God as the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit or The Holy Ghost as it is sometimes called, is the Person of God that interacts with all of Creation including the children of God.  He is always working under the approval of the Father and the Son, and His main objective today is to bring Life and Holiness to a fallen world.  He will always be involved in the Creation of something and in today’s world Men, Women, Boys and Girls can all be re-created through listening to His Voice and allowing him to overshadow their hearts and re-create them.

The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Seven Spirits of God, the Seven Lamps of God, the Seven Eyes of God, and the Seven Horns of God.  He is also referred to as water and flames of fire.  First of all, Let’s take a look at the number seven.  Usually when the number seven is used alongside of something in the Bible it means that whatever is being described is complete or perfect.

We will put to rest the notion that there are seven individual Spirits all working with the Godhead.  Except for in Revelation and a few choice places, the Bible always refers to the Spirit of God in a singular form.  Why then does God see fit to use the plural form of the Spirit in Revelation and does that change the tense of who the Spirit is?  

Let’s bring into the picture what Revelation really is trying to reveal.  God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working with each other and among mankind to judge the world.  There are two differing types of judgment, one being the judgment of the believers who have released their sins to be judged before hand and the judgment of the wicked who have held onto their sin until the end.  If we look at the completeness of the Holy Spirit as indicated by the number seven, we will understand that nothing will be missed by the complete vision of the Holy Spirit, the complete authority of the Holy Spirit, as well as the complete light of the Holy Spirit.  He is complete to search out the depths of our hearts and dissect the intentions from our actions and illuminate the Word of God in our lives.

The Spirit of God as referred to as water and fire indicate the impossibility to pin down His exact method of working.  The Holy Spirit is free-flowing like water and flames and we as humans are unable to predict how He will actually get His Will accomplished.  We can of course see the evidence of Him spreading through the lives of those He is working on, and pray for Him to work in an area; but we will never box Him in by a designated a method of work.  He is All-Knowing so He knows how to work even in the hardest situations.

The Creation of the world began with the Holy Spirit breathing energy/life into the vast expanse of nothing.  The Creator team worked in conjunction with each other to produce a world that would need them for sustenance and guidance.  When you look at the various types of energy in this world, they are all here because the Holy Spirit has breathed them into existence.  

Our hearts are a desperate part of life without the work of the Holy Spirit, trying to find fulfillment among anything and everything.  When the Holy Spirit gets poured out something will get changed.  The fellowship of the Holy Spirit completes the human’s existence and fulfills the deepest longings in their hearts.

The are seven main aspects of the Holy Spirit which we need to look at.

• The Spirit of Justification

The debased actions of our flesh which lead to death, can be justified by our faith through the Spirit of God.  The word “justified” means to be declared righteous in the sight of God.  In effect, our eternal death sentence has been pardoned, and our eternal separation from God has been lifted because of our being justified by God.  This justification can only be ours by first the offer of God on our behalf, and second by us taking initiative and walking through the blood-stained door of Salvation which has been stained with the Blood of Jesus to atone for our sin.

• The Spirit of Sanctification

Sanctification is the act of being made holy.  Instead of being separated from God, we can now be separated unto God.  Sanctification is a kind of kinetic action where perpetually holiness grows deeper.  Though we have been justified previously, true holiness can only come by growing in the Lord and learning His Ways.  We need to dig into His Instruction/His Laws and learn who He really is.  In reality, Living in the Spirit will continue to Sanctify us for the Lord.

• The Spirit of Life

Modern Scientists have tried to discover the origin of life; but they come up dry every time.  Life is not something that can be discovered by scientific research.  The term science has often been used to define the study of matter, but it is so much deeper than that.   Science is knowledge and knowledge comes from God and the study of His Word.  God reigns with Omniscience. The study of life has led many well-meaning scientists down a rabbit trail looking for a god particle/Higgs Boson particle.  What they have not realized is that it is all in the Bible as the revealed nature of God.  God is that missing element in the study of life, because God and only God can create life.

Life itself has been breathed into each person by the Holy Spirit either at birth or at our New Birth.

• The Spirit of Truth

Truth unveils itself when we call upon the Lord.  God is Truth and Truth is God.  Our society has come to the place of disregarding truth as an absolute because of its disbelief in God as the Father of Truth revealed to us through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of Truth can become a part of our lives and change us from a cursed disregarder of Truth to a Blessed vessel of Truth.  “The Truth shall set you free!”

• The Spirit of Wisdom

Wisdom and Truth are inseparable, because wisdom without truth is meaningless and truth without wisdom is non-existent. Wisdom is a part of who God is, and God when asked for an infilling of wisdom will give to everyone who asks more than they can imagine.  As the Holy Spirit comes down on an individual they become wiser in their decisions and their interaction with other people.

• The Spirit of Deliverance

Every child of Adam has to some degree lifted himself/herself up in rebellion against God.  This is sin or wickedness from which we all need deliverance and God has offered us the deliverance we need through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

• The Spirit of Prayer

Prayer is such a vital part of our spiritual lives that we are commanded to pray without ceasing.  This really is our spirit communing with the Spirit of God who translates to the Father our prayers even when we cannot always speak what is in our spirit.  When we pray in our spirit through the Spirit of God we are worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth.

The Holy Spirit is such a vital part of our lives, either by sustenance or by new birth.  When we have received the new birth that means that we have received the Holy Spirit into our heart and lives for direction and comfort.  The Holy Spirit, at the time of our new birth, will overshadow our sinful human spirit and create a new spirit that will bear a resemblance to the Father.  We find ourselves at times producing thoughts and actions that are not of God, and though we may not intend to stage a rebellion against our Father, we have succeeded in listening to the father of rebellion (the devil) and becoming his illegitimate child.

The Holy Spirit is a pretty misunderstood part of the Godhead, due to the well-meaning Christian who tend to focus more on the Holy Spirit and His gifts than on the rest of the Godhead and how they work together.  There are “christians” on both sides of this issue and some choose to either ignore the the whole person of God named the Holy Spirit.  They may just refer to God working in their lives or may even become guilty of attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil.

The Rebellious Son/The Prodigal Son

Luke 15:11 Jesus also told them another story:

Once a man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.” So the father divided his property between his two sons.

13 Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.

15 He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.[b] 16 He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating,[c] but no one gave him a thing.

17 Finally, he came to his senses and said, “My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! 18 I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you.19 I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’”

20 The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.

21 The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.”

22 But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals[d] for his feet. 23 Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. 24 This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate.

25 The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing.26 So he called one of the servants over and asked, “What’s going on here?”

27 The servant answered, “Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf.” 28 The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.

His father came out and begged him to go in. 29 But he said to his father, “For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. 30 This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast.”

31 His father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found.”

***

The first thing we see in the story of the prodigal son is one of the sons is selfish.  The father apparently decided to allow the selfish son to continue in his selfishness.  When someone is self-centered, they are identifying with the father of selfishness who is Satan.  

There is a certain amount of humanity in each one of us that encourages selfishness to occur, but when a soul makes a deliberate choice to be selfish, he is choosing to follow an illegitimate father.  When a person deliberately sets himself under another father, he begins to exhibit the character of the father he is under.  In the life of a Christian the ideology of John the Baptist becomes negated, because instead of ourselves becoming less prominent than Christ, we actually are becoming more prominent than Christ.

The prodigal son was making his plans to deliberately walk away from his father’s house while trying to feign devotion to his father.  His heart was to get out of there and be his own boss and live wild and free.  The son finally took off making his break from his father’s house and though he took his inheritance with him lost it all living in full rebellion.

The lost inheritance the son experienced was something that was given to all of the sons the father had.  He was having so much “fun” that he didn’t see the inheritance slipping away.  In a spiritual application it was the gift of salvation and eternal life.  The inheritance that we have been given by our father needs to be guarded intensely or it will slip away.  To many people take the approach of seeing how much they can get by with.  That is a purposeful deliberate sin.

Now that he had lost everything...his identity as a son, his inheritance, and his dignity; he tried working his way back to have status in the society.  The regional famine had taken a toll on the job market and all that was left for him was feeding pigs the corn stalks and slop.  He was literally starving, but could not even eat the pigs food.

It is here that he remembered his father! He knew full well that he was probably disowned as a son; but thought he could go back as a servant.  He is beginning to humble himself, and recognizes that he isn’t worthy of being called a son and maybe not even a servant but it was worth a try.  He thought it would be better to serve his father as a servant/master scene and be able to partake of the crumbs of food and righteousness than nothing.

The son, emaciated though he was started the long arduous journey back home to submission, love, and care.  As he was approaching the father extended his arms of love once again as he ran to greet him.  The son, though he was happy to be back, came forth with a message he had saved up for this meeting.  He acknowledged that his father had disowned him and he was willing to take that burden even though it meant he wouldn't be respected in the family or society.  He was willing because he knew he would be fed physically and spiritually, that he would be protected, and that he would be home.  He had seen the real world and had determined that it was a harsh world and that any entertainment he had found in it had ultimately led to his destruction.

The father, having felt sorrow in the loss of his son; though he had disowned him, was prepared to take him in again as a son should the situation should arise.  The father lifted the burden from the disowned son and reinstated him as a son in the family and also socially.

The older brother, however, returning from a hard day’s work in the fields hears the noise of an unscheduled party and wants to know what is going on.  Catching a servant of his fathers, he urged him to fill him in with the meaning of it all.  After having heard that his brother was home; he became jealous and stubbornly refused to enter into the party.  The younger brother, in his mind was still disowned and he would not take any part in welcoming him home.  

As the father realized the stubbornness of the older brother, he encouraged him to join in.  The father recognized the issue of the younger son being disowned in the eyes of the older brother and went right to the source.  He said to the older brother, “This your brother was dead to us and is alive again; He was lost, and is found”.

***

The Jewish people full well knew what happened when a son left the family under these circumstances.  The father would say, “You are dead to us”.  The family wouldn't mention his name any more and would act as though he hadn't existed.

The willingness of the father to receive the younger son back into the family, indicates his merciful nature which was driven by his love.  Imagine the grief the father must surely have felt when his son turned his back on him and his family.