Who Is the Holy Spirit? - Outreach Magazine

When learning about the person of Holy Spirit, we must first make sure we understand who He is according to Scripture and how we can relate to Him the same way we would to God the Father and Jesus Christ. He is not some mystical force to be afraid of or an ethereal presence you can’t relate to. He is the Spirit of the living God, given to dwell within us. We cannot reduce Him to an object or describe Him incorrectly by avoiding personal pronouns. He is a person, and He has the power to liberate us, change us, lead us, and help us to look more like Jesus every day—if we learn His ways and obey His voice.

He is one of three persons in the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and Scripture confirms that He possesses the characteristics of a real person. And what makes a person a person? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says.

Holy Spirit is omniscient, which means He knows everything. He knows every detail about our lives—past, present, and future. One of the most profound ways we witness this is through the prophetic voice of God, which often comes through people. The Spirit of God moved through Jesus, who knew details about people and spoke words of knowledge that brought change to people’s situations. His Spirit also revealed God’s glory. Paul taught us about Holy Spirit, saying:

These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit- taught words. (1 Corinthians 2:10–14)

I have personally experienced the omniscient power of God and His Spirit, who works through believers and knows all things. There have been countless times when someone has prayed with me and spoken things over me that no one else could have known except God. I’ve received messages from the Lord through people that were personal, direct, and supernatural. God often uses His Spirit, working in and through people, to deliver a word of encouragement, confirmation, or edification straight from heaven. This is one of the many reasons I’m so thankful to serve a God who is both personal and relational.

One of the ways Holy Spirit helps us is by revealing Jesus. Scripture teaches that it is Holy Spirit who illuminates our hearts so we can see Jesus for who He really is. Holy Spirit doesn’t want to be worshiped. He wants to help you worship Jesus. Holy Spirit wants us to know Jesus and helps us remember His words so they can transform us. The more you develop a relationship with Holy Spirit, the more in love with Jesus you become. This love is manifested as a desire to know Him more deeply and, in turn, reflect who He is to the world around you. Holy Spirit ensures that the spotlight is always on Jesus. He teaches us how to bear fruit that reveals Christ through our lives. As we grow in intimacy with Him, Jesus becomes more real to us than ever before. This is all made possible because of Holy Spirit’s work within us. Any person or church who places a greater emphasis on Holy Spirit than Jesus has created an imbalanced theology. Holy Spirit has always been there to point us back to Jesus, who holds the resurrection power that sets us free.

All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. (Psalm 38:9)

When we don’t know how to pray—when all we can offer is a sigh, groan, or the feeling of being at the end of our rope—that is when Holy Spirit steps in and becomes like our breath when it feels like we can’t breathe. There have been times when I’ve been so overwhelmed by grief and anxious thoughts I couldn’t find words to pray, so I began to pray in the Spirit (in my heavenly language). It felt as if He took over and interceded alongside me. We have Holy Spirit, who helps us breathe, groaning and aching on our behalf, presenting our requests before God in heaven. He is already in the future, interceding for us, calling those things which are not as though they were. Paul wrote, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26).

Have you ever felt such a heavy burden for someone you love that you didn’t know what else to do except bring them before the Lord in prayer? In the Bible, intercession refers to the act of praying or pleading on behalf of others. Essentially, when you intercede for someone, you act as a mediator or advocate between God and them, seeking His mercy and intervention on their behalf. Knowing that Holy Spirit stands in the gap for us when we don’t have the strength to pray is so comforting to me. Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, is also interceding for us. As believers, we are called to intercede in prayer for those around us.

I hope your journey through Scripture and this article will give you both a theological understanding and a personal revelation of who Holy Spirit really is. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. He’s not a mystical force. He is a person, and He wants to walk this journey of life with you—if you’ll let Him.

Alex Seeley