The psalmist, King David, prayed in Psalm 51:11-12(NLT), “11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.”  The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit, and during the time in which David lived, the Holy Spirit could only be on a person, but he did not dwell inside a person. This is an important distinction that is very meaningful to those living after the ascension of Christ. The first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, walked and talked with the Holy Spirit daily, but when they sinned against God and bowed to satan, they lost their holiness. Therefore, they lost the Holy Spirit, and he no longer dwelled within them. This was an epic tragedy in the lives of human beings and all of earth as well. Were it not for our merciful and powerful Creator, all would have been lost, but thanks to Him, it was not. He had a plan!

The Holy Spirit is not an it. He is a person, more of a person than we are. Acts 2:38(NLT) tells us, “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is given as a gift from God. He is God’s seed, and when we are born again through the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive God’s salvation, the person of the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us.  Our Lord and Savior made it available for us to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and Romans 10:9-10(NLT) tells us how. It says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Until we open our mouths to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we are not saved. We’re in the driver’s seat of our own lives, and we keep steering ourselves into trouble, confusion, and stress. After our confession and believing, we switch driver’s and let Jesus Christ take the wheel, and this is the best decision of our entire existences. Jesus Christ leads, guides, and directs us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our Lord and Master said in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”

The Holy Spirit is our friend, comforter, teacher, and guide. He has all power, and he will never make a mistake. He doesn’t ever miss a beat. Romans 8:11(NLT) declares, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” The Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and this is the same Spirit that is in every believer. We can trust the Spirit totally and completely, and God commands us in Galatians 5:16 to walk by the Spirit. This means that we must humble ourselves under the Spirit’s leadership and let him spearhead all our choices and decisions. He knows everything there is to know about us, and we will never go wrong by following his lead.

Some of us haven’t become acquainted with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we feel ashamed because we’ve done things that we know God doesn’t approve of. Maybe we think we’re not good enough to be led by the Spirit, but none of that is true. Romans 8:1-2(NLT) says, “1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”  We condemn ourselves for the mistakes we made or because we’re not who we think we should be, but God is our Creator and we belong to Him. We need to see ourselves the way He sees us, and when His Spirit comes to live inside us, we become the masterpieces that He wanted us to be all along.

Jesus Christ said in Luke 11:13(NLT), “So if you sinful people 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.” You and I can’t transform ourselves no matter how much we might try. We can’t save ourselves, that’s why, as John 3:16 tells us, God gave the life of His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Through Christ, God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. And once we give our lives to Him, He continues to work in us through the Holy Spirit. Philippians 2:13(NLT) tells us, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” So, begin to walk in the Spirit and lean on him as your friend, comforter, teacher, and guide. He is God’s gift to us, and our Heavenly Father wants us to live and have success through the Holy Spirit’s power.■

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“The Holy Spirit Is Our Friend, Comforter, Teacher, and Guide”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.