The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is something that has been mysterious to me for a long time. 

Yes, I read (most of) Francis Chan's book about the Holy Spirit, but I don't remember anything in that book.  I don't even remember what the title was.  It had a gray and orange cover though...

Studying the Holy Spirit at the Institute is something that I have been looking forward to.

The Spirit is still a mystery to me, but I do have a better understanding of it.  I also understand now that mysteriousness comes from our inability as humans to fully understand God.

I did learn some new things though.

One thing that really interested me this week while studying the Holy Spirit, was how we can see the Holy Spirit as a person in scripture.  I used to refer to the HS as a "part" of the Trinity.  I need to quit saying it like that because He is a one of three "persons" that makes up the Trinity.

I am now able to see qualities of a person in scripture like the "intelligence" of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.  Other qualities can be seen like "feelings" in Ephesians 4:30 and "will" in 1 Corinthians 12:11.

This stuff is really enlightening for me.

I also got to see how the Holy Spirit works.  He teaches, guides, commissions, commands, restrains, intercedes, and speaks.  Aren't those things that would describe a person?

Then you've got things that are ascribed to the Holy spirit like that He can be obeyed, lied to, resisted, reverenced, blasphemed, grieved, outraged.  This list is awesome because it has things that show the Spirit as a person, but it also shows that He is God because He can be "reverenced and blasphemed."

There are other things in scripture that also let us know that the Holy Spirit is God.  We see the Holy Spirit being omniscient (1 Cor 2:10-11), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7), omnipotent (Genesis 1:2), regenerating (John 3:5-6), and sanctifying (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

My mind gets blown by the things that scripture tells us when we take the time to be diligent and study it.  God's word really does reveal answers to the questions that we have about who God is. 

This week, my main take-away is that I know God better.

My prayer is that I would continue to know God better each week for the rest of my life.