Hello and welcome! It is so wonderful to have you gather around this table of friendship today. We are starting a new series called “Holy Spirit: The Third Person of the Trinity.” I’m glad you are here as we look to the Word of God to see what it teaches about how Holy Spirit improves your life. But first, let’s talk about the basics of what we know about Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Do you have your Bible handy? If not, there are links around the Scripture references that you can look at for the whole verse as I may not always write them out.

To begin with, Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity. He is God and yet, part of God. Just like the yolk is part of the whole egg. Or, steam and water are part of H20, Holy Spirit is God.

And, yes, I call Him Holy Spirit rather than “the Holy Spirit.” Here’s my logic. My name is Cindy but no one calls me “the Cindy.” So, it makes sense to me to refer to Him as Holy Spirit. But, hey, that’s just me. Also, when I’m writing notes, I never shorten His name to initials. I always write it out in full. Why? Out of respect for Who He is. It’s the same with Jesus Christ. I never shorten His name to initials either.

Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testament

But, let’s continue. Holy Spirit has been present before time began. When God looked upon the face of the deep, Holy Spirit was there with Him. When God created the heavens and earth, Holy Spirit had an active part in creation, Genesis 1:2.

It was God’s intention that one day, Holy Spirit would be sent to earth to live in all of His children. He desires for Holy Spirit to improve your life and we’ll see a partial list of how He does that in a little bit.

Paul wrote in Ephesians that we were chosen to be part of the family of God from before the earth was formed. Holy Spirit was there in that decision.

Holy Spirit is a vital part of the Trinity. He was present in Old Testament days as He would settle on His servants for a particular purpose, ie, Daniel, David, and Isaiah. In the New Testament days, after Jesus ascended to heaven, Holy Spirit came to live in believers to play a vital role in our lives.

Paul said that believers were sealed with the promise of Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13. Jesus kept His promise when He ascended to heaven and sent Holy Spirit to earth.

When Do I Receive the Holy Spirit?

When you hear the Word of Truth and believe that Jesus is Lord, you will receive the Holy Spirit at that moment. This is the moment of salvation. Let’s look at Romans 8:9 where Paul taught But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.  

What this means is if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you either. Makes sense, right?

Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that we are all baptized by the Spirit in one Body. 

The first instance of this baptism was in the Upper Room when Holy Spirit baptized the believers that were gathered there. They showed evidence of this baptism by speaking in unknown languages called speaking in tongues.

What is the Role of the Holy Spirit?

There are three primary works of Holy Spirit’s role. He

• draws people to Christ
  
• convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and He
  
• imparts spiritual gifts to the Body of Christ

The Church cannot function without these indispensable works of Holy Spirit. There is no way that we could accomplish the work that Jesus gave us to do without Holy Spirit’s help. Even in writing this post, I am wholly relying on Holy Spirit to help me write what He wants me to write.

So, a person’s initial encounter with Holy Spirit is when He draws us to Christ and convicts us of sin. We may not “feel” Him or even know He is there but He is.

We’ll talk about the gifts of the Spirit at another time when we gather again around this friendship table. But for now, let’s look at how Holy Spirit improves your life.

How Holy Spirit Improves Your Life

There are many ways that Holy Spirit improves your life, but, here is a short list, in random order, to start with.

1. empowerment to speak boldly and confidently in sharing the gospel, Acts 1:5 and 8. This confidence is in Christ, not yourself.
   
2. empowered to live a holy and blameless life, Ephesians 1:4; 2 Peter 3:14
3. He is your Teacher, teaching you all things, John 14:26
4. Holy Spirit is your Comforter, John 14:16, 26; John 15:26; John 16:7
   
5. He leads you, therefore, you are called “children of God,” Romans 8:14 and 16
6. as you walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:16
   
7. He helps you to pray, especially when you don’t know how to pray, Romans 8:26-27
8. Holy Spirit will produce the evidence of His work in your life by His fruit, Galatians 5:22-23
9. you are set free from the law of sin and death, Romans 8:22
10. He reveals to you the deep things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:10
11. He enables you to obey the truth, 1 Peter 1:22
12. your spirit is strengthened, Ephesians 3:16
    

This is a short list of the many ways Holy Spirit improves your life. As we continue in our series, we will look at some of these ways in more detail so I hope to see you at the friendship table again.

Holy Spirit Active in Your Life

Were you expecting to read something different? Something more, perhaps? I can understand that. I was expecting to write something different but when we look at the Word and see how Holy Spirit is present in everything, we can appreciate these things that have been listed.

For example, everything listed above indicates how active Holy Spirit is in your life. Did you realize that? In all honesty, we can’t do anything without Him. How else does the Holy Spirit improve your life? Well, how about joy? He gives us joy which is our strength, 1 Thessalonians 1:6.

He is also active in you as He brings to your remembrance the truths you have read in His Word, John 14:26.

Holy Spirit also improves your life by speaking to, in and through you, 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 2:11 and many others.

How else does Holy Spirit improve your life? Well, the biggest way is by sealing you until the day of redemption, Ephesians 1:13; 4:30, thus guaranteeing you eternal life. Are you shouting with joy right now?

Wrapping this Up

This is such a huge study. Holy Spirit improves your life in so many ways, yet, often we aren’t even aware of them. I think we take a lot of it for granted in our ignorance.

But when we read and study the Word, our eyes of understanding are open to the fullness of the Truth. It’s time to be thankful for all the ways that Holy Spirit improves life. Really, we’d be in a heap of trouble without Him!

So, like I said, this is a partial list but did you think of anything that I missed that absolutely should be on this list? Mention it in the comments, okay?

As we wrap up this conversation, I’m thinking of how important Holy Spirit is to us. There have been so many books and blog posts written regarding Him that there is no way I will cover everything. But over the next few weeks or so, I definitely want to talk about Him with you concerning the things on my heart. I hope you’ll be back as we look at some possible topics as Holy Spirit,

• The Source of Power in Your Life
• The Source of Power in the Church
• Comforter, Counselor, Teacher
• Holy Spirit and Your Authority
• Holy Spirit and Spiritual Warfare
  

Don’t forget to leave me a comment on how Holy Spirit improves your life!

Oh, almost forgot! Have you read how to keep your healing yet? And did you know that if you lose your healing, that you can take it back from the enemy? Yep. Read about in this post, How to Hold On to Your Healing.

And here’s another post about Holy Spirit, 5 Things that Grieve the Holy Spirit. Have you read it yet?