Friday, August 29, 2014

The Holy Spirit

In my Ephesians study, I came across chapter 4 verse 30, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." This made me curious about the Holy Spirit. Some people misuse the Holy Spirit, others seem scared of it. I did a quick search for the word "Spirit" (capitalized to indicate the Holy Spirit) and was very interested in how much God has to say about His Spirit! I thought you might be interested as well. I encourage you to look up the references. 

As always, feedback is welcome and I'd love to hear what the Lord has been showing you!

{This is by no means an exhaustive search.}
From the Old Testament
- The Spirit abides in people (Genesis 41:38; 1 Samuel 16:13; Isaiah 63:11)
- In the Old Testament, the Spirit "came upon men," giving strength for fighting (Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14; 1 Samuel 11:6)
- In the Old Testament, the Spirit "came upon men" for prophesy (1 Samuel 10:6, 10:10, 19:20, 19:23; 2 Chronicles 15:1, 20:14, 24:20; Ezekiel 11:5)
- The Spirit of the Lord departed from men in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Kings 22:24)
- The Spirit of the Lord spoke through men (2 Samuel 23:2)
- No man can direct the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 40:13)
- The Spirit sent people to minister for God (Isaiah 48:16, 61:1)
- The Spirit of God lifts up a standard (Isaiah 59:19)
- The Holy Spirit can be vexed (Isaiah 63:10)
- Ezekiel was "taken up by the Spirit" to see visions (Ezekiel 11:24)

From the New Testament
The Spirit and Jesus Christ
- Jesus Christ was led by the Holy Spirit, even as a young child (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 2:27, 4:1)
- The Spirit of God descended on Jesus Christ in bodily form as a dove (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; John 1:32, 1:33)
- The Spirit of God was on Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18; John 3:34)
- Jesus Christ was quickened (made alive) through the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18)

The Spirit and the Apostles
- At Pentecost, the apostles spoke in other tongues by the Spirit (Acts 2:4)
- The apostles were led by the Spirit (Acts 8:29, 8:39, 16:7)
- The Spirit spoke to the apostles (Acts 10:19; Revelation 1:10)

The Spirit and Salvation
- The Holy Spirit works in us to recognize Jesus as Lord, Son of God (1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 4:2)
- The Lord gives the Holy Spirit to all who ask Him (Luke 11:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:8)
- The Spirit makes us sons of God (Galatians 4:6)
- A man cannot be saved unless he is "born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-6, 3:8)
- The Spirit of God dwells in believers (Romans 8:9, 8:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16)
- The Holy Spirit is God's seal of redemption (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Ephesians 1:13)
- The Spirit is not received by works but faith (Galatians 3:2, 3:14)
- The Spirit is not kept by works (Galatians 3:3)
- The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God (Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:24, 4:13)

The Spirit and Believers
- We can be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)
- The Spirit reveals the "deep things of God" to believers (1 Corinthians 2:10)
- The Spirit of God can speak through us (Matthew 10:20; Acts 21:4; 1 Corinthians 2:4)
- The Spirit manifests itself differently in individuals' lives (1 Corinthians 12:8-9)
- The Spirit sanctifies (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2)
- Believers are to walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:1, 8:4; Galatians 5:14, 5:25)
- Believers are to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14)
- Believers are to wait in the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:5)
- Believers are to mortify (deaden) the deeds of the body through the Spirit (Romans 8:13)
- Believers should exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9)
- The Spirit gives liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:18)
- The Spirit changes us into the image of God (2 Corinthians 3:18)
- The Spirit strengthens us (Ephesians 3:16)
- Those who have the Spirit must work to keep the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3)
- Fellowship of the Spirit is possible, but does not come naturally (Philippians 2:1)
- We are to pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18)
- The Spirit and flesh are enemies (Galatians 5:17)
- We obey through the Spirit (1 Peter 1:22)
- We are exhorted to hear what the Spirit says (Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:19, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22)
- We can quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
- We can grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)
- We can tempt the Spirit {negative sense} (Acts 5:9)

The Spirit and the unsaved
- The things of the Spirit are not received by the natural (unsaved) man (1 Corinthians 2:14)
- Unbelievers do not have the Spirit of God (Jude 19)

The Power of the Spirit
- Devils are cast out by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28)
- The Holy Spirit has power (Luke 4:14; Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 2:4)

The Spirit in general
- There is but one Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4, 12:11, 12:13; Ephesians 2:18, 4:4)
- The Spirit of truth abides forever (John 14:16-17, 16:13; 1 John 5:6)
- The Spirit guides in truth (John 16:13)
- The Spirit is the Comforter (John 14:16-17, 15:26)
- God has poured out His Spirit in these last days {which references that it was not always so in the Old Testament } (Acts 2:17-18)
- The Spirit is love (Romans 15:30; Colossians 1:8)
- The sword of the Spirit is God's Word (Ephesians 6:17)
- The Spirit speaks (1 Timothy 4:1)
- The Spirit is eternal (Hebrews 9:14)
- The Spirit is grace (Hebrews 10:29)
- The Spirit helps our infirmities and prays for us (Romans 8:26-27)
- The Spirit revealed God's truths by the prophets and apostles (Ephesians 3:5)
- Romans 8 is an amazing passage on the Spirit and should be studied separately. :)

References to the God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit (the Trinity)

John 4:24; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Ephesians 2:22; Philippians 1:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:11

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