I want to look at something that seems a bit basic, and that is to understand who God actually is. If we are going to have some sort of meaningful relationship with God, then it kind of makes sense to know this.
There are a lot of theological studies on God, but I’m not that bright! What I am looking for here is not something “academic” but rather a practical view of God.
I considered opening up a discussion here about the Trinity. Christians give mental assent to the concept that God is a Being consisting of three separate “Entities” – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; however this is a pretty wild concept in itself. For the moment though I’ll want to look more closely at the Holy Spirit. The reason for this is pretty simple – God has sent His Spirit to be with us so that we can have this practical relationship that I’m trying to get to grips with.
This section of the “manifesto” is not complete as yet, so look for regular updates!
The Spirit has been here for a while
Spirit has been recognised and operating in the world and in human beings well before the time of Acts. The Spirit gained real “profile” in New Testament times when the disciples were filled with Holy Spirit at Pentacost. However, we see that the Spirit of God was an active Participant in everything right from the beginning:
Genesis 1:2 (Amplified Bible) - The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:26-27 God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.
So here we see that the Spirit of God was involved right at the very creation of the world, and He was part of the creative and creation processes.
As to the Spirit of God operating in individuals, we also His regular involvement from early history:
Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find this man's equal, a man in whom is the spirit of God? (speaking of Joseph)
Exodus 31:1-3 And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and ability, in understanding and intelligence, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship…
So the Spirit working in men way back before Pentacost and the whole “upper room” event, but having God Spirit’s working through you seems to have been a very discreet and unusual event in Old Testament times – it was a particularly special thing for someone to have the Spirit of God with them, and it was usually accompanied by amazing acts and skills. Usually, this spiritual experience was for prophets and leaders – people that God worked through to help keep the rest of the nation on track, or to carry out some particular task.
Things changed at Pentacost – the Spirit worked through a whole bunch of people, most of whom I guess were not considered prophets, apostles and leaders. They were for the most part ordinary people that were waiting for God to take them on to the next phase of their relationship with Him. These people knew that the Spirit was coming (because Jesus had told them so) but I don’t know if they really knew how this would happen.
Throughout the New Testament we see that the Spirit of God wanted to be with the average Christian, and that will be something that will become an important concept as we continue on.
The purpose of the Spirit
It is important to look at the purpose God has behind sending the Spirit to us – and there are many incredible reasons. The following is just a summary list without going into specific detail.
- Comforter (John 14:26)
- Speaking to God (1 Corinthians 14:2)
- Self-edification (1 Corinthians 14:4)
- Sanctifier / Separator (Exodus 30:30-33)
- Creator (Matthew 1:18)
- Speech Writer (Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11)
- Instructor and Commander (Acts 1:2, Acts 1:8)
- Revealer of Truth (Acts 13:9-10)
- Love (Romans 5:5)
- Helping us meet God’s expectations (Romans 8:4)
- Controls our desires (Romans 8:5-6, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:23)
- Putting aside selfishness (Romans 8:13)
- Intercessor (Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27, Jude 1:20)
- Renewal & rebirth (Titus 3:4-7)
- Seal/Guarantee of God (Ephesians 1:13-14)
- Making us acceptable (Romans 15:15-17)
We can see, just from the scriptures above, that the work of the Spirit is “multidimensional”.
What is our relationship with the Spirit?
I think this is a really important area of discussion because of what Jesus said before He left earth after His resurrection:
John 14:26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.
Jesus left earth, but He left the Spirit of God to be with us – and the relationship between us and God changed at that point. Unlike Old Testament times, where the Spirit would come upon only a few ultra-special individuals, God had basically kicked the doors in on things that stopped us having a really close relationship with Him, and sent the Spirit not only to teach us how to relate to God, but give us the capacity to relate to Him.
The relationship that we are talking about here is contrary to anything that we would do just in our own strength and wisdom.
Depersonalisation of the Spirit
There is a really dangerous tendency in today’s church to depersonalise the Spirit, and treat Him as an object, or simply as some kind of “power socket” that we plug into to get power to do things.
The Holy Spirit is first and foremost a person – not simply a power. He is the part of God that God has undertaken the role of interaction with our spirit 24x7. The Spirit is in a unique position – He understands both what God thinks, feels and intends (because He is part of God) but He also understands what’s in our hearts (so you can’t hide anything from Him), what is in the hearts of the people around us (so they can’t hide anything either). The Spirit works between the natural and spiritual realms, and understands the difficulties that we mere humans have in trying to operate in both.
The Holy Spirit has a multidimensional role in our lives (as is evident from the non-exhaustive list that I prepared above), and we’ll be covering some of those points in some detail. At the moment though, let me just say that one of His roles is to help us with the tight squeeze – without Him, we don’t have any hope of relocating. If we take the caving analogy one step further, trying to move into spiritual things without the Spirit is like delving into a cave without a guide, without a light, without a safety harness and without any plan. Dangerous, deadly, and doomed.
It’s a jungle out there
This may seem to be an alarmist comment, but I would suggest that it is indeed true that we are operating in a jungle environment. The spiritual realm has, since the beginning of time, been the ultimate power play. Satan is a spirit, he knows both the natural and spiritual realm inside out, and he is comfortable operating in both environments. His preference is the spiritual realm – there is so much more room for him to operate, and so much more to be gained!
There are lots of people that go about on spiritual caving expeditions, trying to move into spiritual realms without the Spirit. The more extreme example might be Satanists, but a more “mundane” example would be someone that gets their fortune read, or plays with tarot cards. These are caving expeditions, and the spiritual realm is definitely not for the unprepared or unguarded – there are forces at work that have the capacity to kill.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
This world is owned by Satan – he has laid to claim to it and he calls the shots at the moment. That situation won’t last, but for moment we need to understand that we are playing in Satan’s backyard. Or more appropriately, we are in Satan’s feeding ground.
1 Peter 5:8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [ in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
Why am I bothering to discuss this? Primarily because Christians don’t for the most part realise the high risk environment we are in. We are warm and comfortable in our churches, surrounding ourselves with people that think and talk like us. We see the spiritual realm as a happy place where God lives, so everything there must be warm, fuzzy and comfortable. In fact, it is a realm that is characterised by conflict – it’s a battlefield, not a holiday resort. An enlightened peek through the doors of our “gated community” would reveal a blood bath – people are being torn apart and devoured (including many Christians).
Understanding Who God is also requires that we understand where God lives – that’s the reason for raising this issue at this time.
The challenge for us is to push open the door and step outside where the carnage is going on. Out where Satan is actually killing people. Out where Satan sometimes possesses people because they ventured into the spiritual realm and never quite came back. There are significant risks because Satan takes a dim view of people intruding upon his feeding frenzy. In the words of Guns ‘n’ Roses, “welcome to the jungle”!
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