4 Things You Need to Know About the Holy Spirit to Live a Spirit-Filled Life

1. The Holy Spirit is a Person

The Holy Spirit appears in the opening lines of Genesis, where he is the Creator God bringing the world into existence along with God the Father and God the Son (Genesis 1:1-3; John 1:1-3).

He breathed life into our first parents, allowing them to live and enjoy the world he created for them. The Holy Spirit is a person and not merely an impersonal force. This explains why the entire Bible, including the words of Jesus, consistently refer to the Holy Spirit as he and not it. Promising the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 14, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “he” and “him” no fewer than five times. The Holy Spirit can be grieved, resisted, and insulted (Ephesians 4:30; Acts 7:51; Hebrews 10:29). An impersonal force like that of Star Wars can’t experience these things; only a person can.

This point is important, since spirituality today generally reflects belief in a spiritual force that is impersonal and indwells nature. According to research by USA Today, even professing, churchgoing Christians are confused: “Going to church this Sunday? Look around. The chances are that one in five of the people there find ‘spiritual energy’ in mountains or trees.”(1)