The Wonder of the Holy Spirit: What He Does

As we continue this series on the Wonder of the Holy Spirit, this week and next week we will be taking a closer look at what the Holy Spirit does. He’s pretty active, so there was no way to get this all in one article. In fact, two articles will barely scratch the surface of what He does.

We are going to start with what is arguably His most important task. The Holy speaks what He hears, revealing the thoughts and words of God to us, teaching and guiding us, and glorifying God. We see examples of this throughout Scripture, but it is probably most clearly explained first by Jesus in John 16 and then by Paul in 1 Corinthians. Let’s take a look:

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
(John 14:26)

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
(John 16:13-15)

“But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 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.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

It’s important that we embrace the truth of these verses first, because knowing what the Spirit says to us is God’s truth helps us to fully embrace and understand the significance of so many of the other things that He does and says including this next one.

The Holy Spirit testifies that we are children and heirs of God. The very presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives indicates that God has given us this gift because we have been adopted into His family as His children and His heirs. Think of the significance of that.

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
(Ephesians 1:13-14)

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
(Romans 8:15-17)

We see in the Ephesians passage that this miraculous adoption and inheritance come after we listen to and believe the truth of the message of the gospel. The Holy Spirit plays a big role in this too, because this area of His responsibilities including convicting the world concerning sin. We see this in John 16:7-11 which says:

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

We can see already that the Holy Spirit has some serious responsibilities, and we will see even more of this in next week’s article. The significance of Him sharing God’s words and thoughts and that He is responsible for convicting of sin, righteousness, and judgment help us to possibly understand why in Matthew 12:31-32 Jesus said this about the Spirit:

“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Sprit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Because of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does, speaking against Him is speaking against the words and thoughts of God. We need to take His words and promptings seriously.

As believers, we are blessed to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. As He speaks to us, teaches us, guides us and directs us, we can be assured that He is doing that because we are God’s children and heirs and He loves us and wants the best for us. Let’s listen and obey in gratitude today.