1Corinthians 6:19-20.

‘What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.’

Immediately you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of you. You have the Spirit of Christ.

Who is this Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God the Holy Spirit. We have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has some other names. He is at times called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of grace. He is the Comforter, the wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is in the same class with God Almighty. He co-existed with God from the beginning.

In Genesis we read: In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. He had been there right from the beginning. God created everything through the power of the Holy Spirit. He created them through the move of the Holy Spirit. God said, ‘Let there be light’ and immediately God said that, the Holy Spirit moved into action and there was light. From the beginning of creation, we’ve seen the manifestations of the Spirit of God.

Understanding the Holy Spirit

Some don’t really understand whom the Holy Spirit is. Some have the understanding that the Holy Spirit is just a wind blowing somewhere in some place. The Holy Spirit is a person. As a person, He has a personality. He is an entity. The Holy Spirit has his own distinct personality in the God head. That is, the Holy Spirit has His own distinct personality different from God the Father and God the Son. You have to understand Him to be able to relate with Him effectively and for Him to manifest in your life. As a person, the Holy Spirit has emotions like you and I. Do you have emotions? The Holy Spirit has emotions as well. Do you laugh? the Holy Spirit can laugh. Do you feel pain? the Holy Spirit can feel pain as well.

Ephesians 4:30.

‘And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’

The Bible says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, which means the Holy Spirit can be touched. He has emotions, He feels. He feels love, joy, pains and hurt. He can feel any of these things and we can make Him feel any of these things consciously and unconsciously. The Holy Spirit is not an object out there, He is a person and He wants you and I to relate with Him. You can relate to the Holy Spirit as you relate to a friend. The Holy Spirit is longing for a relationship with you. He wants to be in a love relationship. He wants to have a love relationship with you.

The Holy Spirit is a very sensitive Spirit in the Trinity. He is the most sensitive and that is why the Bible says: ‘Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit.’ If you are not sensitive to Him, just a little thing can drive Him away. I read of a great woman of God Kathryn Kuhlman while she was alive, it was only positive minded people that were allowed to sit in the front rows during her meetings because she was so sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You may be doing something you think is right, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t like it. You have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

The Workings of the Holy Spirit

John 7:37-39.

‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)’

When you believe in Christ, at new birth when you gave your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you. The Holy Spirit comes to live in you. At every stage of the Christian experience, the Holy Spirit is involved. At salvation, the Holy spirit comes to indwell in you. But then, there is a higher experience of the Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is another level.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is also called the infilling of the Holy Spirit. It is a definite experience different from salvation experience. At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you receive the Holy Spirit without measure. You receive the Holy Spirit of God to the overflowing level. Jesus said, he that believed on me, as the scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. In the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is likened to water. The working of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life can be likened to different levels of water. At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you are immersed in the Spirit. A man who has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost has a stronger resistance against harsh conditions than the one who is only saved because the water levels are not the same.

The evidence that you are baptized in the Holy Spirit is that you will speak with new tongues. By my own persuasion, I believe the reason we speak in tongues is because the Holy Spirit has come to the overflowing level in us. The Bible says out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water, our mouth is that outlet for that river to flow out of us. I believe that is the reason we speak in tongues because the Holy Spirit has come to the overflowing level in us.

There is yet another level which is higher than the first two which is the anointing level. It is the level of anointing with power, it is the rain level.

Acts 2:17-18.

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:’

The anointing level is the level of the out pouring of the Holy Spirit. Zachariah 10:1 says, ask the Lord for rain in the time of the later rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to everyone grass in the field. Without rain, a well will dry up. It is through rain that rivers get filled. Most rivers during the rainy season overflow their banks. It is through the rain you get a refill. The anointing is the down pour of rain from heaven. The anointing is the force of the power of God operative in an individual. It is the power of the Spirit. The anointing breaks the yoke. As I wrote before, the workings of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life can be likened to different levels of water. It can be likened to the vision of Ezekiel of the Holy waters.

 

 

Ezekiel 47:1-5.

‘Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.’

The infilling of the Holy Spirit in your life at salvation can be likened to the ‘risen water’. At salvation, the Holy Spirit is risen in you. The water level comes to the ankles. At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the water level comes to the knees. At the anointing level, the water level comes to the loins. Then at the highest experience which is the communion level, the waters become a river to swim in. This time you can no more walk in it, you have to swim in it, because of the out pouring of rain.

The Holy Spirit is not for the world, the Holy Spirit is not for unbelievers, the Holy Spirit is for those who believe in Christ. Let the Holy Spirit of God live big in you. Let Him fill you up. As a believer, you are to receive the Holy Spirit. Ever since the time of Jesus had been glorified, the Holy Spirit had been given. Jesus said: ‘It is expedient for you that I go away because if I do not, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send Him unto you and when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more. Of judgement because the prince of this world is judged.’

While Jesus was on earth, if you needed help, you would have to go to where Jesus was. Now Jesus Christ is no more here but the Holy Spirit is here. He has been given, He is the one at work right now on earth and He is going to be here till the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. In the time of old, till Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit was not given like we have Him today. The people of old did not have access to the Holy Spirit like we have today. The Holy Spirit was not living in them. At best, the Holy spirit would come upon only the prophets for a specific message and would depart. Come again and depart. Today, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. What a privilege. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. I want to let you know, that the Holy Spirit is not just in us or living in you, the Holy Spirit is with you, and He is upon you. So we have the Holy Spirit upon, the Holy Spirit with and the Holy Spirit within.