The Walk: Week 2 Day 2 “Relationship With Jesus Is Experienced Through The Holy Spirit”.”
Day 2 The Holy Spirit: Who is He?
In John14: l6 Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” Who is this other helper and counselor? The answer comes in verse 17 where he is identified as “The Spirit”. Jesus goes on to explain. He, the Spirit, has been “with them,” but now there will be a change: He will be “in them.” In verse l8, Jesus said “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” In the coming of the Spirit, Jesus Christ himself, comes to you. He is saying, “For three years you have lived with Me. Now I’m going away, but this relationship between us is not going to end. I will send my Spirit. So that I will be with you, not in a lesser way, but in a deeper, more powerful way: in you–forever.
So who is the Holy Spirit? To answer the question: “Who is the Holy Spirit?” we have to begin with an understanding of what Christians call “The Trinity”. “Trinity” is a term used to describe what is clearly taught about God in the Scriptures. The Bible speaks of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit…and also clearly presents that there is only one God. Thus the term: “Tri” meaning three, and “Unity” meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity.
The relationships between the three persons of the trinity can be illustrated with a triangle.
We shouldn’t be surprised that some truths about God are hard for finite people to comprehend. Nevertheless it’s worth reflecting on these more difficult and mysterious aspects of God’s nature because understanding them helps us live in relationship with him.
Here’s a quote from a famous theologian named J.I. Packer. He wrote a great book titled Knowing God, that is highly recommended for anyone who wants to go deeper in their understanding of God. In another place he writes this about the trinity:
In itself, the divine tri-unity is a mystery, a transcendent fact which passes our understanding. (The same is true of such realities as God’s eternity, infinity, omniscience, and providential control of our free actions; indeed, all truths about God exceed our comprehension, more or less.) How the one eternal God is eternally both singular and plural, how Father, Son, and Spirit are personally distinct yet essentially one ( so that tritheism, belief in three gods who are not one, and Unitarianism, belief in one God who is not three, are both wrong), is more than we can know, and any attempt to “explain” it — to dispel the mystery by reasoning, as distinct from confessing it from Scripture — is bound to falsify it, Here as elsewhere our God is too big for his creatures’ little minds. (J.I. Packer, I Want To Be A Christian, pp. 29-30)
This is important because it tell us that the Holy Spirit is worthy of our reverence. He is not to be ignored. And this is also important because it tell us that the Holy Spirit requires, from us, a relationship. The Holy Spirit is not a force to be manipulated but a person whose companionship we cultivate in a relationship of reverence.
Remember the memory verse for this week is John 14:20b: I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Continue reading the Bible. Write down your questions, thoughts and insights as you read. Don’t forget to review your memory verse from last week and this week.
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Larry is the senior pastor at 
