Jesus often spoke of how no one knew the Father and also that no one knew the Son. It is clear that he was referring to a knowledge based upon experience beyond scripture. He was surrounded by people who knew the word better than we do. A lot of those leaders had most of the Old Testament memorized. Common folk had to memorize the first five books. Yet, Jesus contended that no one but the Son knew the Father.
In his time, Jesus was the first to express the idea that God was a good Father. Again, he displays intimate knowledge of God.
We also see his consistent behavior of stealing away for private time with God. How much of your current understanding about God is based on something other than how God treats you in your private time?
God the Father has a name. Most people can clearly identify the Father as Jehovah, in the English, YHWH, in the Hebrew. I just call him Papa. God the Son has a name as we all know, Jesus, in the English, Yeshua, in the Hebrew. My youngest daughter calls him Jesse.
If we’re going to have a relationship with any person, we would have to be able to address them, and sometimes even call them by name. I know of no other name by which to call Holy Spirit other than Holy Spirit. We are instructed to have a relationship with Holy Spirit by Christ Himself. Jesus talks extensively about this relationship he wants us to have with Holy Spirit. The very first thing we need in order to have a relationship with someone is to recognize that they are worth having a relationship with. Having a relationship with Holy Spirit is how we build a more meaningful relationship with God. This relationship is also how we experience transformation.
Many churches, denominations, and individuals across the entire body of Christ have diminish the role of Holy Spirit and treated Him as if He were merely some unspecified force. It is common in these arenas to hear Him referred to as an “it”. But he is a real person who helps us see Jesus clearly.
I’ll say this real clearly at the get-go. Holy Spirit does not influence the way we think unless we have a relationship with him. A real relationship with him would include yielding to his influence. He is not some behind the scenes actor. Many people assume that he is influencing their thoughts because they see themselves as good Christians, but without a real relationship; which includes encounter, intimacy, and conversation; it is highly unlikely that their thoughts are actually influenced by Holy Spirit very often. An Epiphany, while you read scripture, it’s not the same thing. While some things may shift without it, real transformation comes as a direct result of real interaction, because Holy Spirit is a teacher.
To be influenced by Holy Spirit, you must be yielded in relationship with him. This is not hard. It’s simply a matter of spending time listening and asking him questions.
If an Epiphany about scripture could be relied upon as the work of Holy Spirit, then pastors across America would all agree on their beliefs.
The fact that there are so many ministers and denominations disagreements about what correct doctrine should be only proves that most of them have been relying upon their own understanding, thinking that Holy Spirit has been influencing them.
I have spent years seeking to know God in real ways that impact my life. I have gotten free from shame, porn, insecurity, and poverty as a direct result of real interactions with God as a Father and a Friend. Whenever I think I have a handle on a new subject, I can ask Holy Spirit if my understanding is correct. He usually will say “no” and release greater understanding and revelation. This always transcends my initial “epiphany” and clears up the limitations of my human thinking and logic.
You may be thinking, “how can you say you are actually hearing God and it is not just your imagination?” I have had many conversations with God. Yes, sometimes I don’t hear Him correctly, and sometimes I assume that I understand. But God is always faithful to make sure that I eventually understand clearly. I have three daughters and before each one was born, I asked Holy Spirit if I was going to have a boy or girl. And for each one he told me their sex and their personality. Hearing God has brought healing in my life, and also radically changed my beliefs. Now my beliefs closely reflect those of great men from the past who functioned in high dimensions of deliverance and freedom. Hearing him has also set me free from many struggles. All of this was from hearing God in a real conversational way.
Understanding The Trinity
Many are confused about the concept of the Trinity. But the Trinity is quite easy to understand.
God is all knowing, all powerful, and ever present in all places at all times.
God is all knowing, He knows every sin we will ever commit, yet He still pursues us to restore us to His original intention. God is all powerful. He hung the stars in the sky, created the whole earth with a word, and intimately crafted each one of us to have purpose, destiny, and value. God is ever present, existing outside of space and time. Yet, He still manifests uniquely to individuals, ministering to our needs, pouring life upon us, and drawing us to abide in His love, and surrender what pollutes righteousness.
Genesis 1:26, 27 KJV – God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
This all-powerful God created man in his own image. He created man to also be a trinity. Every man is a spirit, soul, and body. So also, is God.
- Jesus is the word of God made flesh (John 1:14). He is the expressed image of the Father (Hebrews 1:3).
- It is easy to see that Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, but he is also called the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the Father.
- And it is clearly seen that God the Father is definitively that mind and will of God that manifests through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Now there is much more to this understanding than our minds can understand, for it is obvious that God is much more than the three parts of men. In fact, there is strong evidence to suggest that each member of the Godhead is in fact, a trinity within the Trinity.
It is clear that Jesus is not just a manifestation of God in the natural. He also has human form, a soul, and his own spirit, which he gave up the ghost at Calvary. We also know that Holy Spirit has his own emotions, mind, and will. He communicates to us as any person would. So, he is much more than just the Spirit of God. In fact, he has manifested himself in the natural realm at times. And about the Father, Jesus says that the Father is Spirit.
Does God the Father manifest in the natural? I don’t know the answer to that question. But many scholars believe that Moses was interacting with God the Father on the mountain when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. And we do know that His voice was heard from heaven over Jesus at Jesus’s baptism, and on the mount of transfiguration. These facts prove that God is much more multi-dimensional than we mere humans are.
So, we can say that Jesus is the manifestation of God who manifest in the natural realm. The Word made flesh. Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God who manifest in the spiritual. And God the Father is the manifested of the mind and will of God, who manifest through the Son and through the Spirit.
This is also how we function.
He is not only at Salvation
The main topic of this book is to discuss all the ways Jesus said we are to have relationship with Holy Spirit. It is not meant to discuss the baptism of the Spirit although we will have to briefly discuss the misinformation about this belief.
Ephesians 3:19 NKJV – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God
Do you believe that you are filled with all the fullness of God right now? Are you deeply aware of his amazing love for you? Or, do you believe that you need more of him, and that you need to become more aware of his love? Recognizing that you are still living short of your potential, and that you need more of God in your life is where humility starts.
Some people believe and teach that when you get saved, you get all of the Holy Spirit you need. They don’t see Holy Spirit as a relationship that keeps growing and releasing more and more of God into your being. They see him more as a mysterious force, which guides them through life, and helps them understand revelation, but they don’t actually interact with this force. Interactions with Holy Spirit are treated as taboo. Such people believe that it is normal for us to have the same struggles until we pass away. That we should resist sin as best we can. They also often believe that God doesn’t deliver us from sickness and even that God chooses to have sickness come upon us so we can learn and grow from it. Their view of God is that we grow and learn from pain rather than learning from God himself.
1 John 3:5-6,8b NKJV – And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. [6] Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. …For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
My deep and personal intimate interactions with Holy Spirit and Papa have brought about absolute freedom from sin, shame, condemnation, and poverty. The Holy Spirit has destroyed the working of the enemy in these areas of my life.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:19 that when we get a full revelation of God’s love, at that point we will be filled with all the fullness of God. This means that there is more of his fullness that he longs to pour into us. It also means that we have yet to understand how deep his love is, so we need to be taught, and we need to experience that love so that the revelation becomes complete. Both of these are ministries of Holy Spirit.
The largest proof that we don’t receive the full measure of Holy Spirit at salvation comes from Jesus himself. The requirements to be saved are simple. Jesus says that if we believe him that we would not be condemned (John 3:17). Paul says very specifically that in order to be saved we must believe from the heart that Jesus was raised and confess with the mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9). You don’t have to ask God for salvation. You don’t have to wait on him to give it to you. You don’t have to pursue him in any way, or seek him, hoping that he’ll give it to you. Salvation is born from faith and faith alone. It is a gift of God’s grace.
What Jesus says about how we receive the Holy Spirit is very different.
Luke 11:9-10,13 NASBS – “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. [13] If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father. He is talking about so much more than salvation. He is talking about the infilling of the Spirit, or baptism in the Spirit, and also so much more.
Luke 24:49 KJV – And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Acts 1:4-5 NASBS – Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; [5] for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
To “tarry” in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit was specifically to the disciples because we don’t live in Jerusalem. But the other scripture, about asking, seeking, and knocking, was not only for the disciples, but to all of us. So, even the apostles had to wait for the Holy Spirit, following the same command of Jesus to ask, seek, and knock. When you start to see the huge benefits that Holy Spirit keeps bringing to those who tarry, you too will want to make tarrying before the Lord a normal part of your life.
Throughout the entire book of Acts, we see the same pattern unfolding. People get saved, but then they wait for the Holy Spirit. This is only exception, the very first gentile who was saved received the baptism at salvation; this was so Peter could see that salvation was not just for the Jews. The Apostles even go out of their way to make sure that everyone who gets saved also gets the baptism of Holy Spirit.
Papa desires so much the you get to experience all that Holy Spirit has to offer. But God will not force the Spirit upon you. When a person receives the Spirit, their whole life and perspective begins to change automatically. When we are filled with the Spirit a oneness begins to overtake our soul. At salvation Holy Spirit became one with our Spirit. When we ask for the baptism, this oneness begins to extend to our soul and flesh, and it begins to effect our will. This is what the fruit of the Spirit is about. Radical change starts to take place immediately. And the more we yield, the more this change takes over every facet of who we are. There are many who stopped yielding after the first encounter with Holy Spirit, limiting themselves again to a singular moment. But the benefits we get don’t ever have to stop. The radical change he gives doesn’t have to end. What Holy Spirit offers it’s not a singular moment, but is multiple blessings, benefits, and expansions of who we are in Christ. Please don’t let it be your story that you limited your experience with Holy Spirit to one or two encounters. This is your choice, and your choice alone.
Do not be afraid that the fullness of the Spirit is only for some people. Such thoughts are rooted in fear that you are inferior. A good father does not favor some children over others.
Luke 11:13 NKJ – If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
He is more than a Gifting
Acts 1:8 NASBS – but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Even though this book is not written to fully discuss the baptism of the Spirit, or even to teach people how to function in signs and wonders, signs and wonders will begin to happen around you as we develop a lifestyle of tarrying before Holy Spirit. And we must take note that one of the primary roles of Holy Spirit is to empower your life so that you become a witness that Jesus is real. This is much more than a Testimony. This is a life that is radically changed and demonstrates the same power as Jesus. As you continue reading, you will discover that the focus of this manual is to instruct how we can step into a life with Holy Spirit as your best friend, and all the benefits that go along with that, including power. But the main benefit I would like to explore is a life that is radically changed and free from bondage.
Acts 4:8,13-14 NKJV – Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel… “ [13] Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. [14] And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
And we know that this testimony is not just about the demonstration of power because Jesus also says these things.
Matthew 7:18-20 NASBS – A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] So then, you will know them by their fruits.
John 13:35 NASBS – By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Some in the charismatic movement have taken to treating the Holy Spirit as if he is just a tool they use to prove how powerful they are. This is foolishness, because without good fruit, proving that they are good trees, they bring mockery to the name of Jesus. Unbelievers are turned off by hypocrisy. The world knows who to follow, not by the eloquence of their teaching, nor by the demonstration of power alone, but also by the demonstration of a good character. The power proves that you know God, but character proves that you have been influenced by Him. In the epistles, Paul often makes demand that the character of a man should represent Christ well, yet, he also says:
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NASBS – and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5] so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
So, the proof that we have been with Jesus is always that we demonstrate fruit and power. We demonstrate that we have been with Christ Jesus when we act like Him. John says the same.
1 John 2:6 NASBS – the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
You can’t get A Demon
There are many people in the body of Christ around the world, but especially in America, who say that there is no separate infilling of the Holy Spirit after salvation. When asked, “how are those Christians performing all these signs and wonders,” or “what is this speaking in tongues that they are doing,” some will say that it is done by a demon. This is impossible. Jesus Himself told us.
Think about how this opinion sounds. A sincere believer starts wanting more of God in their life, so they ask the Father to fill them with the Holy Spirit until they speak in tongues. And as a result, our good Father allows them to get a demon?!
Luke 11:11-13 NKJV – If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? [13] If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Can you see how Jesus is saying that this opinion of man is actually an impossibility? In the earlier chapter in Luke, Jesus had already defined serpents and scorpions as demonic powers.
Luke 10:19-20 NKJV – Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. [20] Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
So, when someone suggests that asking the Father for the baptism might lead to having a demon because that is how those other people pray in tongues, realize that Jesus says only an evil father would allow that.
Even beyond this. Jesus is promising that when you decide to seek for the Holy Spirit from the Father, that God can be trusted, that you will get Holy Spirit, and he will be better than good.
Mark 16:17-18 NASBS – These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; [18] they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The gift of tongues is for every believer and is directly contrary to the demonic. Holy Spirit is saying that tongues are a sign of authority and a display of power over the demonic.
Be aware that tongues are not the primary purpose of Holy Spirit, nor even of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will discuss what tongues are, their benefits, and the different types of tongues in a later chapter.