In the bible I see examples of people praying to the Father and also Jesus, but I don't see any praying to the Holy Spirit. Since He is God, do we just assume that we can and should talk to Him just like the other two people in the Trinity?
As far as I can tell the Holy Spirit always points to the Father and the Son. Perhaps this is the reason? But since He is God, should we not converse with Him?
I raised this question in 2007.
You pray to the father, through Jesus and in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not take glory himself but glorifies Jesus.
My understanding is that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, rests upon me and dwells within me. Therefore I talk to Him(?) and listen for direction/guidance. That is why Christ physically departed this world, is it not? Now we need never be separated from Him. He lives, loves, laughs, breathes and IS in us and through us to the extent we will allow Him.
This is a simple yes or no question. If someone knows the answer then they could sum it up in either a yes or a no.Should we ever speak to the Holy Spirit?
To me it looks like we have both answers so far.
I don't know the answer. But I'm not sure I understand why people say the Holy Spirit is God.
I think the Holy Spirit is the union of the Father and Son.In the bible I see examples of people praying to the Father and also Jesus, but I don't see any praying to the Holy Spirit.
Sorry I should have clarified that this is with the assumption of the Trinity - that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God but three distinct persons. I am fully convinced of this truth from scripture and I don't wish to argue it here... so my question is directed to those who take it within the context of the truth of the Trinity.
That being said there are myriads of examples of people talking to the Father, and a few examples of people praying to Jesus (ie Stephen before he is stoned, the last words of John in Revelation, etc). But I can't think of any where a person specifically addresses the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that I think we shouldn't talk to Him, I'm just curious if there is any scripture which could help understand our duty even if there are no examples of people directly talking to the Holy Spirit.
The short answer to that is found in John 16:23b.
" all that you ask the Father in my name, He will give you."
To me, that clatifies the whole thing.
We pray TO THE FATHER in Jesus' name.
The reason is that when Jesus was here on earth, He glorified the Father.
The Father in turn glorifies the Son by answering the prayers of the believers when those prayers are said in Jesus name.
The Holy Spirit has a vital role in this also.
John 14:
16,17,26
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Also read Romans 8:26.
So, here we see the trinity at work, each has a different role.
We pray to the FATHER, in the name of JESUS, with the aid of the SPIRIT.
the trinity is one in essence, not in role.
In other words: It was the Son who hung on the cross, not the Father, not the Spirit.
It was the Father who raised the Son from the dead, The Son did not raise Himself but had to wait on the Father.
It was the Spirit who fell at Penticost, not the Father, not the Son.
I hope I didn't make things hard.
The Holy Spirit is the free gift of salvation
The Holy Spirit aka "Christ the Seed" is what gives us the power to become sons of God. It is the" earnest" of our inheritance that translated means that it is a down payment of a much larger inheritance........
It is the indwelling spirit of Christ given to those who follow in obedience having repented of their sins and choose to "draw nigh unto God"
It is given to you so that the old man in you with all its sinful lusts can die while you live by the gift of the Holy Spirit that never sins. (Gal 2:20)
The Holy Spirit is your "second Adam" and the spirit of man with its sinful lusts that is your "old man" is the first Adam
The Holy Spirit is what will allow you to follow the commandment of Jesus to overcome sin, "be Holy and sin no more"
The Holy Spirit aka Christ the seed" needs to mature into Christ the tree of life in you........ if and when it does then you will be in the image and likeness of God that was the plan of God for you way back in Ge.1:26
Blessings
Doug
It all depends....
If a person truly wants a vibrant, living relationship with The Holy Spirit they must talk to and communicate with Him! The same as you must with the Father, Son...or for that matter anyone you want to have a relationship with!
If a person is hesitant..or doubtful....that they want to have an intimate engaging relationship with The Holy Spirit then they will avoid those times of speaking to/with and hearing from the Holy Spirit.
Paul says pretty clearly in
2 Corinthians 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
I think it would be hard to have fellowship without talking at all.
Jesus did say this then is how you should pray "Our Father..." so I think that especially for requests they should go to the father, but there is absolutely an intimate relationship that the Holy Spirit wants to have with us as he "Guides us into all truth".
Very simply, yes.
If you believe in the trinity as scripture demonstrates clearly from the first chapter of genesis all the way through to the last chapters of revelation, then you will know that the three are one. Christ was and is the fulness of the godhead bodily, that means father, son, and, spirit.
So, when you address one, you are in fact addressing all of them, the scripture talks about calling upon the name of the lord to be saved, which lord? Jesus, jesus said to pray to the Father, and paul said to fellowship the holy spirit.
Also, in the book of acts, peter confronts a man, and his wife, for lying to the Holy Spirit, and god kills them. There you have a scriptural demonstration of addressing the Holy Spirit, and then peter goes on to say that they have not lied to men, but unto God, also demonstrating the Holy Spirit's position as God.
Acts 5:3-5
3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
Why do we make these things so tough?...sooner or later we will be married to the Triune God....we'd better be communicating...a lot!
I posted a devotional that I read a little while ago on that. It's the Andrew Murray post on the Holy Spirit. "Attributes of God by Andrew Murray 4"
Sibling in Christ,
Jesus said, "Tear down the temple, and I will build it up in three days." Seems like Jesus also had a part in raising Himself from the dead, along with the Father. Romans 8:11 states that possibly the Spirit of God also had a part. What do you think?
Bless you,
Arnold
Beloved,
Scripture seems to only say that we will be married to the Lamb, the Son of God.
Love,
your bro
I think UntoBabes said it best. Thank you for that. The scripture says it all.
Have I misunderstood your post Lesserlight. You appear to speak of The Holy Spirit as if He were not a true person at all. I have never heard of The Holy Spirit being referred to as 'your second Adam'. I know the Scripture that speaks of 'The first Adam' and the last Adam'. Who is this 'the Holy Spirit your second Adam' please.
(Text Corrected) Thanks.
In order to be transparent I would like to share something from my own experience which is God's gift of revelation to me.
30 Years ago whilst I was in prison, just 6 weeks after I came to know Christ as Lord, I was sitting at a little table in my cell. This table was just 18" deep by 24" wide. I was writing about The Lord Jesus, having read for the first time how He entered into the Garden for the last time with his disciples. I found myself in the Spirit and lifting my head from the page I looked at the near, cold Victorian prison wall, and came into a remarkable personal understanding of that moment when Christ was troubled in His soul. My mind spoke out the words' what a great pity it is that many men do not know that the Holy Spirit is not understood to be a true person Who leads men into all understanding. I marveled at the fact that I, a wretched man could look into such a holy and most humbling thing as to know something of the suffering of Christ. The wall vanished before my eyes and one who was like unto an angel in appearance shrugged His shoulders and pulled a wry, but humorous face. I burst into laughter with a great release of the moment. And what an extraordinary thing it was.
Despite this vision and leading of the Holy Spirit I understood that He is not sent by Christ to glorify Himself, but to reveal Christ. This I believe answers the centrality of this post concerning whether one ought to communicate with the Holy Spirit in the same way that Christ and the Father are sought and communicated with. In Corinthians it is written, 'The Spirit' He is the Lord'. Yet I say again according to His own leading in this mans life and the Scripture, He has not been sent to glorify Himself, but to reveal Christ to men; even as Christ did not come to glorify Himself, but the Father.
I realise that such things as I have shared are personal and one cannot take ones own stand upon them, let alone seek to influence others by them. I don't think that the Holy Spirit is in the least part offended when men fail to recognise Him as He is. Hence the laughter. One can only grieve Him through continuous and willful sin.
Andrew
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