When you’re in the midst of your regular morning routine, listening to your favorite pastor read the passage of the day and your heart starts pounding, it’s time to pause it all. The video. Your routine. Your mind. And lean into whatever Holy Spirit* is saying or doing.
I don’t know about you, but I have a history of bulldozing right through moments like that. Maybe I’m ‘in a rush’ to get out the door, or I ignore the sensation altogether because it makes no sense. Or, maybe I analyze with my own understanding what the words could mean then nod my head in half-hearted assent.
But when all of this happened to me earlier this year, I actually trusted the moment for what it was and pushed pause. At first, I just stood there absorbing the tingly feel of the Spirit’s movement in me. Then I read and reread the verse that launched the whole experience, and the tears began to flow – a sure sign (for me) that God is up to something.
Those words that Paul wrote in the opening of his letter to the Ephesians continue to hold much weight in my soul although there remains no huge light-bulb-like-understanding. Rather, just a deep sense of truth:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Ephesians 1:3
And so, this seems an appropriate opening for a summer series on Holy Spirit – a being who, by definition, dwells in the heavenly realms, in the spiritual part of the world that our physical eyes do not see. The Third Person of the Trinity forever abides in the love of the Godhead while also making His home in every believer on the planet. He is a being who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is tasked to do the work of salvation and sanctification, grace and glory in us and through us.
In other words, He blesses us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ – for God’s glory, for our blessing, and for the good of others.
Holy Spirit in Us
This I already know – Holy Spirit in us has more power, more comfort, more wisdom than most believers in the western world realize. In fact, I feel rather confident in saying that most Jesus followers in my country are rather asleep when it comes to the Third Person of the Trinity. This has been my own conviction…as I rattle off a creed about believing in Holy Spirit with a vague, rote sense of duty.
Or when I sing hymns and spiritual songs about Holy Spirit some Sundays without giving much thought or heart to what I’m saying – such as:
“O Spirit of the living God,
lyrics of “Spirit of the Living God” by Henry Hallam Tweedy (1868-1953)
thou light and fire divine,
descend upon thy church once more,
and make it truly thine.
Fill it with love and joy and power,
with righteousness and peace;
till Christ shall dwell in human hearts,
and sin and sorrow cease.”
Or even as I read words Jesus Himself spoke aloud to His disciples – all without wondering why there’s a gaping hole between what Jesus says and what I experience:
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. …I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. ”
John 14:12,16-17 NIV
With no fewer than four declarations in three chapters, Jesus speaks of the Spirit’s coming – and that His presence will be with believers forever (v.16), for our help (v.26), to be our Truth (15:26), and for our good (16:7-15). Jesus is emphatic; He’s insistent. And He has my attention!
Parallel to my conviction about my lack of awareness of Holy Spirit’s intended role in my life and in our churches, I’ve also had an increase in desire to know Him better. I’ve searched Him out in Scripture. I’ve sought trusted resources written and spoken about Him. I’ve looked for like-minded believers who are either hungering for more of the Spirit like me or who are a few steps further down the road with Him. I’ve prayed to Him more. I’ve sought His presence more.
And the result of such seeking has been life-changing. My love of the Word is now matched by my love of the Spirit, and I more readily embrace both, Word and Spirit – as should always be the case. At the same time, my inner self is being transformed! The more I lean into Holy Spirit’s work in me, the more readily my natural worries give way to the truths He brings to mind. I can also look back and see my tendency to live from fear is being chipped away by the Love I choose to receive each day.
Friends, if we balk at the idea of doing ‘greater things’ than Jesus, then we know we’re not living by and from the Spirit as Jesus intended. Our Savior left heaven, died an awful death, defeated that same death, then ascended back to take His rightful place on heaven’s throne so that Holy Spirit could come. To us. To comfort and counsel, to teach and remind, to convict and intercede. To empower us to carry on the ministry Jesus began – in the here and now. In the name of Jesus and by the power of the Spirit.
For most of us, it is our challenge to understand why we are not currently seeing and doing the works Jesus did while on earth – much less greater things.
That’s why we’re here. To learn about the Third Person of the Trinity, yes. But, even more so, to move from information-gathering into life-experiencing. And it all begins with knowing Holy Spirit as both Being and Doer.
Holy Spirit, the Being
In his book about the Holy Spirit, Familiar Stranger, Tyler Staton lists some eye-popping statistics about the American believer’s perspective on the Third Person of the Trinity, then he draws the general conclusion that:
“nearly two-thirds of American Christians believe the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, is a force to be wielded, not a person to know and be known by.”1
Tyler Staton
Perhaps we’ve watched so many movies with ‘forces’ or have adopted the world’s language of ‘energy’ to the point that the majority of people filling churches in this country do not see Holy Spirit as a being, as a Person.
Yet Scripture shows us that Holy Spirit has intellect, emotions, and a will – just as any ‘person’ would. The Father speaks to the Spirit, and the Spirit speaks to us (John 16:13). He teaches and reminds us of all that Jesus taught (John 14:26). He tells us what to do (Acts 8:26) even as He prays for us (Romans 8:26). He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and lied to (Acts 5:3-4). He loves and can be loved (Romans 15:30). And He has it within Himself to determine each believer’s gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11).
Holy Spirit is no inanimate object without feeling or thought. Nor is He a mindless force to be tapped into for our every whim – like a genie in a bottle. Holy Spirit is as much a Person of the Trinity as the Father and the Son. And the fact that He indwells every believer of Christ means this Being is as close as our next breath.
Holy Spirit, the Doer
The fact that Holy Spirit is a Being does not, however, negate the reality that He is a Doer. Every once in a while I’ll hear someone quip the adage that we are ‘human beings not human doings’ with the intention of inspiring us to lay down busyness for being with God. And while it’s true that we too often trade time with God for our other loves, the reality is we humans are both beings and doers.
And so is Holy Spirit.
As we move through this series, we will look to the Word to guide our understanding of Holy Spirit as a Being who is always out doing the work of the Father and Son. Holy Spirit is active.
Because Holy Spirit is neither limited by time or energy or space, He can get more done than all the world’s best multi-taskers combined. Because He is God, Holy Spirit is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent (1 Corinthians 2:10–11). He is unending and uncreated, never-changing and never-failing.
And yet, in His marvelous and mysterious way, Holy Spirit is God and His primary role is to glorify the Father and the Son (John 16:14, 17:1,4-5). One way to understand Holy Spirit’s glorifying-ways is to think of Him as “illuminat[ing] the beauty, sacrifice, and majesty of Jesus Christ,” and as He does so, He helps us keep “the focus of our praise fixed on the Savior.”2
Friends, Holy Spirit is the One who brings glory and honor to the Godhead – all while making a way for us to come into the Father’s presence (Ephesians 2:18) and enabling “us to confess the true identity of Christ and worship Him” (see 1 Corinthians 12:3).3
And now we’re moving from information to transformation — another reason why Holy Spirit has been sent to us (Titus 3:5). He is not a Being to be observed from afar but One who indwells us for inner healing and wholeness, for gifting and fruit bearing. For leading us in the worship of the Godhead (Philippians 3:3 ESV,NLT).
Jesus explains to the woman at the well what worship is meant be, and His words aid our understanding of Holy Spirit’s role in our own worship:
“Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
John 4:23-24 MSG
Our heart posture changes when our view of Holy Spirit widens, seeing Him as a Being and a Doer. Our worship of our three-in-one God expands when we allow ourselves to be filled with Holy Spirit again and again (Ephesians 5:18) – because it is by His presence and inspiration that our singing shifts from mumbling words on a page or screen to “making music to the Lord” in our hearts (v.19). And our genuine admiration of God flows out of our hearts as love and gratitude to the Father, Son, and Spirit (v.20).
I pray that as we move through the summer with hearts and minds and spirits laser-focused on Holy Spirit that we’ll pause when He moves, that we’ll lift our hearts to Him so that we can receive the spiritual blessings He has for us, and that we’ll respond with a fullness of soul that can only fall before our God and give Him our all.
Our prayer this week comes from a spiritual song, called “Spirit Lead Me,” because its lyrics read as a beautiful prayer of surrender to Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.4 Its opening line is, “This is my worship,” which challenges us to see beyond music as worship – but to recognize that what God wants more than anything is our hearts. A great way to set our heart posture before our three-in-one God as worshipful is to posture our bodies in some surrendered sort of way – hands open, kneeling before God, arms wide open. As we seek to know Holy Spirit more fully, we must move ourselves from a posture of only seeking knowledge about Him and allow ourselves to experience His presence and to participate in His holy ministry.
Let us pray: Holy Spirit – This is my worship;
This is my offering.
In every moment
I withhold nothing.
I’m learning to trust You –
Even when I can’t see it.
And even in suffering
I have to believe it.
If You say, “It’s wrong, ” then I’ll say, “No.”
If You say, “Release, ” I’m letting go.
If You’re in it with me, I’ll begin.
And when You say to jump, I’m diving in.
If You say, “Be still, ” then I will wait.
If You say to trust, I will obey.
I don’t wanna follow my own ways;
I’m done chasing feelings.
Spirit lead me.
Oh, Spirit lead me.
We pray all this with hands open to You, Father. Receive our heartfelt words of release and meet each of us where we are. Fill us afresh with your Spirit! In Jesus’ holy name we pray, amen.
*You may notice that I often don’t use the article ‘the’ to describe Holy Spirit – it’s intentional. Back in 2021 God opened a door for me to start ‘hanging out’ with a few New Zealanders on an online ministry platform (Devoted Collective). I noticed they never use ‘the’ to describe Holy Spirit, but I never asked why. However, in her book, A Jesus-Shaped Life, Lisa Harper explains the reason! The indefinite article, ‘the’, announces – as it’s intended to – the noun it points to as non-specific, which makes the Third Person of the Trinity seem really impersonal!!! We rarely say ‘the God’ or ‘the Jesus’ when we talk about them, so why would we de-personalize ‘the Spirit’?3 Friends, if we’re going to get to know Holy Spirit personally, intimately, then we need not call Him an ‘it’ or as indefinite. 😉 Of course, this is my personal preference. You get to call Holy Spirit whatever you want to! And please know that this is a heart posture – not a hard and fast rule. You will not see me legalistically avoid the indefinite article. 😉 But at least you know I’m not accidentally leaving the ‘the’ off His name!
One more little note — in this series, I will be adding an ‘experience’ of Holy Spirit each week in our “Rhythms” section below. I hope you’ll jump down there to see how you might stretch yourself in the way of experiencing more of the Spirit in your life. You can trust I’m doing the same!!
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Tyler Staton’s book, Familiar Stranger^
- 2 – From this GotQuestions article on the Holy Spirit and worship.
- 3 – Lisa Harper’s book, A Jesus-Shaped Life^
- 4 – This week’s song-prayer, “Spirit Lead Me,” is brought to us by Influence Music and Micheal Ketterer. You will find this and many other Holy Spirit songs on our brand new Holy Spirit Playlist on Spotify. With every series, I love curating a list of songs to play as I write – and even more, I love sharing the Scripture-loaded, prayerful, worship-inducing songs with you!
- Many of you have found me on Substack. Thank you so much! And, if you’d like to listen to (rather than read) these weekly posts, you can do so on Substack. It’s easy to see and use the audio bar across the top of each post. While you’re on Substack, check out the ministry I’m blessed to be part of, the Devoted Collective.
- My monthly newsletter, The Abiding Life, goes to email inboxes the first week of each month to those who have subscribed on my website. I also post them on Substack. My most recent edition can be found there, and you can subscribe for future newsletters on Substack, here.
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike.
- The rhythm we’ll employ for our summer Holy Spirit series falls in the category of a weekly experience. And this week our experience is ‘worship’. Our challenge is to take a little time each day this week to worship our Triune God by inviting Holy Spirit to lead us! Maybe our time of worship looks like bowing as low as our bodies will allow before God Almighty and opening our hands with the heart-plea, “Holy Spirit, fill me afresh.” Or it could look like singing along with a song on our Holy Spirit Playlist, inviting Holy Spirit to ignite a spirit of worship for the Godhead within us. It might even look like lifting your hand or arm as you worship God at church on Sunday — both as a demonstration of your surrendered heart to the leading of the Spirit and as a sign of invitation for God’s Spirit to fill you anew. I’d love to hear how you experience Holy Spirit in your worship this week!
If you’d like a recommended song that gives you words for asking Holy Spirit to fill you — try Kim Walker-Smith’s “Fill Me Up” — it’s on our playlist too.
- We’re all called to share the truth about who Jesus is. One way you can do that is by sharing this site and telling others your own stories of faith experiences. May we use our whole selves to tell others about our holy God!!
Featured Photo by Serge Taeymans on Unsplash
“All the Bits and Pieces” Photo by Zrng N Gharib on Unsplash.
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