Written by Michelle J. Goff, Founder and Director of Iron Rose Sister Ministries
If someone were to ask me about my relationship with the Holy Spirit, I would take a long pause before answering. My head would tilt, then nod, as I began reflecting on how that relationship has changed over the years.
When I was young, the Holy Spirit was represented by a dove at Jesus’ baptism or by tongues of fire on the Day of Pentecost. While accurate in their respective biblical contexts, they form an incomplete picture of who He is and what He does.
Even the fact that I refer to the Holy Spirit now as “He,” rather than “It,” is noteworthy. It took time for me to learn to see God and trust God through His Spirit.
According to Acts 2:38, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, along with the washing away of our sins, when we are baptized. The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to perform miracles throughout the book of Acts.
Turning back a few pages in our Bibles, the apostle John does the most thorough job of explaining Jesus’ promise that we would receive the Spirit as our Comforter, Guide, and Reminder of Truth (John 14, 16).
At the root of our relationship with the Holy Spirit is our faith.
I do not make that statement as a condemnation of those who do not believe in the workings of the Holy Spirit. Neither is it a declaration of weak faith upon those who are filled with doubts in this area.
My younger self was critical of those who spoke confidently about what the Holy Spirit had or had not done. I errantly thought the Spirit was dormant until Jesus brought Him into the picture. And I was skeptical of how He works today.
However, I have discovered that the strength of my relationship with the Holy Spirit is directly correlated to the depth and breadth of my faith in Him and in what God has promised through Him. I had to set aside my fears of the mysterious, indescribable, even other-worldly nature of the Spirit.
Many of you have heard this story, but indulge me with a brief synopsis: During my first trip to Venezuela, there was a woman who asked me a question in Spanish, and I had no idea how to answer her… not even in English. I sent up an arrow prayer, opened my mouth, and what came out was spiritually wise, biblically accurate, and eloquently stated in fluent Spanish. In other words, it was not me; it was the Holy Spirit through me. I believed He would use me as His instrument. And my confidence in that belief has grown through my prayers and study of the Word, not to mention more and more experiences like that one.
I encourage you to open your mind to what the Spirit’s role and relationship is in your life. You could do a word study on the Holy Spirit, finding the verses that refer to Him and what He does through others.
Because He is spirit, the Holy Spirit needs a vessel through which to do His work. In other words, the Holy Spirit is God’s conduit through which He reaches, teaches, guides, comforts, and directs us.
How can we grasp the air? Our life is like a vapor (James 4:14). We cannot see the wind, but we see the effects of it. We see evidence of the Spirit, but we may not recognize His hand until we are past the moment of greatest need for Him.
Did you know the Holy Spirit had a significant role throughout the Old Testament? After a deep dive on that study, I wrote a poem entitled, “Ruach,” the Hebrew word that best represents the Spirit. It is an onomatopoeia (the word describes itself by the sounds it makes when you say it, e.g., swoosh, buzz). Note: The poem appears in the last chapter of I already AM: Testimonies of Belief of the Great I AM.
When David prayed, “Take not your Holy Spirit from me!” (Ps. 51:11 ESV), he had witnessed the difference in his predecessor, Saul, when God’s Spirit was taken away. The Spirit spoke through many of the prophets, priests, and kings. The important distinction from then to now is that not everyone was offered the invitation to have the Spirit. Now, when we become one with Christ, we celebrate the joy of the resurrection and redemption from life without the Spirit.
If you do not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, I invite you to take the important step of faith by proclaiming your belief publicly, repenting from a Spirit-less way of life in darkness, confessing Jesus as Lord of your life, and being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
If you would like help on that part of your spiritual journey, we would love to help connect you with a local church that can walk alongside you.