Getting to know the Holy Spirit, my friend and companion
By Jessica Brodie
I cannot easily describe it, but oh, the feeling. Breath of God. Advocate. Helper. Friend. He’s the Spirit of the Lord, also known as the Holy Spirit, and when He speaks with me, it’s incredible.
I didn’t always know the Spirit in this way. I used to think the Holy Spirit was this magical, intangible, ethereal vapor, not a person but a thing—a tool of God, a sparkling mist sent to tie us all together in Him. It’s probably because whenever I felt the Holy Spirit, it was a physical sensation, a glorious shivering in my back or my head or my chest, sometimes leaving me with goose bumps but filled with joy and perfect peace.
But as I have studied the word of God more intensely these last several years, my thinking has changed. I now understand the Holy Spirit is not an “it” but a person. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the advocate or companion that God sends to help us. In fact, Jesus uses the pronoun “him” to describe this advocate. When He comforts the disciples about His impending death, Jesus reassures them, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17 NIV).
Indeed, the Holy Spirit has been there since before time and, as part of the triune God, helped create the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1-2). Before Jesus, the Spirit would sometimes come and go from the people (Psalm 51, 1 Samuel 16), but thanks to our status as a new creation in Christ, now we are sealed with the Spirit forever. As the apostle Paul wrote to the early church in Ephesus, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV).
Notice those words in verse 14: “who is a deposit,” not which is a deposit. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing. And oh, the understanding and truth that has welled up in me now that I know this!
While the Holy Spirit is with me always, part of the holy trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all three wrapped in one—it is when I pray that I feel the Holy Spirit most strongly. I often sense Him when I’m praying fervently with another person. I felt Him so powerfully last Sunday as I prayed with another woman in the prayer room at my church, both of us kneeling, eyes closed and hearts fully focused on our Creator God, resting in His mercy and presence. At the close of our prayer, a bubble of utter joy had wriggled up in me, like a tickle, and I couldn’t help but grin.
“Did you feel Him?” I asked, and she nodded, both of us smiling like silly girls in our delight.
Other times I feel the Holy Spirit dancing about me during worship, like His light within me had catapulted outward, igniting a fire of the Lord in the room. Other times it’s a quiet joy, a small moment of pure bliss as I’m driving and I feel His hand settle upon mine as I steer or shift gears.
We don’t all recognize the Holy Spirit the same way. One friend says she notices a certain delicious fragrance in the air as she becomes aware of Him. I’ve heard others talk about the sound of bells tinkling.
But the more I pay attention when I notice Him, the more often I can feel Him! It’s like getting a car, and then all of a sudden you look around and notice how many cars there are just like yours on the road with you, when you never before noticed even one? That’s how I think of the Holy Spirit—He’s always there, but now I pay attention better. And because of that, I feel Him more strongly.
It’s funny—I used to think I didn’t need to read the Bible to know God. And I suppose that’s true, but I know how much deeper my relationship has grown with Him since I’ve come to know His word in my heart.
This week, as I prepare to gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for my Bible, I’m grateful for the ability to know the Lord, and I’m grateful that I’m learning to better sense my companion, advocate, and friend, the glorious and almighty Holy Spirit.
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