The Holy Spirit

Show Notes

On Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. But who is the Holy Spirit, really? Barbara Rainey helps us understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.

What is The Barbara Rainey Podcast?

Barbara Rainey mentors women in their most important relationships. She loves encouraging women to believe God and experience Him in every area of their lives.

Barbara Rainey: I don’t think we talk nearly enough about the Holy Spirit—I don’t think we understand who He is. We think of Him as a ghost—and He’s not—He’s the third person of the Trinity. So, I want to introduce you a little bit more to the Holy Spirit.

Samantha: Welcome to the Barbara Rainey Podcast from Ever Thine Home, dedicated to helping you experience God in your home. Thanks for listening!

You can probably imagine the pain and loneliness orphans experience when their parents are no longer with them. Maybe you’ve felt those emotions yourself.

But when Jesus was about to leave His followers behind, He told them He wasn’t going to leave them as orphans. No, He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth… You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

This Spirit Jesus was referring to is none other than God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. It’s an amazing thought that He actually lives in His people!

This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. That’s the day we celebrate when the Holy Spirit first came upon the church.

Barbara Rainey believes we don’t celebrate Pentecost nearly as much as we should. Recently she spoke to a group of women about the fact that God the Son is enough for our past, God the Father is enough for our present, and what we’ll hear today, God the Holy Spirit is enough for our future.

Let’s listen. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara:
I’ve noticed through the years that the Bible talks a good bit about dwelling-places—about homes. In the Old Testament, God’s residence on earth was the tabernacle. You remember they built that tent and they carried it around the wilderness and they rolled it up and they carried it and reset it up all over the place.
Then, during Solomon’s reign, they built an actual, physical temple that never moved—it sat in one place. In that temple, God’s presence lived in a particular room called the Holy of Holies. So God’s presence was in one place—physically—on earth.
But in John 1:1 it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
Then in John 1:14 it says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”
So, when Jesus came and walked around the earth, He actually occupied a physical place on the planet, and His presence was way beyond that little square room inside the temple. God’s presence was all over the land of Israel. God wasn’t confined anymore to one room. In fact, Jesus’s name—Immanuel—means “God with us.”
But there was more change coming. Turn to John 14, and we’re going to read some verses from the Last Supper. The context for these verses is Jesus’s last words to His disciples. The end of His life was near—in fact—it was only 24 hours away. This was His last meal—and these were His last words to His dearest friends on earth. In those last words He introduced us to a new dwelling-place that He was going to give.
John 14:16 and 17 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;” Forever! Jesus knew He was leaving, but He wanted to give them Someone who would be with them forever.
Verse 17—“that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you.”
If you have a Bible that you can underline in—and maybe you can do it on your phone—I don’t know how to do that yet—but in my real Bible I have underlined “with you” and “in you,”—both “with you” and “in you.”
Jesus knew that the next day He was going to be on the cross and He was going to be gone—and He knew His disciples were going to feel abandoned and forsaken. In fact, in the next verse—verse 18—He said, “I will not leave you as orphans.” He knew they were going to feel like orphans the next day—on Good Friday—so He promised them that He was going to send Someone who would be with them forever.
I love the concept of those two phrases in verse 17: He will be “with you” and “in you.” So, Jesus is here with me. He’s all around me. He’s before me, He’s beside me, He’s behind me, He’s above me, He goes before me—but He’s also in me.
I think today—as Christians—we’re so used to that concept that we just kind of go, “Yes. Okay. He’s with me.” But think about the magnitude of that—of the God of the universe—the Creator—coming to live within me?—so that He’s not just next to me—but He’s in me. I’m standing here with Jesus in me. The Spirit of Christ is in me, and He’s in every one of you—with you. He’s next to you and He’s in you. That’s a concept that I think we need to understand more—we need to appreciate more—we need to ask Him to reveal how important that is to us.
Paul explained this whole concept more clearly when he wrote that our bodies are the temple, the dwelling-place of God’s Spirit. In 2nd Corinthians 6:16 Paul wrote, “For we are the temple of the living God.” We forget sometimes that God is living. The living God lives within me—and He lives within you.
C.S. Lewis wrote this little paragraph about us being the temple, and I really have loved it. He wrote, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house.” He’s come into all of us, right? He’s living in every single one of us, and He wants to rule. He wants to be on the throne, He wants to change all of our lives. He wants to fix our houses.
So, you think you understand what He’s doing—you go, “Okay, I need some changing, I need some fixing up. Yes, I have some problems that need to be fixed.” You watch what He’s doing.
C.S. Lewis writes it this way—“You think you understand what He is doing. He’s getting the drains right, He’s stopping the leaks in the roof, and so on. You knew those jobs needed doing, so you’re not too terribly surprised; you’re actually kind of glad that He is. But presently He starts knocking about the house in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense to you whatsoever. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house than the one you thought of. He’s throwing up a new wing here, He’s putting on an extra floor, He’s running up towers and making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace that He intends to live in Himself.”
I love that description, because He wants a palace, and so often I’m content with being who I am and who I want to be instead of realizing that my body—my person—who I am—is the temple, a dwelling-place—and He wants it to be a palace for His presence.
I want you all to look with me for a few minutes at the Holy Spirit. I don’t think we talk nearly enough about the Holy Spirit—I don’t think we understand who He is. We think of Him as a ghost—and He’s not—He’s the third person of the Trinity. So, I want to introduce you a little bit more to the Holy Spirit in the time we have left.
The Holy Spirit is enough for my tomorrows because He lives within me. He will never leave me and He will never forsake me, so I can know that no matter what tomorrow brings or next week brings, or next month or next year or ten years from now—He is never going to leave me—so He is enough for my tomorrows.
The Holy Spirit is my dearest Friend and Companion. I have learned to talk to Him all the time throughout my days, because He is always with me.
It is He who lives within me—It is the Spirit of Christ who dwells inside of me. He is our Helper—we just read a verse where Jesus promised that He was the Helper. He is our Teacher—He said, “He will teach you all things.” He is our Friend.
Number four—He is our Guide. In chapter 16 Jesus said that “the Holy Spirit will be your guide.” I talk to Him all the time as my guide. I say, “Holy Spirit—my Guide—I need You to show me what to do. I need You to lead me. I need You to show me what is next for me to do.” I love that He is my Guide.
He is our Purifier. In John 16 Jesus talks about how the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin. It’s a part of making our home—our body, our temple—into a pure and holy dwelling-place for the Spirit of God.
He is our Pledge—He is our promise of things to come.
He is our Life. Romans 8:11 talks about how the Spirit—the Holy Spirit—gives us life.
He is our Power. Jesus said this in Acts 1:8, “When the Holy Spirit comes, He will give you power.” He wants us to be aware of the power—He wants us to use His power.
In Romans, He is our Intercessor. The Holy Spirit is constantly praying for us, and I am so, so grateful, because there are many, many times in my life when I don’t know what to pray, I don’t know what to say, and He is praying for me. He is interceding for me before the Father.
Then the last one is in John 7, where Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is the Living Water. It means He’s constantly bubbling up in my heart—He is constantly refreshing me with the living water.
I want to ask you: Are you listening for His voice? I want to encourage you to be listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
He whispers, so we have to be attentive—we have to be close—we have to be paying attention. You can’t know His voice if you don’t know the language He speaks—and the language that the Holy Spirit speaks is God’s Word. It says, “He will guide you into all truth,” God’s Word—so the more you get into the Bible—the more you read His Word—the more the Holy Spirit has to speak to you. So know His Word.
I want to encourage you to talk to Him as a person—He is not a ghost—He is a person. I want us to pray for a minute about the Holy Spirit, and I’m going to talk to the Holy Spirit and model for you how you can talk to the Holy Spirit, too—if this is not something that you’re used to doing. Let’s pray.
Holy Spirit, my Friend—my closest Companion—my Teacher, and my Guide, thank You that You never leave me or forsake me.
Thank You that You are my Guide. Oh, how I need You every moment of every day for my life—for I am often so lost and confused and unsure. Thank You that You will be present in my every tomorrow—as promised by Jesus before the cross. Teach me to know You and to recognize Your voice, to follow Your leading, to let You purify and transform my selfish, broken heart. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Samantha: Barbara Rainey reminded us of the beautiful role the Holy Spirit plays in the life of every believer. She was speaking not too long ago at a conference in Asheville, North Carolina.

Well, it’s appropriate at this time of year to be reminded of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. This year, June 5 is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the Jewish festival that takes place 50 days after Passover. But if you remember your New Testament well, you know it’s also the day the Holy Spirit came on the first Christians. In a sense, it was the inauguration of the Church.

A lot of times, we don’t really talk much about that amazing day recorded in the opening pages of the book of Acts. In fact, Barbara calls Pentecost a forgotten holiday.

On that note, I want to let you know about Barbara Rainey’s new ebook about the Holy Spirit. It’s coming out in the next few weeks. This is one of those topics that many of you have told us you want to know more about. In this ebook, Barbara talks about the Holy Spirit as our Friend, Our Helper, our Purifier, and our Teacher and Guide. If you’re subscribed to Ever Thine Home you’ll get this ebook about the Holy Spirit delivered straight to your inbox. And if you’re not currently subscribed and don’t want to miss the release of this ebook, simply go to EverThineHome.com and click the Subscribe tab at the top to sign up for your FREE subscription today. When you subscribe you won’t miss out on any of Barbara’s new podcasts, her blogs, or books. Once again, you can sign up at EverThineHome.com, and click the tab that says “subscribe.”

Well, thanks for listening today. May your Pentecost be full of learning and joy in the Holy Spirit. I’m Samantha Loucks, inviting you back next time, for the Barbara Rainey Podcast, from Ever Thine Home.