: jessejmirega@gmail.com / jessemirega@yahoo.com
Web: jessejacksonmirega.wordpress.com

Published in Kenya by The Potters Diaries

P. O. Box 17659 00100, Nairobi
Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254723902984/ +254772670624
E-mail: thepottersdiaries@gmail.com
Web: thepottersdiaries.wordpress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means i.e. electronic, photocopy, recording or
otherwise without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
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Dedication

To everyone who seeks to have an intimate relationship

with God
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Acknowledgement
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to a number of
people who have been great inspiration in penning the
contents of this book. My first appreciation goes to the
almighty God who has given me the wisdom and the
ability to put these words to paper.
Special appreciations also go to my family; my mum, my
siblings and my wife Lynet Muoka who have been great
sources of help and inspiration.
Finally, I want to appreciate my late father Dr. Samson
Mirega who taught me that despite the many hurdles one
has to jump in life; you can still find hope in a better and
rewarding future. You were a great pillar in the shaping
of my destiny. May your soul rest in eternal peace.
January 2016
JESSE JACKSON MIREGA
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Contents
Introduction 5

I. ENCOUNTER WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD

1. The Spirit of God in the Old Testament 11
2. The Spirit of God in the New Testament 25
3. Attributes of the Holy Spirit 30

II. THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. The Promise of the Holy Spirit 40
2. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 48
3. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit 62

III. FELLOWSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. The Temple of the Holy Spirit 84
2. Conversations with the Holy Spirit 102
3. The Work of the Holy Spirit 113
4. Worship in the Spirit 125
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INTRODUCTION
The relationship between God and humanity goes a long
way beyond Christianity to the time of creation itself.
This fact transcends all races, communities or people
groups since every single one of them has always been
involved in a quest of finding out the beginning of time,
creation and the creator with an aim of establishing a
relationship with the cause of their very existence.

This led to rise of debates on stories, legends, myths and

truths filled with ideas of God and even questions of His
existence and how He relates with His creation. As a
result many religions mushroomed from humanitys
quest of establishing a relationship with one whom they
believed to be their God or maker. It is until the rise of
Christianity, traced back to the origin of the people of
Israel that many people and nations across the world
managed to establish a concrete relationship with the
true God and creator and even trace the history of
creation itself.
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The spread of Christianity across the world is what

brought Christians to a deeper knowledge of God the
creator and to a more personal level His son Jesus Christ
who is the savior of the world and the messiah. This
enables all Christians to establish a perpetual relationship
and communion with God.

This is aided by the scriptures in both the Old and the

New Testament which help Christians to identify with
God at a more closer and personal level boosting their
faith in Him and also act as a manual for Christian living
and relationship with God. This is further seen clearly
through the teachings, commands and doctrines derived
from the scriptures which are practiced widely by all
who share the same faith in God and His saving power
through Jesus Christ.

However, one thing that comes out strongly and cuts

across the entire Bible and the lives of Christians is the
involvement of the Spirit of God in every event,
occurrences and practices. The Spirit of God is so active
and alive across all scriptures and the lives of Christians
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that there would be no Christianity, leave alone the entire

creation without Him.

When it comes to matters of faith, we know very well

how to deal with God the father and the Son. It is easy to
relate to God in our prayers, fellowships and other
Christian activities without much struggle. The place of
Christ in a Christians life is also very certain and the
role He plays in the salvation of mankind leaves no
doubt. The problem however comes in dealing with the
Holy Spirit.

As I said earlier, the Spirit of God is very much alive and

active both in the scriptures and the lives of Christians
today. The problem is that not much attention is given to
Him as part of the Godhead as the Father and The Son
are accorded even though Christ was very clear that once
he ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit will come and
play an active role in the lives of the disciples. In fact
many Christians treat the Holy Spirit as a force or power
from God that works in their lives and not as a person.
This denies many Christians the chance and an
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opportunity to have a relationship and fellowship with

the Holy Spirit.

Many times when I fellowship with other Christians, I

usually ask a number of them the last time they had
fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Most of the responses
are that quite a number never thought of having
fellowship with the Holy Spirit. In fact it is easier to talk
about having a relationship with God or Jesus Christ but
when it comes to the Holy Spirit, fellowship is not the
first thing that comes to mind.

I came to learn about fellowship with the Holy Spirit

when I came across this scripture;

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of

God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with
you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14.)

This is a scripture that many Christians like using as a

concluding prayer in many fellowships but pay little
attention to its significance. The more I pondered over it
to figure out its meaning and relevance, the more I learnt
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about its real essence even as I continued to grow in

faith.

As the Holy Spirit also revealed Himself more to me, I

began to learn more about Him and how to fellowship
with Him. This has been through the reading of scripture
which He inspires me to read daily with a new revelation
and understanding as well as books written by those who
have had personal encounters with Him. In the process,
not only have I learned how to commune with the Holy
Ghost but also why its very significant for Christians to
establish personal relationships with Him.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, there was a very good

reason why He requested the disciples to remain in
Jerusalem till the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1:4-5). The role
that He was to play in the lives of the disciples gives a
clear explanation on why we should have constant
fellowship with Him (John 16: 7, 13-15).

In this book I take time to explain the role which the

Spirit of God has played in history through the ages from
beginning of creation, through the Biblical times as well
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as in the lives of Christians today. In the process I

attempt to bring out how one can get to establish a close
and constant personal relationship with the Holy Ghost
as well as know Him more.
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ENCOUNTER WITH THE

SPIRIT OF GOD
And the spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and
thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into
another man. (1 Samuel 10:6 KJV)

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1. THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE OLD

TESTAMENT

Creation
From the very beginning of scripture we come to an
encounter with the Spirit of God in Genesis 1:2. The
Bible indicates that the earth was formless and void
while at the same time the Spirit of God moved upon the
waters. It is from this point that we see the Spirit of God
actively involved in the process of creation. Job testifies
of this fact when he says that;
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By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; (Job

26:13, KJV)

The Old Testament being originally written in the

Hebrew language, has the word used for the Spirit of
God as ruach (pronounced roo'-akh) which has a root
meaning of wind or breath. Well see the significance of
this meaning as the creation story unfolds especially
when it comes to the creation of man (Isaiah 42:5).

The story gets better when we see the evidence of the

triune God in Genesis 1:26. When God says let us make
man in our image, He brings out two facts. First he uses
a plural pronoun us which brings out the evidence of
Christ and the Holy Spirit together as one in the whole
process of creation. The next thing we see is our image.
What did God refer to at this point?

Every time we say that human beings are created in the

image of God we always think of a physical appearance.
There is so much evidence in the Bible that God is not a
physical being but indeed a Spirit as in John 4:24 where
Jesus explained this to the Samaritan woman. So for God
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to create man in His own image, it has to be a spiritual

image. This is where the significance of the Spirit of God
comes in during the creation of man.

In Genesis 2:7 we get the details of how man was

created. It says that God breathed into the nostrils of man
the breath of life and man became a living soul. Once
again, this breath (ruach) has the same meaning as Spirit
(ruach) in Hebrew dialect. So we can loosely translate
this to mean that God breathed into the nostrils of man
the Spirit of life and he became a living soul.

From this scripture we get a clear indication of what

image God was talking about. The image is that of the
Spirit of God. So whenever we talk about being created
in the Image of God, it is indeed our spirits that bear the
resemblance of the image of God.

The other thing we learn from this scripture is that its

the Spirit of God that enables human beings to become
living souls. Once the Spirit departs, man goes back to
dust from which he came as is evident with the
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consequences of the fall of Adam (Genesis 3:19;

Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:22).

Abiding with Man

We continue to see the Spirit of God being active in the
lives of His people despite the fall of Adam and his
expulsion from the presence of God. This shows how
much God is still concerned about the welfare of His
creation even thou they draw further away from Him. As
much as the Spirit of God abided with man, after the fall,
a new struggle emerged.

The Spirit of God was active in the lives of the people of

God but constantly strove with man concerning a
number of things. We can see the evidence of this in the
next account of events.

We come to realize that when the daughters of men

develop intimate relations with the sons of God, He
regretted having His Spirits dwell with man. Out of
anger God declares that His Spirit shall not always strive
with man and because he is mortal, his days shall only be
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one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:1-3). Other

versions use the word contend instead of strive.

Two things come out strongly from this story. The first is
the issue of the sons of God which has baffled so many
church historians and theologians as to what this meant.
However, the traditional view of the sons of God that is
widely accepted is that they are angels. This is drawn
from the account of Job who uses the same phrase in
referring to angels who appeared before God (Job 1:6;
2:1).

The second thing we see is that the Spirit of God shall no

longer strive with man. This phrase brings out the
meaning that from the time of the fall of man, the Spirit
of God while abiding with humanity was actively
involved in the life of man with an aim of putting man
on check and guiding him towards the path of
righteousness.

The words; not always strive would mean that the

Spirit of God will not always put an effort of trying to
veer man away from his sinful ways. This decision by
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God brings out some consequences which display a

revelation of the impact of the presence of His Spirit in
the life of man. The fact that mans lifespan reduces to
one hundred and twenty years when the Spirit of God
stops contending or striving with man is a clear
indication that the contention tended to prolong mans
life. The contention of the Spirit of God is what keeps
man from adhering to the desires of his sinful nature and
as a result is able to live a long life.

We see the evidence of this in the lives of people who

walked with God and always pursued righteous lives
across the Bible. Two great examples are Enoch who
lived for three hundred and sixty five years before God
took him (Genesis 5:22-24) and Methuselah who lived
for nine hundred and sixty and nine years (Genesis 5:27).

The stories of these two men bring out the importance of

the presence of the Spirit of God in the lives of humanity
as Gods creation. Without the presence of the Spirit in
the lives of Gods people, an early death is inevitable.
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As we continue to read on in the Bible we realize that

not only did the Spirit stop striving with man always, but
we also see the absence of His continual presence in the
life of man. It is from this point on that we see the Spirit
of God no longer dwelling with man but would come
upon him from time to time as God wills. We can see
this in the story of Moses with the elders of Israel as well
as the prophets in the Old Testament.

The Filling of the Spirit

The spirit of God continued to operate in the lives of
Gods people through the Old Testament despite the
periodic absence and the first notable incident is that of
His involvement in the life of Joseph in Egypt. When
Joseph was summoned by the Pharaoh of Egypt to
interpret his dream, he made recommendations that made
Pharaoh to ask whether there was a man who had the
Spirit of God in him (Genesis 41:38).

This is the first clear incident in the Bible in which we

encounter the evidence of the Spirit of Gods presence in
the life of man after the fall. From this point forward we
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see change of tact as to how the Spirit of God deals with

man. Now its no longer contention with man concerning
his sinful ways but a direct presence and operation of the
Spirit in the life of man.

Another story that elaborates this turn of events further is

the conversation of Moses with God. In Exodus 31:3
God talks to Moses concerning Bezaleel who He called
by name and filled with His Spirit in wisdom, in
understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship. We also get to read of the story of Gods
Spirit upon Moses and the elders he appointed to work
with him in leading the people of Israel (Numbers 11:17,
25). These stories bring to us the evidence of Gods new
approach of getting involved in the lives of His people
by the filling of His Spirit.

The difference between this kind of filling of the Spirit

of God and that of the New Testament is that in the Old
Testament the Holy Spirit came upon man periodically
whenever God wanted to manifest Himself and still this
wasnt open to everyone with the main evidence of the
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filling of the Spirit in the Old Testament being the act of

prophesy. (Numbers 11:17, 25, 26; 1 Samuel 10:6). In
addition to this, those who were filled didnt have direct
access to the Spirit of God at will. The access happened
at the discretion of God and as He wished (Judges 14:6,
19; 15:14; 16:20).

However, in the New Testament we see God pouring out

His Spirit upon all flesh and the Spirit always abode with
man, not coming upon him periodically. We also see the
evidence of the filling in the New Testament times
coming out as speaking in diverse tongues. (Acts 2:4, 17,
18)

Anointed for Exploits

As the Old Testament continues to unfold we see a
continued more vibrant and active presence of the Spirit
of God in the lives of His people, especially the
prophets. Up to the times of Prophet Samuel we see the
Spirit active through prophesies that are given from time
to time to Gods people concerning their welfare and
relationship with God through certain individuals.
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However, this goes on like this for a while until we see a

radical and more powerful shift when the prophet Elijah
enters the scene. The story of Elijah comes into the scene
with a bang. Unlike other prophets whose histories are
outlined clearly in the Bible we see Elijah suddenly
coming into the scene and the first outstanding feature
about him is the command of a three year drought until
his word to stop it comes (1 Kings 17:1-7). We also see
the evidence of the Spirit moving through fire in many
occasions (1 Kings 18:23-39; 2 Kings 1:9-15; 2:11).

Weve seen other prophets in the Bible who prophesied

and commanded things to happen under the directions
and revelations of God and His Spirit in them. Elijah is
the only prophet we come across in the Bible
commanding things to happen and God honors his word
to perform it afterward. (2 Kings 1:19-15). The only
other acts we see in the Old Testament of this nature are
those done by Moses and Joshua.

This makes one seek to find what kind of anointing the

Spirit of God released upon Elijah. It is well known that
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the Spirit of God through His prophets anointed certain

individuals to be kings as well as prophets (1 Samuel
10:1; 16:12; 1 Kings 19:15, 16). The kind of anointing
that came upon them enabled them to do the duties that
God required of them as the Spirit permitted them.
However, it is the kind of anointing upon Elijah that
draws eyebrows across the Biblical stories. Many people
have called him The Prophet of Fire and rightly so
because of the acts he did under the anointing of God
including his grand exit from earth (1 Kings 18:23-39; 2
Kings 1:9-15; 2:11).

Elijah is also the first prophet of God we read in the

Bible of having raised the dead in addition to the other
miracles which he did (1 Kings 17:17-24). It is this same
kind of anointing of the Spirit that we see Elisha, his
servant requesting to receive when Elijah is whisked
away in a chariot of fire.

However Elisha does not just ask for the Spirit of Elijah
but a double portion of it (2 Kings 2:9-15). Its quite
amazing that its only these two prophets that the Bible
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vividly records of having raised the dead (1 Kings 17:17-

24; 2 Kings 4:16-37; 13:20-21). It is this fact among
others that makes the kind of Spirit Elijah had, which he
passed on to Elisha unique.

But the aura of this uniqueness does not end with

Elijahs Biblical accounts; we see him being mentioned
quite a number of times across the Bible. (Malachi 4:5;
Matthew 11:14; 17:10-12; James 5:17) This is a fact that
portrays a lot of significance in terms of the role the
Holy Spirit plays in the life of Gods people.

Now why would we term this kind of anointing of the

Spirit of God unique? Having read the accounts of other
prophets in the Bible, the closest one can come across a
similar anointing is in the New Testament when God
pours out His Spirit upon the sons and daughters of men.
When we look at the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the
New Testament and upon Christians today, we shall
delve deeper into the Spirit of Elijah and its significance
for the church today.
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Prophesies Concerning the Holy Spirit

The promise of the Holy Spirit did not begin with Jesus
Christ in the New Testament. In fact we can trace this
back to prophecies in the Old Testament. It is however
clear that in the Old Testament the Spirit of God was
commonly known to the prophets and the people of God
just as the Spirit of God. In fact only two people in the
Old Testament refer to Gods Spirit as the Holy Spirit;
that is David (Psalms 51:11) and the prophet Isaiah
(Isaiah 63:10-11).

Having begun from Genesis, we see quite a journey that

the Holy Spirit of God has taken in the lives of Gods
people. As I said initially, the presence or the filling of
Gods spirit upon men was very selective and His access
quite rare. It is common knowledge that God released
His spirit only upon judges, kings, prophets and men of
exceptional character whom He wished to perform
certain tasks. During his days even Moses wished that all
Gods people were prophets and that He would release
His Spirit upon them (Numbers 11:29).
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The promise of the pouring of the Spirit of God is first

seen as a bargaining plea from wisdom according to the
words of Solomon in proverbs 1:23. However this
renewed hope to the people of God is seen when through
the prophets God promises a release of His Spirit upon
the seed of Jacob (Isaiah 44:3) and all flesh (Joel 2:28-
29).

These two scriptures speak of the same promise but are

uniquely different. Isaiah speaks of Gods Spirit being
poured upon the seed of Jacob while Joel speaks of
Gods Spirit being poured upon all flesh. Just as
salvation was initially meant for the Jews with an
extension to the Gentiles after the Jews rejected Christ,
so is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

Paul explains this sequence of events clearly of how

Gentiles come to be grafted into Gods family and
become partakers of Gods promises (Romans 10:19-
11:20). Concerning the filling of the Holy Spirit upon all
flesh as Joel prophesied, even the Jewish Christians at
the time of the apostles were baffled that even Gentiles
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and non-Jews could receive the baptism of the Holy

Spirit (Acts 10:44-46).

2. THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE NEW

TESTAMENT

The Source of Life

The major work or involvement of the Holy Spirit in the
lives of Gods people which comes out strongly as the
New Testament begins is the revelation of the promised
messiah to His people. We see this from the point of
conception, birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of
Christ.

Just as it was with creation, we see a new but similar role

that the Spirit of God plays in the Lives of His people.
We learned that the Hebrew word for Spirit in the Old
Testament is ruach which means breath or wind. This
signifies that the Spirit of God was responsible for giving
breath or life.

Just as it was with the creation of man in the Old

Testament, we see a new role of the Holy Spirit in the
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New Testament as enabling the conception of Jesus

Christ in Marys womb (Matthew 1:19-21; Luke 1:35).
From this story of the birth of Christ together with that of
the creation of man we discover that it is the Holy Spirit
of God who gives life to His creation. Without the Holy
Spirit there can be no life. This means that we are only
alive because the Spirit of God enables us to be.

This fact is explained further by the resurrection of

Christ which happened by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:32; 1
peter 3:18). Paul goes ahead to explain this mystery to us
when he talks of the resurrection of the dead. He talks of
the first Adam being a living soul while the second
Adam (Christ) being a quickening Spirit i.e. a Spirit that
raises the dead (1 Corinthians 15:35-47).

This is evidence enough that the Spirit of God is the

source of all life. Thus a new revelation concerning
creation is portrayed. God spoke various beings into
existence, but it is His Spirit that gave life to all those
living creatures. Here we see the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit combined involved in the work of creation,
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bearing in mind that Christ is the word of God (John

1:1-3).

The Journey through the New Testament

Now back to the journey of the Holy Spirit through the
New Testament, we see a series of events taking place.
The first notable event is the birth of John the Baptist.
This is the only man in the entire Bible who we read of
being filled with the Holy Spirit from his mothers womb
(Luke 1:13-17).

For the above reason, many have claimed that John the
Baptist is Elijah incarnate since Elijah never died but
ascended into heaven. This argument is also derived
from the fact that the angel Gabriel mentioned to Johns
father, Zechariah that John will go before the Lord in the
Spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17).

This is a fact that John the Baptist denied when the

priests and Levites asked him if he was Elijah. Instead he
referred to himself as the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord (John
1:21-27). However, when Christ talked to his disciples
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he referred to John the Baptist as the Elijah which was to

come (Matthew 11: 13-14).

To elaborate on this further we see another story when

the disciples asked Jesus concerning the prophecy of
Elijahs return (Matthew 17:10-13). The answer Christ
gave them and their understanding clearly indicates that
John the Baptist was the Elijah spoken of in Malachi 4:5.
As to whether John the Baptist was Elijah in person or
just had the Spirit of Elijah, only the Holy Spirit can tell.

From the story of John the Baptist we see the Holy Spirit
active in the life of Christ himself. His entry into the
ministry and life of Christ is very dramatic. This takes
place during Christs baptism by John the Baptist. When
Christ is baptized we see the Holy Spirit descending
upon him like a dove (Matthew 3:16).

In the rare occasions where we see the Father, son and

Holy Ghost together as one, the baptism of Christ is one
of the most significant ones. Here the Father comes as a
voice to affirm Christ as His beloved son in whom Hes
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well pleased while the Holy Spirit descends upon Him as

a dove (Mark 1:9-11).

It is from this point that we see the Holy Spirit leading

Christ into the wilderness to fast (Matthew 4:1-2; Mark
1:12-13; Luke 4:1). After forty days of fasting and
temptation from the devil, we see Jesus Christ returning
to Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14).
The events that follow indicate to us that the wilderness
fasting was a process of preparation for the ministry
ahead of Christ by the Holy Spirit, one chore role that I
shall discuss at length in this book.

What follows after is a confirmation of the prophecy of

Isaiah which Christians have come to adopt as Christs
manifesto (Luke 4:16-22). From this point we see the
Spirit of God actively involved in the life of Christ as he
called His disciples, healed the sick, set free the
possessed, raise the dead, feed the hungry and above all
teach about the kingdom of God.

Other major details and events concerning the

involvement of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament
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will be discussed in depth in subsequent chapters.

However it is worth mentioning that the New Testament
audience lived to witness the performance of miracles by
the disciples of Christ through the Holy Spirit (Luke
10:1-11; 17-20), the resurrection and ascension of Christ,
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost, His
active role in the spread of the gospel across the world in
the early church and deep inspiration in the teachings of
the apostles throughout their epistles in the New
Testament.

3. ATTRIBUTES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Form and Nature

It is a common knowledge that the nature of God is
Spirit and theres no dispute about that. However, God in
His own way revealed Himself to his people in various
forms. He revealed Himself in the form of a man to
Abraham (Genesis 18), as fire on a burning bush to
Moses (Exodus 3), as a pillar of fire and a cloud to the
people of Israel (Exodus 19:9; 40:38) and as a voice (1
Kings 19:12-13; Matthew 3:17).
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The nature of Jesus Christ however is understood as both

mortal and divine at the same time in that he was a
hundred percent man and a hundred percent God. But
when it comes to the nature of the Holy Spirit, the nature
just as the name suggests is spirit. However when we
look at His journey across the Bible, we see him
appearing to people in different forms.

When considering the nature of the Holy Spirit, we

therefore need to know how He revealed Himself and
how He was understood by the audiences that
experienced His presence. One fundamental thing is that
all the attributes of the Holy Spirit are geared towards a
closer relationship with the people of God.

From the very beginning we looked at the Hebrew word

for spirit ruach which has the same root meaning as
breath or wind. This brings out clearly the nature of the
Holy Spirit which Jesus explains to Nicodemus in depth
(John 3:6-8). Jesus at this point uses the analogy of the
wind and how it blows to explain the nature of the Holy
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Ghost and how He operates in the life of one who is born

again.

Both the Hebrew word ruach in the Old Testament and

the Greek word pneuma in the New Testament used to
refer to the spirit carry one and the same root meaning of
breath or wind. This meaning is important to us since it
signifies the ability to breathe or in simple terms life.
This nature or attribute therefore associates the Holy
Spirit with life in that all life begins with the Holy Spirit.

One thing that comes out clearly which also forms part
of the Christian belief is that the Holy Spirit together
with Jesus Christ and the Father share the same attributes
as the Trinitarian Godhead. However, the difference
comes in the role which they play in the lives of human
beings chronologically.

The reason for the belief of these chronological roles is

the understanding that throughout Biblical history to date
we see God the Father playing an active role in the lives
of His people, then follows Christ and finally the Holy
Spirit. However, regardless of who plays an active role at
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whichever time the presence of all the three persons of

the Godhead was and has always been felt throughout
history as well as in the lives of Christians today.

Unlimited Power
One attribute that God the Father, the Son and The Holy
Spirit share in common is being unlimited in power.
With our focus on the Holy Ghost we can therefore say
that the Holy Spirit is Omnipotent i.e. all powerful (Job
26:13; Isaiah 59:19; Zechariah 4:6), He is Omniscient i.e.
all knowing (John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:10-11) and He is
Omnipresent i.e. everywhere at the same time (Psalm.
139:7-8). These three attributes bring out the sovereignty
of the Holy Spirit as God in equal measure as the Father
and the Son.

One challenge that many Christians face is that of

subordination when it comes to relating to God. This is
the act treating one person of the Godhead as inferior to
the other. More often than not, the Holy Ghost is usually
put at the bottom of the list with God the Father coming
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first then followed by the Son, Jesus Christ. The

attributes discussed here prove otherwise.

His Personality
I began by saying that the Holy Spirit is not a power but
a person whom one can have a relationship or a
fellowship with. Therefore just as all the people we
know, the Holy Spirit has a personality which we can
relate with.

Having understood that the Holy Spirit is God in the

same nature as God the Father and Jesus Christ, then the
first thing we need to know is that the Holy Spirit has a
Will. 1 Corinthians 12:11 states that,

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will. (KJV)

Many times we pray that Gods will be done in our

lives but when it comes to the workings of the Holy
Spirit in our lives, we completely ignore His will. More
often than not especially when it comes to the
performance of miracles, many preachers prefer to try
and bend the will of the Holy Spirit to suit their desires.
______________________________________________________________

This I would term as trying to manipulate the Holy Spirit

to do your bidding.

This would then lead us to the second personality of the

Holy Spirit. The illustration Ive given above indicates
that when dealing with the Holy Spirit, we tend to forget
that Hes not a force or an inanimate power that we can
use as we please. So in order to know the will of the
Holy Ghost, we need to know His mind. Yes, the Holy
Spirit has a Mind.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the

mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for
the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27
KJV)

We can therefore say there is no way of fulfilling the will

of God unless we know the mind of the Holy Spirit, for
the Holy Spirit dwells in us. But then again, how can one
know the mind of the Holy Spirit unless he is in constant
fellowship with Him?
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We can also say that the Holy Spirit is Loving and

Compassionate. We see these evidently in the following
scriptures;

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom

the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 KJV)

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for

we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26
KJV)

In the first scripture Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the

comforter. Only one who loves someone and feels the
pain of others is able to provide comfort. Jesus Christ
knew exactly what kind of tribulations the disciples were
going to face and they couldnt do this without the
loving and compassionate presence of the Holy Ghost in
their lives.
______________________________________________________________

The second scripture in Romans describes how the Holy

Spirit understands our shortcomings and therefore
intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.
By my understanding, the term groanings can loosely be
translated to mean deep pain, sorrow or agony. This
describes how the Holy Spirit bears our pains and takes
them before God in prayer.

Finally let me say that the Holy Spirit experiences Grief.

This means that He has feelings and can be hurt (Isaiah
63:10). Paul tells the people of Ephesus not to grieve the
Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). But one may ask how we
grieve the Holy Spirit. Well, by living in sin yet our
bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit or by
blaspheming the Holy Spirit; a sin which is unforgivable;

Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and

blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven
unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the
Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever
speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be
______________________________________________________________

forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world

to come. (Matthew 12:31, 32 KJV)

We can also grieve the Holy Spirit by being stubborn or

hardening our hearts and not heed to His teachings and
instructions;

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will

hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my
works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that
generation, and said, they do always err in their heart;
and they have not known my ways. (Hebrews 3:7-10
KJV)

This brings us back to the story of Genesis 6 where God

says that His Spirit will not always strive with man. Now
why would God say that? It means that when one is
filled with the Holy Spirit, a contention or strife may still
arise if one doesnt listen to the voice of the Spirit. So we
may be full of the Holy Ghost but the relationship we
have with Him is that of Strife.
______________________________________________________________

Its therefore in order to say that theres no better way of

having a fruitful relationship and fellowship with the
Holy Ghost without strife than to get to know Him
personally first, be interested in His personality, His will
and how He chooses to relate to the people of God. Then
we cannot live a life of strife with the Holy Spirit but a
life rich in continual fellowship.
______________________________________________________________

II

THE COMING OF THE

HOLY SPIRIT
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out
my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
will I pour out my spirit.( Joel 2:28, 29 KJV)

_______________________________________

1. THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Apart from the promise of the coming of the messiah, the

second greatest news that was received with great joy
and anticipation by those who heard it was the promise
of the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is because since
the fall of Adam, man had been separated from the
presence and the Spirit of God for quite a long time.
______________________________________________________________

Throughout Biblical history from the story of Cain and

Abel we see many fruitless attempts by humanity to
restore the broken relationship with God and the
fellowship of His Spirit. In response to their quest, God
picked out those who sought Him in righteousness to
make a covenant with them and a nation out of them.

The best two examples in the Old Testament are Noah

and Abraham. This is why the News of the coming of the
messiah and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all
flesh was very welcome among the people of God both
in the Old and the New Testaments.

The desire for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon

all flesh begins all the way back in the days of Moses
where Moses wished that all Gods people would be
filled with the Spirit of God and Prophesy (Numbers
11:29).

The Promise in the Old Testament

The wish of Moses would later be fulfilled as one of
Gods promises to His people Israel. However, its not
until the coming of the Messiah and his ascension to
______________________________________________________________

heaven that the people of God experience this promise.

In the meantime God continued releasing His Spirit upon
a chosen few prophets to do His will till the promise
comes.

The first encounter we see concerning the outpouring of

the Spirit of God upon His people comes as a bargaining
plea from Christ who is understood to be the wisdom in
the book of proverbs. It is a general understanding that
when proverbs talk of wisdom, the reference is usually
Jesus Christ himself. However this is a lesson for another
time.

In Proverbs 1:23 Wisdom offers that if His people would

have turned at his reproof, He would pour out His Spirit
unto them and make known His words to them. Well,
this is according to the King James Version. Other
versions use the words pour out my heart instead of
Spirit.

This scripture shows us how God was willing to pour out

His Spirit upon His people at that time if they would turn
from their evil ways upon His rebuke. However, the
______________________________________________________________

people of God continued to rebel against Him causing

the promise to be delayed further.

But as history would have it, Isaiah becomes the first

prophet of God to bear the Good news of Gods
promises of His final redemption plan through the
Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His
people. In Isaiah 44:3 we encounter the first instance
where God promises to pour out His Spirit upon the seed
of Jacob.

This comes as one of the many promises that God offers

the people of Israel in their desperate moments when
they are experiencing great external aggression from
their enemies as well as a prolonged period of exile. The
people of God therefore received this as good news and
in addition to that their expectations of redemption were
heightened by the promise of the messiah as well.

To prove that the promise of Gods redemption for

humanity was not limited to the house of Jacob alone, we
see another prophecy through the prophet Joel. However,
as much as God was going to liberate the entire creation,
______________________________________________________________

His saving power was going to extend to the ends of the

earth from and through the house of Israel.

In Joel 2:28-29, God talks of pouring out His Spirit upon

all flesh. But this happens after the restoration of the
nation of Israel. We can find this at the beginning of
chapter 2 of Joels prophesies. This is where the rest of
Gods creation who are not part of the house of Jacob by
descent find hoe in a quest for restoration to God.

This is the reason why whenever we talk of the promise

of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, we usually refer
to Joels prophesy since it refers to the entire human
race.

The Promise in the New Testament

Many Christians believe that the promise of the Holy
Spirit in the New Testament is heard first from the lips of
Christ when He was just about to be crucified and was
giving His disciples final instructions and
encouragement. However, it is good to note that the first
person to proclaim Gods intention of baptizing His
people with the Holy Spirit is John the Baptist himself.
______________________________________________________________

As John was teaching about repentance and baptizing

people by the shores of river Jordan, he spoke of one
mightier than him who was coming after him and whose
shoes he was not worthy to untie. He also added that
while he baptized people with water, the one coming
after him will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire
(Matthew 3:11).

The mention of fire alongside Holy Spirit signifies one

of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit which we shall
talk about later in this book. For indeed the Holy Spirit
manifested Himself many times both in the Old
Testament as well as the New Testament in the form of
fire.

The coming of Christ was a great indication that the time

of the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh was very
near. This is demonstrated by the teachings and words of
Christ himself. We see Christ pointing out to His
disciples that God would give His Spirit to anyone who
asked him (Luke 11:13).
______________________________________________________________

This statement by Christ explains how easy it has always

been to receive the Holy Spirit only that by then no one
had ever desired or asked God for the Holy Ghost. Christ
therefore not only comes to introduce the Holy Spirit to
His disciples but also explains to them how they can
receive Him. Slowly we begin to see the evidence of the
words of John the Baptist that Christ would baptize with
the Holy Ghost and fire.

Jesus further explains the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a

new birth to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to see
Him at night (John 3:1-8). During the conversation He
stated categorically that unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (verse 5).
Here we see the birth of water being signified by the
kind of baptism which John the Baptist did while that of
the Spirit is signified by the baptism John said Jesus
Christ would do.

This brings out a new understanding about Jesus Christ.

We realize that He was not only Gods means and
doorway for His people to receive salvation but also to
______________________________________________________________

receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is evidently

explained in John 7:39 which states that the Holy Spirit
was to be received by those who believed in Christ and
that He could only be given when Christ was already
glorified.

One other clear revelation comes out from this scripture.

Apart from the sinful nature of humanity, one other
reason why God delayed the pouring out of His Spirit
upon all flesh was the presence, work and destiny of
Christ here on earth. So until the moment when Christ is
glorified (probably through the cross and His
resurrection) the pouring out of the Holy Spirit would be
delayed a bit longer.

The ultimate promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit

upon the lives of Gods people is given by Christ when
His voyage here on earth was almost coming to an end
(John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15). In His final
remarks, Jesus spends time to talk extensively about
what the disciples are to expect after His departure and
more importantly the coming of the Holy Spirit upon
______________________________________________________________

them. To wrap this up, just when He was about to ascend

into heaven, Jesus tells the disciples that soon they will
be baptized by the Holy Ghost but commands them to
stay in Jerusalem until He comes (Acts 1:4-5, 8-9).

2. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

It is common knowledge that the baptism of the Holy

Spirit did not begin with the apostles in the New
Testament. We see many cases across the Bible where
God releases His Spirit upon His people as He pleases.
This is also evident with the baptism of Christ when the
Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove (Matthew
3:16; Luke 3:22; John 1:32).

However, what makes the baptism of the Holy Spirit

upon the apostles unique is that it is the very first time
that God releases His Spirit upon all flesh as prophesied
by the prophet Joel.

Pentecost
This is one of the most important days in Christian and
Biblical history not because of what the day represents or
______________________________________________________________

signifies but what happened on that particular day. The

name Pentecost is actually coined from the Greek word
pentecoste which means fiftieth. This word was used to
signify the feast of weeks that begun on the fiftieth day
after the feast of first fruits and as time went by the early
Christians began to celebrate the visit of the Holy Spirit
on Pentecost as it coincided with the feast of weeks.

It is on the day of Pentecost that we see the prophecy of

Joel being fulfilled. When the apostles were gathered in
the upper room to pray, the Holy Spirit came upon them
as tongues of fire and they began to speak in new
tongues (Acts 2:1-4). In fact when the Jewish people
wondered what was happening to the apostles, Peter,
while addressing them referred to the fulfillment of this
prophecy which was promised by God through prophet
Joel (Acts 2: 16-21).

What makes the fulfillment of this prophecy even more

significant is the reality of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
upon anyone who believed in Christ and Gods saving
power regardless of whether they were of Jewish origin
______________________________________________________________

or not (Acts 4:31; 8:17; 10:44-48). This was a

confirmation that Gods promise was finally being
fulfilled in that He was pouring out His Spirit upon all
flesh just as Joel prophesied.

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost Today

From the time of the apostles as it has been evidently
recorded in the book of Acts those who believed in the
gospel of Christ and accepted Him as Lord and Saviour
were baptized by the Holy Spirit. How this baptism takes
place has always varied with time but one evident thing
is that all who believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

From the book of Acts we see the evidence of these

variations. There are those who received the baptism of
the Holy Spirit after they were baptized by water as was
explained by Christ in John 3:5 (Acts 2:38, 41; 8:14-17)
There are also those who received the baptism of the
Holy Spirit just by the mere act of their faith in the
Gospel of Christ even before the water baptism and later
received the water baptism (Acts 10:44-48).
______________________________________________________________

What happened in the days of the apostles is what

happens today. Many Christians receive the baptism of
the Holy Spirit during revival or faith meetings the
moment they believe in Christ and accept Him as Lord
and savior. Others however even though born again
receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit later; either during
water baptism, prayer meetings or in their personal
prayer moments when they ask for the filling of the Holy
Spirit. However, one thing we must always understand is
that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a place where Hes
not welcome. So He cannot come into your life unless
you make Him feel welcome to dwell in your life.

Misconceptions Concerning the Holy Spirit Baptism

One major misconception that many Christians have
concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that Hes
some kind of force or power. So people usually think
that God through His servants or apostles baptized and
continue to baptize people with the power of the Holy
Spirit.
______________________________________________________________

The reason for this misconception is the manifestation of

signs and wonders under the anointing of the Holy
Ghost. This has made many Christians associate the
Holy Ghost with miracles as a miracle performing power
or force and therefore deny Him his deity which is part
of the triune God.

One other misconception that I want to refute is where

people talk of being baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Well, the truth is that people are not baptized with but by
the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who baptizes
because He is a person and He is God. Those used to
facilitate the process by prayer or the laying on of hands
are just instruments and vessels of God in the name of
His servants or ministers. Its always important to
understand this. Thats why we talk of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit.

The difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit in

the Old Testament and the New Testament is that in the
Old Testament, the promise had not yet been fulfilled so
God (most understandably the Father) released His Spirit
______________________________________________________________

upon those He wished while in the New Testament and

today, it is the Holy Ghost Himself who baptizes all
people as well as release His gifts upon them.

The other misconception is that the Holy Spirit is a Gift.

I hear people talking of being baptized with the gift of
the Holy Spirit. To clarify this again, the Holy Spirit is
God and not a gift but the promise of God to dwell in us.
Just as Christ was a promise of God to dwell among us
as Emmanuel, the Holy Spirit is the promise of God to
abide in us. What the Holy Spirit baptizes us with or
releases upon us during His baptism are His gifts and the
anointing or the power and ability to perform or do that
which God wills us to do.

It is important however to note a clear difference

between the Holy Spirit and His Gifts. When the Holy
Spirit baptizes us, He not only dwells in us but He comes
with a variety of gifts. This is where people tend to
confuse the baptism of the Holy Spirit to represent the
gifts we receive from Him. So it is not right to say that
we are baptized with the gift of the Holy Spirit but rather
______________________________________________________________

say we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

come as a bonus to His baptism and indwelling of the
human spirit.

Manifestation of the Holy Spirits Presence

Since the time of creation the Spirit of God has always
manifested His presence in different ways in the lives of
His people. These manifestations have always acted as
the evidence of His presence and assurance to those who
experience it that Hes there with them in whatever
situation they are in.

a) Wind:
The first manifestation we see in the Bible is at the very
beginning of creation. Having understood the root
meaning of the Spirit as wind, then we could take the
phrase in Genesis 1:1 talking about the Spirit of God
moving upon the face of the waters to imply an
experience in the likeness of the wind blowing over the
waters.

Jesus Christ used the same analogy to explain to

Nicodemus the nature of the Holy Spirit when He
______________________________________________________________

likened his presence to the nature of wind as it blows

(John 3:8). We can see this manifestation of the Holy
Ghost as wind in many occasions across the Bible. For
instance, when the children of Israel complained to God
in the desert concerning what they should eat, the Spirit
of God came as a wind and drove quails from the sea to
the camps where the Israelites were ( Numbers 11:31-
32).

The next manifestation we see in the scriptures is where

the whirlwind took up the chariot of fire which carried
Elijah into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). We also see this in
Ezekiels prophecy when God asked Ezekiel to prophesy
and breath from the four winds would come upon the dry
bones to give them life (Ezekiel 37:9-10).

During the fulfillment of the promise of the outpouring

of the Holy Ghost upon all flesh we also see a clear
manifestation of the Holy Ghost as wind when he came
into the room where the apostles were before descending
upon them as fire, another manifestation of the Holy
Ghost (Acts 2:1-4).
______________________________________________________________

b) Fire:
Theres no dispute about the manifestation of God in the
form of fire throughout the entire Bible. God is Spirit
and therefore it is understandable that it is the Spirit of
God who gives life to the fire whenever He chooses to
appear to His people in this form. No wonder the fire on
the burning bush that Moses encountered did not
consume the bush yet was very much alive (Exodus 3:2-
6; Deut. 4:33, 36).

It is important to understand that it is the Spirit of God

who manifests His presence in whichever form He
chooses to before His people and at this particular
moment, the Spirit of God manifests His presence
through the visibility of fire upon the burning bush.

From the event of the burning bush we see Gods

manifestation through fire as a display of His presence to
His people in many occasions. You can find these in the
following scriptures; when God led the people of Israel
through the desert from Egypt (Exodus 13:21; Deut.
1:33), when He kept a distance between the Israelites
______________________________________________________________

and the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:24), when

he descended upon Mt. Sinai and then upon the
tabernacle at night (Exodus 19:18; 24:17; Numbers
9:15).

Another manifestation concerns one truth of the Bible

that people like referring to i.e. Our God is a consuming
fire (Exodus 24:17; Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). This
manifestation occurs in two different types of scenarios
across the entire Bible, that is when God releases His
wrath upon men (Lev. 10:2; Isaiah 30:27; Jer. 5:14; Lam.
4:11; Ezekiel 21:31) and secondly when God sends fire
to consume sacrifices as a way of acknowledgement or
acceptance (Lev. 9:24; Judges 6:21; 1 Kings 18:38; 2
Chr. 7:1).

The final manifestation as fire comes as a sign of the

release of authority and power upon the servants of God
by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). This is evidently seen from
the confessions of King David in Psalm 104:4 where he
talks of God making His angels spirits and ministers a
______________________________________________________________

flaming fire, a statement that is referred to by the writer

of Hebrews in Hebrews 1:7.

The manifestation of fire as a symbol of release of power

and authority upon the servants of God by the Holy
Spirit was much talked of by John the Baptist when he
referred to the kind of baptism that Christ would offer
when He came. During his teachings, John mentions that
Christ will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire
(Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16).

This symbol of the release of power and authority is

culminated by the Holy Spirit Himself when he
descended upon the apostles as tongues of fire on the day
of Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

c) Prophesies and Tongues:

When Christians are baptized by the Holy Ghost, most
peoples concerns are usually on the evidence of this
baptism. It is common knowledge that the most common
evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the sign
of His baptism today is the ability to speak in other
tongues. But let us consider this in a wider perspective.
______________________________________________________________

In the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit descended

upon the people of God, the initial manifestation of His
presence or the evidence of this baptism was never
speaking in tongues. In fact, we see the evidence of the
filling of the Holy Spirit as prophecy. We see this during
the times of Moses and the King Saul where all those
who received the Spirit of God upon their lives were able
to prophesy (Numbers 11:17, 25, 26; 1 Samuel 10:6).

Things however changed when the Spirit of God

descended upon the apostles and new believers in the
New Testament. At this point the Holy Spirit chose to
manifest Himself through the apostles ability to speak in
new tongues as He gave them utterance (Acts 2:4; 10:44-
46). This has been the common case even to this day.

However, the problem comes when we take the evidence

of being filled with the Holy Ghost solely as having the
ability to speak in tongues. This has made many
Christians who dont receive the gift of speaking in
tongues doubt their baptism of the Holy Spirit. Does this
mean that they are denied this experience? God forbid,
______________________________________________________________

for Christ said; if we humans are so evil yet we know

how to give good gifts to our children, how much more
would our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him?

It is therefore important to understand that speaking in

tongues is just but one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We
cannot limit the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit
to speaking in tongues. There are many Christians who
are full of the Holy Ghost and have different gifts yet
cant or dont have the gift or ability of speaking in
tongues. However, if one desires to speak in tongues, the
Holy Spirit would give him that gift willingly if he asks.

When we talked about the personality of the Holy Spirit

earlier in this book, we learned that He has a mind and a
will. This is enough reason for us to understand that He
can choose to manifest His presence in whichever way or
form He wishes whether it is by the speaking of tongues,
prophesies or other ways as He wills.

d) A Dove:
______________________________________________________________

This is the most unique form through which the Holy

Spirit chose to manifest Himself in the entire history of
Gods relation with His creation. It is unique because the
Holy Spirit appears in this form only once and that is
during the baptism of Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:16; Luke
3:22; John 1:32).

The choice of this descent was to prove or act as

evidence that Jesus Christ was the anointed messiah and
son of God who was to come and save the world from
sin. This is why we dont see the Holy Spirit manifesting
Himself in the form of a dove anywhere else in the Bible
or in Christian circles today.

We can also say that it is for this reason that the symbol
of a dove is quite significant in the Christian faith today.
Christians across the world and even nations have
always used the symbol of a dove to signify peace and
purity; qualities that Christ Himself represented.

3. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

______________________________________________________________

The Conditions for and the Nature of the Gifts of the

Holy Spirit
A common dictionary definition of a gift is that it is
something that is voluntary given or transferred from one
person to another without compensation. This means that
a gift is something given free of charge and nothing is
expected in return. The reason why Im taking time to
focus on the nature of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is
because of the misconception people have always had.

Many Christians have always assumed that when one

backslides in his faith or rebels against God the gifts of
the Spirit that came upon him also depart. This is far
from the truth. The reason for this misconception is that
we perceive God from our limited mortal perspectives.

If a man gives his son certain gifts, he will not strip him
of them when he rebels or sins against him. Why would
we then think that the Holy Spirit would strip us of His
gifts when we rebel against God or turn against Him?
God says that His thoughts are not our thoughts neither
are His ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8).
______________________________________________________________

So, if the Holy Spirit does not strip of His Gifts those
who go against Gods will, does this mean that all who
prophesy or perform miracles or speak in tongues do it in
the name of the Lord? Not at all, there are those who
may claim to prophesy or perform miracles in the name
of the Lord yet their hearts are far from God (Isaiah
29:13).

Indeed they may do all these things and their gifts may
be genuine from the Holy Spirit yet the way they use
those gifts do not glorify God, bearing in mind that the
Spirit is not human minded so as to take back His gifts
that He gave freely from those who rebel. So it becomes
difficult to differentiate them from the genuine servants
of God and this is why God gives the gift of discernment
of Spirits so as to know whether they are subject or in
obedience to God or not.

A great illustration referring to this dilemma is given by

Jesus parable on the wheat and the tares. He taught the
disciples that it is wise to let the wheat and the tares
grow together but will be separated at the time of the
______________________________________________________________

harvest (Matthew 13:24-30). This is because tares are a

kind of grass that has striking similarity with wheat and
so its not easy to differentiate the two as they grow
together.

We also find evidence in scripture where Christians

begin well in the Spirit but end up in the flesh (Galatians
3:1-5). It is because of this kind of derailment that Christ
speaks of those who will not enter the kingdom of God
yet did many miracles supposedly in the name of the
Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).

There are many Christians and servants of God who get

derailed from the presence of God and just because they
still have the gifts of the Spirit, they assume they are still
in His presence and are doing His will. It is for this
reason that God requires that we work out our salvation
with fear and trembling lest we miss out on the kingdom
of God (Philippians 2:12).

The Most Common Gifts (1 Cor. 12-13)

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul spends a great
deal of time talking about some of the gifts of the Holy
______________________________________________________________

Spirit. I say some of the gifts because, as well realize

later, not all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are mentioned in
the Letters of Paul. There are some gifts which we have
never realized that are part of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
just because Paul did not mention or talk about them in
his letters. Here are some of the gifts of the Spirit;

a) Word of Wisdom
This is one of the gifts that many Christians have never
fully understood. The only way to explain the nature of
this gift is by use of examples in the Bible concerning
how those with this gift operated. This is a gift that helps
one be able to solve, sort out or handle a situation in a
very wise manner so that the words that proceed out of
his mouth carries weight full of wisdom that even
astounds his audience.

This gift usually comes in handy when one is caught up

in a dilemma and wants to make a wise and sensible
choice that will not compromise his faith but at the same
time be able to witness to others concerning the gospel
of Christ. The King Solomon is one of the people we see
______________________________________________________________

in the Bible bearing this gift. We see this in the case of

the two prostitutes who were fighting over a baby. The
way Solomon handled that dispute is clear evidence of
the gift of wisdom (1 Kings 3:16-28).

We also see the evidence of wisdom in the ministry of

Jesus Christ when he dealt with the Pharisees. However,
the most highlighting event is in the case of the woman
caught in the act of adultery. How Jesus handled the case
displays someone full of Gods wisdom (John 8:3-11).

From the story and life of Jesus Christ we see why

wisdom is a very relevant gift for Christians in this day
and age. Christ knew this and thats why He warned His
disciples to be as wise as serpents since He was sending
them as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16).

b) Word of Knowledge
This is a gift that most people have always subjected
solely to the meaning of certain revelations from the
Holy Spirit. This is when the Spirit of God reveals
certain new information, events or occurrences in ones
______________________________________________________________

life to someone else that may need prophetic action or

prayer.

This gift also just means what it is. Word of knowledge

is the reception of an in-depth understanding and
knowledge concerning certain matters that one was not
privy to earlier on. It is not only the insight to new
information concerning someone else but more so the
insight to new information concerning the word of God.
The best examples would be concerning the Disciples of
Christ.

The first evidence is when God reveals to Simon Peter

who Jesus truly is. This is information that escaped many
audiences of Christ including the disciples during His
time but Simon Peter received it directly from the father
(Matthew 16:13-17).

We also realize that most of the disciples like Simon

Peter never had any formal learning but how they
expressed themselves before the Sanhedrin which
consisted of highly educated Jewish leaders was very
exceptional (Acts 4:5-22). This amazed the council who
______________________________________________________________

realized that these people were unschooled yet spoke

with much knowledge and authority (Acts 4:13). You
realize that when the disciples were brought before the
Sanhedrin, Simon Peter was full of the Holy Spirit when
he began to address the council (Acts 4:8).

From this story we get that it is the Holy Spirit who gave
Peter the word of knowledge and in-depth understanding
on matters concerning salvation through Christ which he
relayed to the Sanhedrin in a manner that amazed them
(Acts 4:9-13). So we should never limit the word of
knowledge to what the Spirit reveals to us concerning
certain people, events or occurrences.

There are some gospel truths that one cannot teach

accurately unless he gets a deeper knowledge and
understanding about them by the enablement of the Holy
Spirit through this special gift. This is why I want us to
clearly understand that the gift of word of knowledge
does not only refer to revelations from the Holy Spirit
concerning peoples lives but also deeper in-depth
______________________________________________________________

understanding of the word of God and the Gospel of

Christ as a whole in a new light.

c) Faith
To understand this gift we need to know what it means
and what it does in the life of a Christian. Romans 10:17
talks of faith coming by hearing and hearing by the word
of God while Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. What then would Paul mean when he talks of faith
as a gift of the Holy Spirit?

From the illustration of Hebrews, we get that faith

consist of hope and things which are invisible. This gives
us a basic understanding on what faith entails. The root
meaning for faith in the Bible is firmness or deep
conviction towards something. Many times in the
gospels when Christ healed the sick, He told them that
their faith has made them whole. This would mean that
their deep conviction that Christ would heal them is what
made them well.
______________________________________________________________

Coming to the illustration in Romans 10:17, we realize

that the kind of faith referred to here is total conviction
and belief that the word of God is truth beyond doubt.
Choosing to believe in something without bothering to
verify its authenticity is faith in itself. That is why many
scholars and scientists who have done numerous
researches to verify the authenticity of the existence of
God and heaven or hell have never been successful save
for the evidence of Gods manifestations in the lives of
His people.

The disciples had the advantage of experiencing Christ

and his miracles firsthand and so their assurance of
entering the kingdom of God came from Christ himself
verbatim (John 14:1-3). However, from the time of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit the belief of new believers
concerning salvation through Christ and the Kingdom of
God was based on what they heard from the apostles
having not seen Christ personally.

This is why Christ told Thomas that blessed are those

who have not seen yet they have believed (John 20:29).
______________________________________________________________

This explains why faith is the substance of things hoped

for and the evidence of things not seen e.g. eternal life
and the person of Jesus Christ respectively. This brings
us to why faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

It takes faith to believe in something that you have never

experienced beforehand to the point of willing to die for
it. When Christ promised the Holy Spirit, He knew that
his disciples and Christians would be persecuted in times
to come and therefore the need for unwavering faith
from the Holy Spirit was necessary.

Without this kind of faith, many Christians would never

have stood up for their salvation or belief in Christ. They
would rather die than denounce their faith or belief in
Christ. A good example is Stephen who was even willing
to forgive those who stoned him to death (Acts 7: 59-60).
It is this kind of faith that comes as a gift from the Holy
Spirit.

d) Gifts of Healing and Working of Miracles

Healing has always been categorized as a miracle yet
Paul in his writing names it separately from the working
______________________________________________________________

of miracles and we are yet to see the reason why.

Healing has always been understood as to mean restoring
a persons health from an illness or physical deformity. It
is restoring ones body to an original optimum
functioning. When we study the scriptures, we see many
cases of healing performed in the Bible from the
prophets of the Old Testament to Christ and the Apostles
in the New Testament.

In His manifesto Jesus explains how the Spirit of God

enables Him to do a number of things, among them to
administer healing (Luke 4:18-21). This is clear evidence
that Healing cannot take place without the enablement of
the Spirit of God and therefore qualifying healing as a
gift of the Holy Spirit.

We all know that the word miracle means extraordinary

occurrences and this consisted of all manner of
extraordinary acts done by Christ and the apostles
including healing since the nature of how healing was
done in those times qualified them as miracles. This also
______________________________________________________________

applies to all manner of miracles performed by

Christians today.

However, the reason why Paul chose to single out

healing from other numerous miracles is because of the
significance it has towards the church with regard to the
gospel of Christ. Healing is the only miracle in the Bible
that we find associated with the whipping Jesus received
before He was crucified (Isaiah 53:5). So whoever
performs the miracle of healing actually claims a state
whose debt or ransomed had already been paid by the
stripes of Christ.

We also notice that the gift of works of miracles has

been intentionally mentioned separately from that of
healing. The reason is that while healing specifically
focused on the price Christ paid for us through his
whipping and beating, all other miracles specifically
focus on the confirmation of the servant of God (Exodus
4:1-9) or a confirmation of His word through His
servants (Mark 16:20).
______________________________________________________________

However, Christ warned his disciples concerning false

prophets in that they will too perform various miracles
and deceive many (Matthew 24:24). This is the reason
for the gift of discernment of spirits so as to be able to
tell the difference between that which is from the Spirit
of God and that which is not.

e) Prophecy
As used across the Bible, prophecy both in Hebrew and
Greek terms means a prediction which refers to a future
event or occurrence. To prophesy however means to
speak by inspiration or to foretell the future. We can
therefore say that the gift of prophecy enables one to be
able to accurately predict future events or occurrences as
the Holy Spirit reveals them.

In addition to this God gives us instructions on how to

tell whether a prophet is a true or false prophet. If a
prophet claims to prophesy in the name of the Lord and
whatever he prophesies fails to take place, then he is not
from God and vice versa (Deut. 18:21-22). This is
______________________________________________________________

because God always backs the words of His prophets by

action.

However, we need to understand that prophecy is not

only limited to predictions or foretelling of the future.
From the meaning of speaking by inspiration, we get that
the Holy Spirit can inspire someone to speak certain
truths as words of prophecies. These may be mysteries of
the gospel or just some instructions and revelations from
God (Mark 4:11; Eph. 6:19).

We can also tell this by the example of King Saul who

after being anointed by Samuel was able to prophecy
alongside the prophets of God (1 Samuel 10:5-6). We
cannot tell for sure Whether Saul was able to predict or
foretell future events but one thing we are sure of is that
he spoke by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God.

f) Discerning of Spirits
Having known that times were coming and that
Christians today indeed live in a time when there are so
many false prophets as Christ predicted the Holy Spirit
saw it necessary to release His gift of discerning of
______________________________________________________________

spirits upon the people of God. This gift is also

commonly known as gift of discernment.

God knowing that Hes released this gift upon us

constantly warns us to test every spirit so as to prove
whether they are from Him or whether they are lying
spirits from the kingdom of darkness(1 Timothy 4:1; 1
John 4:1).

Those who have the gift of discernment through their

spirits are able to tell the difference between the Spirit of
God and those which are not from Him. This way, apart
from the false teachings that the false teachers teach it
would be easy to tell whether the miracles they perform
are by the Spirit of God or not.

g) Divers Kinds of Tongues and Interpretation of

Tongues
These two gifts go hand in hand since they cannot
operate separately in the edification of the church. In fact
it is because of these two gifts that the Church of Corinth
had so much trouble concerning the gifts of the Spirit
that Paul had to intervene by giving caution and
______________________________________________________________

teachings concerning spiritual gifts. Well have a look at

these cautions later.

Paul refers to the gift of speaking in tongues as diverse

kinds of tongues. This is to signify the ability to speak in
different kinds of tongues. This also means that the gift
of tongues is usually uniquely different and varies from
one individual to the other. This implies that youll find
two people with the same gift of speaking in tongues but
the tongues they speak in are uniquely different.

However, it is important to note that despite the

differences in tongues, there are only two major
categories of tongues. The first is the ability to speak in
other languages which one didnt have prior knowledge
of and the second is speaking in the spirit the tongues of
angels that only God understands.

We find the evidence of the first category of tongues in

Acts 2: 4-12 where the apostles spoke in different
languages and tongues and therefore could be understood
by all who witnessed. This is the only place in the
scriptures where we find such occurrence. The other
______________________________________________________________

category is spread throughout the experiences of the

apostles and it is for this reason that Paul had a problem
with those who spoke in tongues in church without
interpretation (1 Cor. 14:1-4).

More often than not youll find most Christians receiving

the gift of speaking in tongues in the first second
category whereby they speak in tongues of angels.
However, there are also those who on receiving the gift
of tongues receive the first category which is the tongues
of men or the ability to speak in different languages. It is
only Paul who we see confessing as having received both
categories of tongues whereby he speaks with tongues of
men and of angels (1 Cor. 13:1).

Ive heard of testimonies by missionaries in foreign

countries who in the process of speaking in tongues
never realized that they were indeed speaking the
language of the natives until the natives confessed so.
This means that even today there are those who still
receive both categories of the gift of tongues. Despite
this fact, most Christians focus on the second where they
______________________________________________________________

can communicate with God in the tongues of angels

thereby edifying themselves and their spirits.

On the other hand, the gift of interpretation of tongues is

very relevant especially for the edification of the church.
This is because many times God would use the gift of
tongues to deliver to His people messages of reproof,
exhortation, encouragements or revelations and this
would be futile if there is no one to interpret.

So the main reason for the gift of the interpretation of

tongues is to enable the church to be able to interpret the
mysteries of god thereby helping the church to grow and
move in the direction which God intends.

Other Gifts
The gifts discussed above are some of the most common
gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christians refer to today. I
cant tell whether the reason is because they are the gifts
that Paul talked about in his letters or not. But one thing I
do know is that there are other various gifts of the Holy
Spirit which are not highly spoken of either by Paul or
other people across the Bible. Just to mention a few; Paul
______________________________________________________________

mentions other gifts that we find in his letter to the

Corinthians. He talks of love as a gift of the Holy Spirit
and he gives it much emphasis in a whole chapter (1 Cor.
12:31- 13:1-13). He also speaks of the gift of helps and
that of administrations which the King James Version
calls governments (1 Cor. 12:28).

These are some of the gifts that we dont hear much

about but likewise play a great role in the body of Christ.
However, we realize that it is not only Paul who talks
about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We also see the
evidence of these gifts in the Old Testament.

In Exodus 31:3 where God talks to Moses concerning

Bezaleel who He called by name and filled with His
Spirit in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge,
and in all manner of workmanship. Here we see a variety
of gifts displayed; that of wisdom, knowledge,
understanding and workmanship. This brings to our
realization that there are many other gifts of the Holy
Spirit not yet discovered or recorded by man and not
even recorded in the Bible. The good news is that they
______________________________________________________________

can all be discovered and more so in a closer fellowship

and relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Cautions from Paul

When talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I feel it
necessary to talk about the cautions that Paul gave to the
Corinthian Church. This is because the challenge
Christians have today concerning the gifts of the Holy
Spirit is the same challenge the Corinth Christians had.

When Paul talks to the Corinthians concerning the gifts

of the Holy Spirit, he reminds them of some of the most
important things to consider; the first is that we are all
different parts of the same body which is Christ (1 Cor.
12:12-31). You realize that he mentions this right after
teaching about the different gifts of the Spirit.

The reason for this is that many Christians then were

consumed by their gifts that they felt they didnt need
others for the service of Christ. Paul noticed that some
felt as if their gifts were all sufficient for the service of
God without the need of those with other gifts (1 Cor.
12: 28-31).
______________________________________________________________

Thats why Paul points out the intention of the Spirit to

specifically give people different gifts and not all to one
person. This was to enable them to work together for the
edification of the church. A prophet will always need
one with the gift of administration or word of
knowledge, or interpretation of tongues.

Next, Paul talks about love. As much as love is one of

the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is also one of the greater
gifts that Paul asks Christians to eagerly desire (1 Cor.
12:31-13:3). He explains the reason for this perfectly
well in 1 Cor. 13.

It would be useless for one to possess various kinds of

gifts of the Holy Spirit and miss out on Love. Love is not
only a gift of the Holy Spirit but one of the major
attributes that describe the personality of God. It is for
this very reason that Christ died on the cross and enabled
us to be adopted as sons of God.

Finally he talks about the use of tongues. Christians need

to understand that the use of tongues in prayer only act to
edify the Spirit of that very individual and not the church
______________________________________________________________

(1 Cor. 14:1-17). Tongues can only edify the church

whenever there is someone to interpret what is being
said. This is why Paul says that he would rather have
everyone prophesy to the church than speak in tongues
(Vs. 5).

Ive come to notice in many prayer services that

whenever God has a word for His people and it is
relayed through one of the Christians in tongues, God
usually uses another with the gift of interpreting tongues
to tell the congregation what is being said.

However, whenever there is no one else to interpret, God

uses the same individual who delivered the message in
tongues to explain to people what God was saying in a
language which they can understand, and this is how its
supposed to be. Otherwise, when speaking in tongues, it
is prudent to use it in your personal prayer and
communication with God.
______________________________________________________________

III

FELLOWSHIP WITH THE

HOLY SPIRIT
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. (1 Cor. 2:12, 13 KJV)
_____________________________________________

1. THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Transition of Gods Temple through the
Bible
a) The Tabernacle
From the time of creation, we see the fellowship of God
and humanity taking place without a dwelling or a
central place where man is supposed to go so as to meet
______________________________________________________________

God. In the case of Adam, we see God going to the

Garden of Eden so as to fellowship with Adam. After the
fall we see God communicating with mankind through a
voice at the points where they built altars to offer
sacrifices to Him. Its at such points when we see Abel,
Noah, Abraham and Jacob taking priestly roles of
building altars and offering sacrifices to God (Gen. 4:4;
8:20; 22:13; 31:54).

It is not until the time of Moses that we see God

interested in a tent of meeting where He would be
dwelling among His people as He fellowships with them
(Exodus 25:8- 9). The roles of altar sacrifices also take a
new shift. So from the instructions which God gave
concerning the tabernacle, Moses managed to have it
built for God to dwell in and all the elements put in
(Exodus 25:10-27:21).

Theres so much detail concerning how the tabernacle

was to be made which I wont dwell on, though there are
some elements of great significance to Gods
relationship with mankind that were to be put in the
______________________________________________________________

tabernacle which I want us to look at briefly but not their

in-depth significance in terms of worship which we shall
dwell on when we discuss worship in the Spirit later.

The first thing I want to focus on is the ark which is

built for the tabernacle (Ex. 25:10). What comes with the
ark represent various aspects of worship in the presence
of God. We see with the ark the tablets of the covenant
(Vs. 16), the mercy seat (Vs. 17) the two cherubs (Vs.
17) and the altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-10; Heb. 9:3-
4). These are the elements that were to go to the Holy
place and the Most Holy place commonly known as the
Holy of Holies (Ex. 26:33-34).

The elements mentioned above which were put in the

Holy of Holies act as replicas or symbols of various
aspects of worship in heaven as witnessed by servants of
God in their visions (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:1-8; 8:3-
4). The other elements which were not in the most holy
place but in the holy place were the table for shewbread
(ex. 25:23, 29, 30) and the lampstand for the seven
lamps (Exodus 25:31, 32, 36). We also see the lampstand
______________________________________________________________

mentioned later in heavenly worship as symbols before

the throne of the Lord (Rev. 1:12-13, 20). Finally we see
an altar of sacrifices or burnt offerings that was in the
courtyard in front of the entrance to the tabernacle for
the Israelites offerings (Ex. 38:1; 40:6).

The above elements of worship which Ive chosen to

focus on had a great significance regarding the
fellowship between God and man. It is for this reason
that when God decided to have a dwelling place among
His people that He ordered such elements be included in
His dwelling place. Thus, the origin of Gods abode
amongst His people begins. At this point I want us to
understand that everything God asked Moses to include
in the building of the tabernacle just spoke one language;
worship. And this is rightly so because the ideal meaning
of temple is a sanctuary or a place of worship. So Gods
first sanctuary was the tabernacle.

b) The Temple of Solomon

For a long time from the days of Moses God dwelt
among His people in the tabernacle until the time that
______________________________________________________________

King David had a burden in his heart to build God a

temple. He felt that it was not right for men to live in
well built houses while the ark of God dwelt in a tent (2
Samuel 7:1-2). However, God declined Davids request
to build Him a temple and promised that his heir would
build it instead (2 Samuel 7:5-16).

Years later this promise was fulfilled when King

Solomon built a temple for the Lord to dwell in (1 Kings
6:1-14). As Moses did with the tabernacle, Solomon
followed all the instructions God gave concerning all the
elements that were supposed to be used for worship in
the temple and those that were supposed to be placed in
the presence of the Lord (1 Kings 6:23-28; 7:48-51; 8:6-
13).

And so this marks the end of the building of Gods

second dwelling among His people. I say this because
the subsequent temples that were built after exile by
Zerubbabel and Joshua then later by Herod The Great
(commonly known as the 2nd and 3rd Temples) were a
renovation of Solomons original temple that was
______________________________________________________________

destroyed during the wars that sent the people of Israel

into exile and later rebuilt during the times of Ezra (Ezra
3:8-11). This makes Gods third dwelling place a
spiritual temple and not a physical temple that is, the
temple of the Holy Spirit.

c) The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Weve looked at how close the relationship of God with
mankind has grown from the time of creation to the point
of Him dwelling among His people first in a tabernacle
then a temple built for Him by Solomon. Later we see a
new development as God draws even closer to His
people.

Through Jesus Christ we see God taking a new approach.

God did not only want to live with His people but He
wanted to walk among them, share in their pain and joy
and even dine with them. This is why Christ came as
Emmanuel i.e. God with Us (Matthew 1:23). But God
does not stop here. We all know why Christ came to the
world, to redeem the fallen humanity from sin through
His death on the cross. However, theres one very
______________________________________________________________

important role that He came to play which few people

know about and if they do, not many talk about it.

As Moses built the tabernacle and Solomon the temple

so did Jesus come to build Gods last dwelling place
among humanity that is, the temple of the Holy Spirit in
us. So Jesus came to prepare the place where the Holy
Spirit was going to dwell in. John the Baptist saw this no
wonder he talked of one coming after him who would
baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11,
Luke 3:16).

For Him to achieve this He had to do a number of things.

The physical temple held a dear place in the hearts of
men. As much as it represented the closest way men
could get to God, they still didnt have direct contact
with Him. So Jesus had to create a direct contact
between man and his God. This is displayed by the
tearing asunder of the curtains in temple separating the
holy of holies from the holy place (Matthew 27:51).

We see this whole process explained by the writer of

Hebrews on how Christ performed this act. For Gods
______________________________________________________________

fellowship with man and man as His temple could not be

established as long as the earthly temple was still
standing (Hebrews 9:2-9). Indeed it is because of the
sinful nature of man that the earthly temple or tabernacle
was divided so as to keep the wrath of God from striking
men due to their sinful nature. And this is reason for the
holy place and the holy of holies where only a priest
could go.

So what does this mean? The earthly temple has to be

destroyed for a spiritual one to be set up. Peter talks
about this new spiritual house in his letter (1 Peter 2:4-
5). But still, by that time the human sinful nature was a
hindrance to the process. This means that what we
needed was a priest and a perfect sacrifice that would
atone the sins of the entire human race once and for all.

As the writer of Hebrew explains, Christ came as a priest

of the new covenant who would go to the Holy of holies
to perform this role. But not only did He go there as a
priest but also as a perfect and final sacrifice offered to
God once and for all for the atonement of sins (Hebrews
______________________________________________________________

9:11-15). This is what Christ actually meant when He

said that He would destroy the temple and build it in
three days (John 2:18-22).

As much as Christ referred to His body that was to be

crucified and rise in three days, we also realize that as
Hebrews explains He spiritually referred to destroying
the earthly temple and what it represents and in three
days raise one which the Holy Spirit can dwell in. One
may ask how this is so when what was raised was the
glorified body of Christ. This is found in the statement
where Christ tells His disciples that He is in the Father
and the Father is in Him, and then again that He is in
them (John 14:10-11, 20).

What does this mean to us as Christians? Christ is in the

Father and the Father is in Him and whoever welcomes
Him in His life (Rev. 3:20) gives Him an opportunity to
prepare the house in which the Holy Spirit will dwell
in. This brings a new revelation concerning our bodies as
the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is the glorified body of
Christ in us that creates a perfect Holy habitation for the
______________________________________________________________

Holy Spirit to dwell in. Thus, when God dwells in us as

His temple, it is not only the Holy Spirit who dwells in
us but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit altogether
three as one.

This may be the reason why Paul becomes very

particular on keeping the temple of the Holy Spirit Holy
(1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:16). If during the
times of Moses God dwelling in a physical earthly
tabernacle required His people to be holy because He
was holy (Lev. 11:45; 19:2; 20:26), how much more for
us who are the spiritual temple and dwelling place of the
Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:4; 1 Peter 1:15,16). This calls us to
live holy lives and not defile the temple of the Holy
Spirit in whom He dwells.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Having prepared a dwelling place for God in our hearts,
theres a way in which we need to maintain its purity by
ensuring we live Holy lives. God knows that we are
mortal and of sinful nature and therefore would not find
it easy keeping the temple of the Holy Spirit pure and
______________________________________________________________

holy. The Holy Spirit Himself understands our nature

and in His wisdom helps us in our weaknesses (Romans
8:26).

How does He achieve this? The Holy Spirit spends time

teaching us and helping us daily to cultivate and develop
a lifestyle that will portray the fruit of the Spirit by
putting to death deeds of the flesh. Paul takes time to
explain to the Galatians how this takes place and how
they can develop the fruit of the Spirit. Well look at it in
the manner that the King James Version presents them
(Galatians 5:16-25).

a) Love
When talking about the fruit of the Spirit, we notice that
Paul begins with Love. This explains the kind of
magnitude loves role is in the life of a Spirit filled
Christian. This is why he speaks explicitly about it in 1
Corinthians 13. Peter also advises believers to love each
other deeply for love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter
4:8).
______________________________________________________________

b) Joy
Next Paul talks of Joy which we find playing an equally
important role in a Christians life. It is joy in the Lord
that strengthens us whenever we are in despair or
encounter great challenges (Psalm 30:5; Isaiah 29:19;
James 1:2). It is because of Joy that Paul and Silas were
able to overcome their situation while they praised God
in prison (Acts 16:22-36). Because of joy once again,
Paul was able to rejoice that his imprisonment acted as a
way of advancing the gospel despite being bound in
chains (Philippians 1:12-18).

c) Peace
From Isaiahs prophecy, we see Isaiah referring to Christ
as the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6). The question is what
kind of peace was Isaiah talking about? In the Hebrew
root Shalom, we see an inner sense of happiness,
wellbeing, good health and prosperity. The Greek root
Eir n (pronounced; i-rah-nay) signifies prosperity,
quietness and rest.
______________________________________________________________

From both cases we can therefore say that the peace

which Paul talks about as part of the fruit of the Holy
Spirit signifies one who finds rest in the Lord due to the
prosperity, wellbeing and calmness that is brought about
by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:13-18; Philippians 4:7). This
is the kind of peace that can only be found in God and
provides total or complete rest to mans soul.

d) Longsuffering
This is also referred to as patience in other translations.
This is a quality that God has portrayed over the years
when He bore the stubbornness of His people for a long
time throughout the entire Old Testament whereby He
never ceased to be their God despite their idolatry and
rebellious nature.

This quality is also perfected by Jesus Christ who

through His patience was able to reach out to the sinful
generation of His time to the point of forgiving those
who crucified Him. Jesus Christ demonstrated the
quality of patience or long suffering through His
______________________________________________________________

teaching on resisting evil people and love for enemies

(Matthew 5:38-48). Rather we should be good to them.

This is the kind of quality Paul refers to when he talks

about patience or long suffering. As Christians we
should be people who are able to stand those who are
evil towards us or oppose us without wishing them harm
but doing them good and praying that God in His
mercies would transform their hearts (Romans 15:5-7).

e) Gentleness
The Greek root for this is chr stot s which refers to
moral excellence or kindness which would relate to
showing mercy. It is because of Gods mercies that we
are saved. It is because of His mercies that we can stand
before His presence in our imperfections without the fear
of being struck dead by His wrath. So, just as God
showed us mercy, the Holy Spirit enables us to show
mercy towards others by offering acts of kindness which
would draw them closer to God rather than drive them
further away. Paul explains this to the Ephesians when
he asks them to be kind to one another (Eph. 4:32).
______________________________________________________________

f) Goodness
This signifies a virtue of beneficence which would mean
acts of generosity. Without goodness in our hearts, it
would be difficult to spread the gospel of Christ
selflessly without selfish interests. Many preachers today
lack this virtue and therefore proceed with the mission of
the gospel with what theyll gain out of it as a priority in
mind. The best example we can get in scripture is the
event of the sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel (Genesis
4:3-7).

g) Faithfulness
Theres no use explaining this virtue. Jesus explained it
quite well when He taught about the parable of the
talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Here we see servants who
were faithful stewards to their master and one who was
not. Whatever the Lord has given us are not entirely
ours. It is for this reason that He wants us to be faithful
stewards until His second coming or until we bid this
earth goodbye and the Holy Spirit enables us to be
faithful to the course of our calling. Paul testified of this
______________________________________________________________

when he knew that his time of death was nearby (2

Timothy 4:6-8).

h) Meekness
If there is one virtue which Christ demonstrated above
all while here on earth, it was meekness which also
signifies humility. Christ Himself also taught that about
the meek and the benefits of humility (Matthew 5:5;
23:11-12). We see Christs demonstration of humility
when He washed the feet of His disciples and asked
them to do likewise to one another (John 13:3-17). Peter
and James also talk about humility only that those who
humble themselves before God will be lifted up (James
4:6, 10; 1 Peter 5: 5-6).

i) Temperance
Finally temperance which also means self-control is
another great virtue. Paul warned the Ephesians about
control of anger and how one is supposed to have self-
control (Eph. 4:26, 31). This is because lack of self-
control is a great hindrance to serving God in the
fulfillment of the great commission. It is because of
______________________________________________________________

anger and lack of self-control that the Lord did not

permit Moses to enter into the promised land (Deut.
6:21-22).

j) Righteousness and Truth

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talks of two other
attributes of the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9). These
two virtues go hand in hand since one can never be
righteous unless only truth comes out of his mouth
(Prov. 12:17; Eph. 4:23-25). Its also truth which sets
one free from the bondage of Sin through the Holy Spirit
(John 8:32; 2 Cor. 3:17). One who has the fruit of the
Spirit therefore also has to be one who constantly
pursues righteousness with the understanding that this
cannot be by his own strength but by the spirit of God (
Job 27:6; Prov. 13:6; 21:21; Zechariah 4:6; Matthew
6:33)

Having learnt about the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we

should now realize that without these virtues in us
theres no way of adequately preserving the sanctity of
the temple of the Holy Spirit and living a holy and
______________________________________________________________

blameless life before the Lord. It is until we master the

discipline of developing these virtues and maintaining
the purity of the Temple of the Holy Ghost that we can
be in close contact with the Holy Spirit so as to establish
a fellowship with Him. But how do we master such
discipline?

This brings to mind Pauls active campaign and urge for

Christians to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25). One
cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit and display the fruit
of the Spirit if hes not walking in the Spirit. What does
Paul mean by this? Unless we submit to the authority of
the Holy Spirit, we can never bear the fruit of the Spirit.

Submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit means

surrendering our will to the Holy Ghost that He may use
us to fulfill Gods will. Paul explains this more when he
says that we have to live after the Spirit. By this he
meant that we have to be led by the Holy Spirit and its
only through His guidance that we will not gratify the
desires of the flesh but fulfill the will of God (Romans
8:1-14).
______________________________________________________________

2. CONVERSATIONS WITH THE HOLY

GHOST

One particular line that I will constantly repeat and put

much emphasis on as we continue further in this book is
this; the Holy Spirit is not a power neither is He a force
but a person. This means that not only does He have all
the attributes we talked about earlier but can also speak
and make conversations. This is a fact that many
Christians overlook and misinterpret. It is also an issue
of which most Christians encounter difficulty in when
fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

I can say I was one of those Christians who for a long

time would never contact the Holy Spirit directly in my
prayers or fellowships. If I ever needed anything from
the Holy Ghost I would pray directly to God the Father
or ask Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to perform the task I
requested, but never directly asked the Holy Spirit
Himself. This is the kind of experience I had when I first
got baptized by the Holy Spirit.
______________________________________________________________

My First Encounter with the Holy Ghost

Many Christians usually expect the evidence of speaking
in tongues whenever the Holy Spirit comes upon them
and this happens in most cases. However in my case
thats not the way things went down. I received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit on 23rd October 1999 in a
Christian Union rally while in High School.

As I waited patiently for the manifestation of the gift of

speaking in tongues to come upon my life, nothing
happened. The preacher kept telling people to have faith,
let their tongues loose and start speaking in tongues.
Some even got what we used to call being slain by the
Holy Spirit. This meant being overwhelmed by the
power of the Holy Ghost that you could no longer be
able to keep standing on your feet and end up falling.

As people kept falling around me and babbling in

tongues, I remained rooted to the ground and started
wondering whether the baptism passed me by. While this
happened I started praying all kinds of repentance
prayers just in case I had committed some sins which
______________________________________________________________

hindered me from receiving the Holy Spirit baptism.

Well, nothing happened after that and that evening I
went back to school a heartbroken person. I had great
doubts in my heart whether I had indeed received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know there are some people
reading this who may have had a similar experience.
Thats why the next few words are important to consider.

The Holy Spirit noting my dilemma reached out to me in

many ways. Sometimes He came through dreams,
sometimes I felt Him in my thoughts and sometimes I
could swear that I heard a voice or a silent whisper to my
ears.

One may then ask how I knew it was the Holy Spirit
speaking to me. Well I didnt. Initially I thought those
were just my crazy thoughts in my mind trying to
convince myself that I was still acceptable before God.
What made me know that it was the Holy Spirit speaking
to me was His gentleness, patience and most importantly
the content of His messages. This took quite some time
before I was convinced that the Holy Spirit was trying to
______________________________________________________________

reach out to me. What aided me more in knowing that it

was Him was a constant study of Gods word.

As I continued to study the word of God I realized that

all the messages I received in my dreams, my thoughts
and even the voices I heard spoke one thing; an
assurance of my salvation that I was a son of God and a
heir to His kingdom and promises, as well as an
assurance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, (Luke 11:13,
Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:6-7). This is one of the
roles the scripture says the Holy Spirit would come to
do; to witness that we are sons of God thereby assuring
us of the adoption of God through Christ.

This is how I came to get an assurance that indeed I had

been baptized by the Holy Spirit back in October 1999.
This assurance came about five months later and there
was a lot of catching up to do. Because of the initial
doubts in my heart, I could never realize the gifts which
the Holy Spirit had brought upon my life since my main
focus was on whether I had received His baptism in my
life or not.
______________________________________________________________

It wasnt until late in 2000 that I realized the first initial

gifts working in my life. However, I still hadnt received
the gift of speaking in tongues by then. But because it
was my desire to have this experience, the Holy Spirit
honored it in due time. My first experience of speaking
in tongues came late in the year 2001 and the feeling was
so heavenly. In spite of this late experience of the gift of
tongues, all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit upon my
life were quite active in my worship experience and
fellowship with God.

Having read this, one may think that my active

fellowship with the Holy Spirit was developed quite
early in those days when I was struggling with the doubt
of His existence in my life. As much as the Holy Spirit
was quite active in my early spiritual life, He was still
just a voice at the back of my mind that would help me
from time to time in my spiritual life as a guide.

It was until sometime in the year 2004 that I had my first

real conversation with the Holy Spirit. What triggered
the beginning of my active fellowship with the Holy
______________________________________________________________

Ghost was an experience I had after reading a book by

Benny Hinn; Good Morning Holy Spirit. This book
helped me learn so much about the Holy Ghost which I
never knew before. In fact, on that day sometime in June
2004 I learned that one can speak to the Holy Ghost
directly; a fact that we Christians are either ignorant of
or take for granted.

When I finished that book I knelt down and prayed to the

Holy Spirit. I asked Him to continue teaching,
empowering and guiding me in my spiritual life. I also
asked Him to help me maintain a constant fellowship
with Him as a Helper and comforter who Jesus promised
to come. But still, I wasnt that consistent in my
fellowship with him until some years later. However, He
remained true to His role as a Spiritual companion till I
developed a closer relationship with Him.

Praying to the Spirit

Maybe youve been reading this book and are amazed at
the revelations you are learning about the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit, yet youve never experienced His
______________________________________________________________

baptism or the beauty of His gifts and are wondering

how you can receive Him and be filled with His
anointing. You dont have to worry for Christ Himself
confessed that if we humans being evil know how to
give good gifts to our children, how much more would
our heavenly Father give us the Holy Spirit when we ask
Him?

If you want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit just

ask, and you will receive. The fact of hearing and
believing in the word of God, and accepting His
salvation through Christ is enough welcome for the Holy
Spirit into your life (Acts 10:44; Eph. 1:13).

You can receive His baptism right now. Just say the
following prayer and ask Him to come into your life and
baptize you with His anointing;

Holy Spirit of the Living God, I acknowledge that you

are the Comforter who Christ promised to come and
guide us in our Spiritual lives as well as teach us all
things. As a born again Christian, I come before you
now, having never experienced your presence in my
______________________________________________________________

life, and the power of your anointing with the

manifestation of your gifts.

I welcome you into my life right now. May you come

and dwell in my life as your living temple from this day
onwards. May you also baptize me with the power of
your anointing and your various gifts for service as you
will. I make this prayer believing and trusting in Jesus
name, AMEN.

If youve made this prayer, believe it in your heart that

youve received Him in your life together with His
anointing and the power of His gifts, and then continue
enjoying your reading about new revelations concerning
fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

However, you may be born again, full of the Holy Spirit,

operating in His gifts, yet as you read this book you
realize that youve never paid a closer attention to Him
or established a direct and real constant fellowship with
Him whereby He plays an active role in your life as a
Christian.
______________________________________________________________

Or maybe from the time you received His baptism

youve never taken time to really thank Him for His gifts
and ask Him to teach and guide you on how best to use
them for the service and glory of God. Well, I can help
you in the next step of faith by asking Him to take an
active role in your life through the following prayer;

Holy Spirit of the Living God, I know youve been

active in my life and has guided me this far in my
spiritual walk. However, Ive never taken much time to
develop a closer fellowship with you in the past. Ive
also enjoyed the manifestation of your gifts in my life,
but Ive never really considered seeking your guidance
on how best I should use them for the will and the
Glory of the Lord. It is also my desire to learn more
from you concerning a holistic spiritual life.

So from this day forth, I pray that you may help me

develop a closer fellowship with you. I also pray that
you guide me throughout my spiritual life; and in the
process let me be a diligent student in your presence as
you teach me how to use your gifts for the glory of God.
______________________________________________________________

Help me also to maintain a constant and personal walk

with you as I go through this journey of faith. In Jesus
name I pray, AMEN.

Having made this prayer it is important to realize that the

reason why Christ promised the Holy Spirit and asked
the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit
came was that one can never fully live a holistic spiritual
life and serve God as He desires without the guidance of
the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). So without the presence and
guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives we can never
serve God satisfactorily and do His will as is required of
us. It is therefore crucial to make the Holy Spirit the
center of our spiritual lives as Christians.

The Voice of the Holy Spirit through the Bible

There are so many scriptures across the Bible from the
Old Testament to the New Testament where we see God
speaking to His people through a voice or even through
angels. However, places where you find the voice of the
Holy Spirit mentioned are exceptional and its usually in
instances where He speaks to the servants of God;
______________________________________________________________

mostly prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in

the New Testament.

Most of the time, especially in the Old Testament we see

the Spirit of God speaking through the prophets,
including the King David (2 Samuel 23:1-2; 2 Chr. 15:1-
2; 24:20; Neh. 9:30). However there are cases where the
Spirit of God would direct the prophets on what to do,
where to go and what to say to Gods people. We see this
presented as conversations between the Holy Spirit and
the servants of God throughout the Bible; that is both the
Old and the New Testament (Ezekiel 2:2; 3:24; 11:5;
Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 16:7; 1 Tim. 4:1).

From these scriptures we can learn what kind of

conversations the Holy Spirit had with the servants of
God and His concern for their welfare was without a
doubt. In the same way we can engage the Holy Spirit in
conversations concerning our spiritual lives on what
were supposed to do, where were supposed to go and
how we can fulfill Gods will in our worship and service
to Him.
______________________________________________________________

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit therefore does not only

mean operating under the power of His anointing by the
manifestations of His gifts in our service to God.
Fellowship with the Holy Spirit means having
conversations with Him, seeking to know more about
Him, more about the word of God, how we can engage
in true worship and how we can live righteous lives in
the service of God.

You can choose to speak directly to God the Holy Spirit,

just as you would choose to speak directly to God the
Father or God the Son. I therefore beseech all Christians
to make it a regular habit to converse with the Holy
Spirit on matters concerning holistic Christian living in
the present times that the days are evil.

3. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

One of the main reasons why fellowship with the Holy

Spirit is important is that it helps us understand the role
that He has to play in our lives as Christians. Without a
constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit, one cannot be
______________________________________________________________

able to understand the importance of having Him as an

active participant in our Christian lives.

This is because the opportunity to learn more about Him

and the role He plays especially in the propagation of the
gospel by Christians will not arise. There are various
roles which the Holy Spirit plays in our lives as taught
by Christ and the authors of the New Testament.

Various Roles of the Holy Ghost

a) Conviction of Sin, Righteousness and Judgment
This is the Key role that is played by the Holy Spirit
among Gods creation as explained by Jesus Christ to
His disciples (John 16: 8-11). Jesus came to die for the
sins of humanity so that all who believe in Him can have
eternal life. However as much as salvation is free, it only
comes through conviction of sin, repentance and
acceptance of this free gift of salvation. This means that
only those who are convicted of their sins, repent and
heed to the call of Christ will receive this free gift of
salvation. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in; to
convict the world of sin.
______________________________________________________________

We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the

word of God (Romans 10:17). So when the word of God
is preached, the Holy Spirit sends forth the words spoken
with the power of conviction to the Hearers so that they
are convicted of their sins. This enables them to repent
and be saved. The event that took place on the day of
Pentecost displays how this takes place (Acts 2:14-41).

So what happens after someone is convicted of sin and

repents is that the Holy Spirit will then convict that
person of righteousness thereby helping him to live a
righteous life (Eph. 5:9; 1 Tim. 6:11). Its after all these
that the Holy Spirit convicts us and prepares us for the
coming judgment at the end of days by helping us pursue
holy lives (2 Cor. 5:10).

b) Glorifying Christ
When Christ tells the disciples about the Coming of the
Holy Spirit, He mentions that the Holy Spirit shall
glorify Him (John 16:14-15). How does this happen?
Christ says that the Holy Spirit will receive that which is
His and show it to the disciples. This means that when
______________________________________________________________

the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, that which was
of Christ was revealed to them and in that way Christ
was glorified.

This has a great significance in a Christians life as well

as Christianity as a whole. This is because when the
Holy Spirit comes upon us, He glorifies Christ through
our lives as Christians. Christ gets glorified when we
portray His nature character through our actions and how
we deal with others. The only way this can take place is
through the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

This is the same thing that happened with the disciples

when they were first called Christians at Antioch (Acts
11:26). Through the Holy Spirit they were able to
portray the character of Christ thereby Glorifying Him.
So by this we see one major role which the Holy Spirit
performs in us and through us.

c) Creation and Giving Life

It is common knowledge that the Holy Ghost was
involved in the process of creation as recorded in the
Genesis account. We also see the same reference in the
______________________________________________________________

conception of Jesus Christ that was done by the Holy

Spirit (Luke 1:31-35). From these accounts we see
another role of the Holy Spirit as not only being the
source of creation but also the source of life as we
discussed earlier.

This is also explained further by Paul and Peter who

explain how the Spirit resurrects and also refer to the
resurrection of Christ through the power of the same
(Romans 8:11; 2 Cor. 3:6; 1 Peter 3:18). This brings the
understanding of the teaching of Paul concerning dying
to sin so that we can find a new life in the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:11-130. This therefore means that the Holy
Spirit plays another major role in our lives as Christians
of helping us put to death the deeds of the flesh so that
He can give us a new life in Christ.

d) Chastisement, Discipline and Rebuke

We have already learned what Jesus meant when He
talked of the Holy Spirit coming to convict the world of
sin, righteousness and judgment. In relation to this is the
role of chastening discipline and rebuke. The Holy Spirit
______________________________________________________________

in His wisdom will rebuke, chastise and discipline us

whenever we go astray so as to keep us on the path of
righteousness.

As we learn through the Scriptures, this role is to ensure

we are partakers of Gods holiness as well as yielding
fruits of righteousness (Proverbs 3:11; Hebrews 12:5-
11; Rev. 3:9). It is only through such discipline that we
can remain relevant to the lost world which Christ came
to save (Matthew 5:13-16).

e) Counsel /Comfort
When Jesus was giving the disciples His farewell speech,
He said that He wont leave them as orphans and
promised that another counselor would come who is the
Holy Spirit (John 14: 16-18). The King James Version
uses the word comforter while the New International
Version uses counselor in referring to the statement of
Christ. What would this therefore mean concerning the
Holy Spirit?

Knowing that the New Testament was written in Greek

language, the word used for counselor/ comforter in
______________________________________________________________

referring to the Holy Spirit is para l tos which has a root

meaning of one who consoles i.e. a consoler. This
implies that Christ understood the difficulties or trials
that would face the disciples when Hes gone. For this
reason, He prepared them psychologically for the tough
times ahead and even promised them a counselor who
would help them in such tough times (John 15: 18-26).
Throughout the times of the apostles and the early
church Christians faced various persecutions and what
made them survive was the counsel of the Holy Spirit.
The same applies to Christians who live in this present
day and age.

f) Prayer and Intercession

This is one other role in which the Holy Spirit becomes
quite helpful. During His time, Christs disciples asked
Him to teach them how to pray. However in this day and
age, the Holy Spirit understands that in our weaknesses
as humans we dont know what we ought to pray for and
how to pray. So in assistance the Holy Spirit intercedes
for us in accordance with Gods will. And Just as Christ
______________________________________________________________

taught the disciples how to pray, the Holy Spirit also

teaches us how to pray (Romans 8:26-27).

g) Revelation of God
Jesus Christ said that when the comforter comes, He will
teach the disciples all things. He also added that He will
receive that which is Christs and reveal it to the
disciples (John 16:14-15). This statement explains to us
one of the most fundamental roles of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit comes to assist us in establishing a close and
intimate relationship with God. One way of doing this is
revealing the nature and secrets of God to us so that we
may know Him more and with a deeper understanding
(Ephesians 1:17).

When you search the scriptures youll find many

mysteries which God chooses to reveal to us through His
Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Bible declares that the
secret things belong to God, but those revealed belong to
us and our children forever (Deut. 29:29). However, this
fact changes in the New Testament where the Holy Spirit
reveals even the deepest secrets of God to His servants
______________________________________________________________

as Paul teaches (1 Cor. 2:9-14; Ephesians 3:5). This kind

of revelation helps us as the people of God not only to
know God more, but also to know His will and mind so
as to abide by it in our daily lives and fellowships.

h) Witnessing & Testifying

As Christians, every time we appear before the presence
of God, we are always assured of an advocate in heaven
(1 John 2:1). But why would we need an advocate
whenever we go before God? This is because theres that
one person who would always look for an opportunity to
accuse us before God (Rev. 12:10). Two great examples
of Satans cases against the servants of God are found in
the story of Job (Job 1:6-11) and that of the high priest
Joshua (Zechariah 3:1-4).

It is for this very reason that not only do we need an

advocate in heaven but someone else to testify on our
behalf and bear witness for our story. This is where the
Holy Spirit comes in. The Holy Spirit does not only
testify of Christ as He told his disciples concerning Him
(John 15:26), but He also bears witness on our behalf
______________________________________________________________

that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16; Galatians

4:6-7).

It is because of the Holy Spirit that we can go before

God with confidence and even cry to Him Abba Father
without any fear of being reprimanded or being denied
an audience with Him. This is because the testimony of
our son-ship is laid before God in advance by the witness
of the Holy Spirit.

i) Empowering for Service

The most important reason why Jesus commanded the
disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the coming of the
Holy Spirit as we have learned was because no one could
serve God well without being empowered by the Holy
Spirit. This we also find in the teachings and instructions
that He gave the disciples concerning the Holy Spirit
(John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit empowers us for service through

teaching, bringing to remembrance lessons from Christ
and above all filling us with gifts and instructing us on
how to use them for the service of God and the entire
______________________________________________________________

creation. It is also through the Holy Spirit that we receive

the power and authority do the will of God in the process
of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).

j) Leading and Guiding

When Paul teaches about the longing to be clothed with
a heavenly dwelling by believers, he teaches that
Christians walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).
Other versions refer to this phrase as living by faith.
From this teaching of Paul we learn that one who does
not rely on sight in his walk or way of living will have to
rely on another to lead and guide him in the process.
This is where the Holy Spirit comes in as a leader and
guide.

When informing the disciples about the coming of the

Holy Spirit, Jesus mentioned to them that the Spirit will
guide them into all truth (John 16:13). Paul also teaches
that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of
God (Romans 8:14). From these two scriptures we
realize that the Holy Spirit acts both as a guide for
Christians into all truth concerning the word of God as
______________________________________________________________

well as leading them in their Christian lives. This role is

to ensure that we never stray in our walk with God or be
ensnared by vain or heretical teachings that are
propagated by false teachers or prophets.

k) Sanctification
Finally, we should always be aware of the fact that we
can never be holy by our own strength or might.
Whatever we may deem in our sight as righteousness by
our own standards could be far from what God expects
of us (Isaiah 64:6). This is the reason why John taught in
his letter that if we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).

What can we say then? If God knew that we cant be

righteous or holy by our own strength, He had to come
up with a way of helping us out with this task. This is
where the Holy Spirit comes in to sanctify us as we learn
from Paul and Peter in their letters (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet.
1:2). This can also mean that we are consecrated or
made holy by the Holy Spirit. Paul goes ahead to teach
that God chose us for salvation through the sanctification
______________________________________________________________

of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thess. 2:13). So we

can boldly say that it is only through the Holy Spirit that
we can appear before the presence of God as holy,
blameless and consecrated beings.

4. WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT

Worship in the Spirit is a kind of worship that can only

be guided and facilitated by the Holy Spirit in a
Christians life (Phil. 3:3). When Jesus was talking to the
Samaritan woman, He introduced a topic that has been at
the center of Christian worship through the ages. Christ
mentioned to the woman that the hour had come when
true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in
truth. He also added that God is Spirit and those who
worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth
(John 4:23-24).

The implication of Christ on what worship in the spirit

meant is something that has been a major topic of debate
on how Christians should worship. At this point well try
to unravel what Christ was referring to. Youll realize
that before Christ introduced the question of worship in
______________________________________________________________

the Spirit, His dialogue with the Samaritan woman had

already taken a particular direction. It is from this that I
want to highlight a few pointers that led Christ to bring
up the question of worship in the Spirit.

The first pointer that comes from the conversation

concerns the place of worship (vs. 20-21). The second
pointer focuses on who to worship (vs. 22). The third
focuses on the source of salvation (vs. 22) while the
fourth focuses on true worshippers (vs. 23). Of these
pointers I want to focus on the place of worship, and true
worshippers. This is because the question of who to
worship and the source of salvation are without a doubt.

Place of Worship
When the woman mentioned the mountain as the place
where their fathers worshiped and the fact that the Jews
alluded to Jerusalem as the place where men ought to
worship, Jesus gave her a response that will help us on
the question of place of worship. Jesus told the
Samaritan woman that a time was coming when they
shall neither worship the Father on the mountain she was
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referring to nor Jerusalem. This response is what leads us

to the place of worship in reference to worship in the
Spirit.

Earlier we talked about the transformation of the temple

of God from the tabernacle to our bodies as the temples
of the Holy Spirit. It was a custom among the Jewish
people to worship in the temple and the synagogues.
This tradition was carried through to the early church
and is still practiced today. Christians across the world
today usually gather in churches for the purposes of
worship.

The question we ought to ask ourselves at this point is;

what drove people to the temple before and during the
time of Christ? From the story of Moses and the
Israelites we learn that the temple served a major
purpose; a meeting point between God and man. Going
back to the answer of Jesus; what did He mean when He
said that a time was coming when people will no longer
worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem? From the story
of His life we learn that through the cross He broke the
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tradition and barriers that kept people from accessing

God directly. When one wanted to worship God with his
sacrificial gifts and offerings, he had to go all the way to
Jerusalem to the temple of God. But still the services had
to be done by a priest.

The death of Christ on the cross introduced us into a new

covenant with God whereby we can get access to God
whenever we want regardless of where we are. He made
this easier for us by bringing the temple of God to us and
in us through the Holy Spirit. This meant that whenever
we want to go before God in prayer we dont have to go
to a physical place of worship. In fact while teaching
about this Jesus said that all one needed to do was go
into his room, close the door and pray to his father who
is unseen (Matt. 6:6). This statement in addition to what
Jesus did on the Cross, as the writer of Hebrews explains
confirms a fulfillment of the answer Jesus gave the
Samaritan woman (Hebrews 9:11-14).

We can therefore say that when we refer to worship in

the Spirit, the place of worship has no significance in
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regard to a physical place. However our worship in the

Spirit is not limited by space or distance but is facilitated
and enabled by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit who
dwells in us (1 Peter 2:5).

True Worshippers
Jesus said clearly that the time was now when true
worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
To understand what He meant by true worshippers, we
need to know what He taught about true worship. During
His teachings Jesus disapproved the behaviors and
characters of the Pharisees during worship for various
reasons (Matthew 23:13-28). In fact when He taught
about true worship, He gave examples of those who go
before God in sincerity in comparison to those who
appear before God full of self-righteousness and pride in
their hearts (Luke 18:10-14).

From this teaching we realize that one cannot be a true

worshipper unless hes led by the Holy Spirit and
humbles himself before God. James and Peter also teach
that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble
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(James 4:6, 10; 1 Peter 5:5-6). They go ahead to

encourage believers to humble themselves so that God
can lift them up. We also learn from the story of Paul the
apostle that it is through the Holy Spirit that he
considered himself least among the apostles and was
made what he was by the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:9-10).

So whoever considers himself a true worshipper must be

humble in spirit for God dwells with those who have a
contrite and a humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). The psalmists
also realize that an acceptable sacrifice before God is a
broken heart and a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18; 51:17).
However, Christians should take caution not to develop
what I refer to as false humility.

False humility is an outward expression of humility

while the heart is far from God. God reproved such kind
of behavior and character exhibited by those who
claimed to worship Him yet their hearts were far from
Him (Isaiah 29:13). A good example of true worship
versus an insincere one is a comparison between the
sacrifice of Cain and that of Abel (Genesis 4:3-7; Heb.
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11:4). So we can say that it is only under the guidance of

the Holy Spirit that one can know the mind of God and
what He requires of true worshippers as well as what
true worship entails (1 Cor. 2:10-12).

The Mercy Seat

The heart of worship in the spirit is usually at the mercy
seat or throne of Christ. From the Old Testament when
God asked Moses to build a tabernacle for Him, we see
the mercy seat playing an important role in the worship
of the Israelites. God mentioned to Moses that He would
appear and commune with him from above the mercy
seat which was placed in the holy of holies (Exodus
25:22).

One thing that we should realize is that as much as God

refers to it as the mercy seat, it came with various faces.
The mercy seat was supposed to be a place where the
people of God would obtain mercy whenever they went
before God during worship. However, due to mans
sinful nature, the mercy seat also acted as a seat or
throne of judgment. The psalmist confirmed this by
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saying that God prepared His throne for judgment

(Psalm 9:7). For this reason God advised Moses to
instruct Aaron not to visit the holy of holies whenever he
felt like lest he died (Lev. 16:2). He even instructed
Moses that Aaron should incense on the fire before the
Lord so that he doesnt die (Lev. 16:13). So if appearing
before the mercy seat of God was this lethal, was there
any reprieve for those who wished to go before God in
worship?

God understood quite well the consequences of

appearing before Him in our human form and nature. It
is for this reason that God set up a way of saving people
from the wrath of His hand. If anything, theres nothing
God would wish for more than his people coming before
His presence in worship. Many scriptures across the
Bible testify of God being full of mercy thus extending it
towards His people (Psalm 145:8; Micah 7:18; Eph. 2:4).
Others even testify of His mercies as everlasting and
enduring forever (2 Chr. 7:6; 20:21; Psalms 100:5;
103:17; 118; 136).
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It is for the reasons above that we learn from Isaiah that

God established His throne in mercy (Isaiah 16:5). The
Hebrew writer on another occasion even refers to it as
the throne of Grace where we obtain mercy and grace
(Hebrews 4:16). But one may ask; if one could die when
he appeared before the mercy seat of God in the days of
Moses, then how different is it in the present times? The
answer to this question lies on the role Christ played on
the cross not only as the perfect sacrifice for our sins but
also as a High priest who placed a petition for our pardon
before the mercy seat of God (Hebrews 9:11-15).

Because of what Christ did on the cross, we can always

approach the mercy seat of God anytime we want with
much confidence and no fear in our hearts. We also find
peace in the assurance that God finds pleasure in those
that fear Him and hope for His mercy (Psalms 33:18;
147:11).

How would we describe the mercy seat today as we

worship in the spirit? A few events in the scriptures give
us a glimpse of how the mercy seat of God appears in
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worship. From the instructions God gave Moses

concerning the building of the mercy seat and where it
was to be placed, we see together with it images of
winged creatures which are cherubims ( Exodus 25:17-
22). Youll realize that the instructions God gave Moses
represented a replica of the mercy seat or throne of God
in heavenly worship. How do we know this?

Well, from the experience of Isaiah and Ezekiel during

their calling they both record as having seen a vision of
the throne of the Lord surrounded by winged creatures.
Isaiah described the creatures he saw as seraphs due to
their fiery nature (a Hebrew meaning for seraphim)
while Ezekiel just used the term living creatures (Isaiah
6:1-13; Ezekiel 1:5, 13, 26-28).

Both accounts as described in detail by Isaiah and

Ezekiel are illustrations of worship in Heaven as we see
in the revelations of John (Rev. 4:2-11; 5:11-14; 7:9-12;
14:2-3). From what we see in these scriptures we can
make a few inferences. The one who seats at the mercy
seat or on the throne is Christ Himself.
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Paul also testified of this in his teachings (Romans

14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). The other thing that we see is
endless praise and worship both by the saints as well as
the heavenly beings which include the angels and the
living creatures.

We can therefore say that worship in the spirit is an

endless dwelling in the presence of the Lord as we
continually offer our sacrifices of praise to Him. David
discovered this kind of worship and we see it in his
testimony where he says that he shall dwell in the house
of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6). He also adds that one
thing that he desired of the Lord and will seek after is to
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life
(Psalm 27:4).

David wasnt referring to the house of the Lord as a

physical dwelling place but where His presence was. We
know that Gods dwelling place today is within our
hearts since our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.
We should therefore always desire to abide in the
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presence of the Lord, singing praises to Him and

glorifying His Holy Name. This is worship in the Spirit.

One more thing that we should realize is that the mercy

seat of Christ always acts as a mirror to our souls. It
helps us see whether we are pure at heart or not. This is
the same experience that Isaiah had when He appeared
before the throne of God. All he could see were his sins
no wonder he cried (Isaiah 6:5). This is the other
advantage of approaching the mercy seat in our worship.
It helps us in the purging of our sins and maintaining our
purity and holiness before the Lord.

Theres so much that we can say about worship in the

Spirit. But the most important thing to learn is that the
most wonderful experience you can ever have in the
presence of God during worship can only take place
when you make the Holy Spirit your daily companion
and develop that vital fellowship and relationship that is
necessary for Christian worship.

Perhaps youve been reading this book, youre not born

again and you are wondering how you can participate in
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this blessing that is offered by Christ through the Holy

Spirit. Do not worry because it is for this reason that
Christ came. Just repeat the prayer below and believe it
in your heart that you are born again;

Prayer for Salvation

Lord Jesus, I know that you came so that I can have

life and life in abundance. Above all, you paid the
ultimate price for my sins on the cross so that I may
inherit eternal life. Ive gone through this book and I
would like to be a partaker of your blessings that you
promised to come through the Holy Spirit.

I therefore welcome you today in my life. I surrender

my life to you that you may be my Lord and Saviour.
Write bondage of sin. From this day forward, Im a
new creation. Today I am born again and will testify of
your goodness to those who are lost. I pray this prayer
of faith in your Holy Name. AMEN
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THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Many times when relating with God we get more

involved with Him through prayer in terms of the
supplications and requests that we bring before His
presence. However, among those who have actual
fellowship with God, few realize that in the present times
we need to engage the Holy Spirit more in our
fellowships. This book helps one not only to have a close
and intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit but also to
know Him more.
_____________________________________________
Jesse Jackson Mirega is a Missionary, Bible
teacher, motivational speaker and mentor who has
worked with youths and other ministries since
2002 and ministered to people in various groups,
ministries, churches and institutions. He is a
graduate of St. Pauls University with Bachelor of
Divinity degree.