To listen to Nancy’s answer recorded from Moody radio with Kelli and Steve. Click below.
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit make up the Being of God. All three persons of the Trinity make up the Being of God. They have always existed together and will continue to work together in perfect harmony forever. The presence of the Holy Spirit was with the Father and the Son during the creation of the world.
“In the beginning Cod created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-3).
- God gives all believers a gift of the Holy Spirit of God the moment they believe in Jesus.
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9).
- The Holy Spirit seals us to The Father and The Son for eternity. Through this act of God, we have confidence that we are forever His child and will be recipients of our inheritance that comes from Him.
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possessions of it to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13,14).
- Sanctification is another work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. When we believe in Jesus, God works through the Holy Spirit to grow and mature us in our faith so that we can become more like Jesus. We were born with a sinful nature, a desire to live out our lives doing whatever pleases us, and ignore God and His call for our lives. The consequences of such a worldview lead us to eternal separation from God in a place called Hell.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
- The fruit of the Holy Spirit is in direct contrast with the works of our sinful nature. The results or fruit of the Holy Spirit working in and through the believer will be observed by their behavior. The fruit of the Spirit mirrors the nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit will conform us to the image of Christ, making us more like Him.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
” Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:4-6).
- When we listen to the Holy Spirit through prayer and reading Scripture, He will convict us of our sins. When we are convicted, the Holy Spirit reminds us and gives us the power over our flesh to ask for forgiveness by confessing our sins to Jesus. When we accept the forgiveness of Jesus, the Holy Spirit brings us to repentance.
” For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10).
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
- To have knowledge is to have understanding or information about something. To have wisdom is to have the ability to apply knowledge to everyday life. In reading and understanding God’s Word, we obtain knowledge, which brings insight.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5).
“Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
- God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to all who believe is a gift that gives us both comfort and confirmation that our loving God wants to be with us and involved in our lives. He has chosen to indwell all believers. He wants us to consult him with decisions and conversations we have with others. God loves us in ways no one else can. He wants us to honor His position as God, but also He wants us to be His friend.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the Creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:24-26).