The Holy Spirit longs to be close to you. I grew up in a really religious church, so I didn’t have a lot of teaching about the Holy Spirit. And if you grew up either unchurched or in a church that was really religious, you may not have a real understanding of the Holy Spirit. So let me clear up some things about that first, and then I want to share some realities about His personality and His desire and longing to be close to you.
First of all, He is God along with Jesus and Father God. He is not less than them. He is fully God. He is the Third Member of the Trinity. He is not just a servant of Father and Jesus. He has a servant’s heart and He is a servant like Jesus is a servant and like Father serves and loves, but He is not a servant who only wants to meet their needs. He is equally God, right beside them. And He is, as some conservative churches teach, He is not just the Word of God. He is a personality just like Jesus, just like Father God.
God has adopted us. Jesus is our ruler, King, brother, co-heir, friend. The Holy Spirit is the bridge to bring relational intimacy with Father, with Jesus and with Himself. The Holy Spirit loves us. Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” We want to touch the love of God? Get to know the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit wants to, as we say in present day language, He wants to hang out with you. The biblical word is He wants to have fellowship with you. 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” That word fellowship, literally in the Greek translation means participation. The Holy Spirit wants to participate in life with you. He wants to go shopping with you. He wants to play ball with you. He wants to be with you. He wants to do the dishes with you. He wants to participate in all of your life with you. The Holy Spirit wants to help you.
Jesus said to us in John 14:16-17, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper who will never leave you.” And that is the Holy Spirit of truth. Other ways of describing that word helper in the Greek are comforter, encourager and advocate. The Holy Spirit wants to help you wherever you need help whenever you need help. He wants to be there for you. And if you need comfort, He wants to come alongside you and give you a spiritual hug. What does that look like? Sometimes it’s just you sit and you’re quiet and you sense this peace, or you sense the strong physical presence, like something shifts. That’s the Holy Spirit wanting to come and be that comfort to you.
The Holy Spirit tells you over and over again that you are the Father’s child. Romans 8:16, “For God’s Spirit joins with our human spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” God wants you to know that you are God’s child. He comes and He says over and again, “Honey, you’re a child of God. Honey, you belong to the Father, honey, you’re a co-heir of Jesus.” He tells you over and over again that you belong in the family of God as a child of God.
He wants to be a real life leader for you. Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.” God wants to come alongside through the Holy Spirit, take your hand and lead you. And His leadership is always right, filled with wisdom, counsel, care, comfort, kindness. His wisdom is fully God and fully capable to lead you into all truth. He wants to empower you. Acts 1:8, “But you’ll receive power…” and the Greek word for that is where we get the word dynamite. So He wants to be this incredible strong force, this power. In Acts 1:8, let me read it again, “But you’ll receive power, (dynamite power) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” And from that power, you then release the Kingdom of God to others around you. And it’s not just for them, it’s also for you that you can be fully who you are as a human being, anointed by God to release what you carry into the earth. And out of that things shift around you.
And last, the Holy Spirit gives you gifts. And that is in 1 Peter 4:10. “God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. And the same Spirit is the source of them all.” It’s the Holy Spirit who gives you gifts for you that you release to the earth. The Holy Spirit is called the Living Water. He satisfies your thirst. He is the breath of God, the very breath of Heaven. He is Heaven’s atmosphere given to you so that you can walk as Heaven in the earth. The Holy Spirit is all these things for you. The Holy Spirit loves to be with you, close to you, walk with you, care for you, do life with you, hang out with you. Learn Him, love Him, get to know Him, and you will live as a victorious Christian.