Who is the Holy Spirit-Part One
by Jean Bradley
Who is the Holy Spirit?? Wikipedia.org describes Him as follows: “for the large majority of Christians, the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost, from Old English gast, “spirit”) is a member of the Trinity: the “Triune God” manifested as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; each aspect itself being God.” We first read about Holy Spirit in Genesis 1:2, which says: ‘Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”.
Someone explained it to me like this: if an electric light is God, then the switch is Jesus and the electric current is the Holy Spirit. I have always remembered that – the Holy Spirit is the power, the electricity! He is powerful and there are times when we are in His manifest presence that we can feel electricity in the atmosphere! The Holy Spirit is God’s power in action.
In the New Testament, we read in the gospels about the Holy Spirit first, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. John 1:32-34 says,
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit’. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
Jesus is Baptized
So, before His ministry of miracles could begin, Jesus, the Son of God, was baptized with Holy Spirit when He was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit, how much more do we?!
The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Why is that, do you think? It is because a dove is gentle, and that is the very nature of the Holy Spirit. He is powerful, yet very gentle. This I believe is because God is love and true love is gentle. 1 John 4:8 says,
We can see the gentleness of God in His Son Jesus Christ, as He spoke about meekness (Matthew 5:5) and walked in meekness, as well. Jesus had all the power in the world, but He restrained that power even upon the cross, in submission to the Great Plan of the Father and His great love for humankind.
Let us pray together: Father God, we come before You in the Name of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Father we ask today that You would open our hearts and our minds to understand more about the gentleness of Your nature and more about You. Help us Lord, to not be confused by the things of this world, but to easily recognize Your Holy Spirt, the Spirit of Truth, and to clearly hear His still small voice as He leads and guides us, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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