One of my favorite scriptures is in Genesis 1:2: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
IN THE BEGINNING
The Holy Spirit has always been, even in the beginning when God created the earth. 2000 years ago, Jesus came and walked on earth, before He left He explained that He would send the Holy Spirit as described in John’s gospel.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:16-18
The Holy Spirit is not an IT but rather a HE as we can see from the scripture. He is part of the trinity – Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
HOLY SPIRIT CHARACTERISTICS
We receive the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus into our heart, He then dwells within us and guides us. The Holy Spirit is described in several ways in the Bible. He is our counselor, comforter, guide, reveals truth and gives us spiritual gifts, to name a few.
He councils us by giving us discernment. He comforts us when we are hurting by giving us understanding, peace and joy in our heart. He guides us in all things.
He also reveals truth. When we are close to God by reading and meditating on scripture, we begin to understand the Lord’s heart. If we learn scripture, when conflict or trouble arises, often the Lord will speak a scripture to us or a scripture will come to our mind out of nowhere. This is the Lord giving us answers or instructions on a topic. But if we don’t know His Word, He cannot bring scripture to our remembrance. He also is not easily able to speak to us if we don’t take quiet time to listen to His voice.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Finally, I want to add that the Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts. We are not necessarily given the gifts we think we should have. God knows what is best for us. I’m super introverted and for whatever reason the Lord has inspired me to teach. I have a really hard time getting in front of people and honestly, my thoughts are jumbled most of the time. I have to really work at explaining what I feel the Holy Spirit is telling me. I revise my outline several times to organize my thoughts before I finally feel comfortable sharing it. I’m still trying to get comfortable with this gift. So even though you feel called to do something you may think you are unqualified. But, I’m here to tell you, no one is qualified. So, start working towards what the Lord has put on your heart.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
When we are walking in step with the Holy Spirit we will see the fruit of the spirit as a result. The fruits of the spirit are described in Galatians 5:22-23:
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.
THE DIFFERENCES
Now that we know some core things about the Holy Spirit, let’s talk about how that differs from spirits in general. Many have a difficult time understanding the supernatural world because we can’t see it, unless of course you are the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:17) or possess that ability somehow. With the naked eye, we cannot see air, radio waves, bacteria, thoughts, energy or heat but we know they exist. So it’s not so far fetched if you think about what we already understand about our physical world.
GOD’S ANGELS
It is also understood that angels have some type of relationship to our physical world and that God has given us favor in some way.
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Peter 1:12
And while God’s heavenly beings (His angels) are here to help us and not harm us, we are still not to worship them or focus on them.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” Revelation 19:9-10
The only Spirit we are to pay attention to is the Holy Spirit who helps us bring glory to God.
EVIL SPIRITS
Now evil spirits are actually fallen angels that have rebelled against God and have partnered with satan. This is really important to understand. Since fallen angels were formerly heavenly angels, they know how to act like angels of light, even though they are now angles of darkness. They are deceivers. They do not care about people, in fact their goal is to bring destruction upon humans – to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Satan is the ultimate deceiver and we must be on alert to his tactics.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14
The Holy Spirit is LIFE and produces fruit. Whereas the evil spirits are DEATH and produce sin.
Many are deceived into obsessing over or worshiping what they believe are angels of God. There are dangers in seeking angels. Since satan knows how to appear as a good angel you may be opening a demonic door without realizing it. It is important not be worshiping or bowing down to anyone or anything other than Jesus, which is the second commandment.
‘‘You shall have no other gods before Me.” Deuteronomy 5:7
THE MOST HOLY
The Holy Spirit has power over evil spirits. These fallen angels are workers of darkness and also are referred to as demons or demonic spirits. They know who God is and they know His power.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder! James 2:19
These demonic spirits are also very aware of Jesus’ authority over them. In fact, when Jesus came upon some of the demon-possessed people, when doing His ministry, they would cry out “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Matthew 8:29
These fallen angels also know that followers of Jesus have the power to cast them out as well.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons… Mark 16:17
HALLOWEEN
Now, I am doing this article around Halloween for a good reason. The Lord stirs this up in me every year, around this time, and I feel moved to call out the deception that surrounds this holiday. Over the years I have witnessed Halloween becoming one of the most demonic seasons. Satanic costumes are worn by grown adults to scare little children and they laugh at how scared they become. Even young children are encouraged to dress this way and play along. Haunted houses are super popular and even children are going. Dressing in evil clothing and scaring little children is confusing for them. Jesus explained how much He cares for children to His disciples.
“Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6
Children model what they learn and are easily influenced by what they see and learn. Jesus further explained that children actually have an angel watching over them.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10
Some of these Halloween costumes are depictions of the dead, often witches or demons. People get really into becoming something dreadful and terrifying. Growing up, I was not told that anything was wrong with this holiday. As a young adult, I dressed up in sexy devil outfits and looked forward to going out, getting drunk and dancing the night away. But now that I know the Lord’s heart on the matter, I feel called to bring attention to how demonic and messed up it really is.
LET’S CELEBRATE
Please understand, I’m not saying I don’t think we should dress up at all or have fun or enjoy pumpkin spice lattes. Quite the opposite. Celebrating fall and having fellowship through food and celebration is a good thing. God loves celebration. But everything we do should be pleasing to the Lord.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
God is not messing around. We can’t tell Him, I didn’t know this was bad if we are calling ourselves Christians. We can’t be playing with Ouija boards, tarot cards, pretending to be witches, going to haunted houses and acting like it’s fine, if it goes against God. We are not to conform to this world even if we are pressured to do so. We are warned early on in the book of Deuteronomy to stay away from the occult.
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” Deuteronomy 18:9-12
Many of the demonic activities associated with Halloween are an open door for the enemy to come into your life and gain territory. Unfortunately, no one told me this as a new Christian and I had to learn the hard way. I fell for all of it. We are living in a time where evil is increasing and we have become desensitized from it. Let us gain back territory by saying no to the push of normalizing demonic images, movies and activities.
SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
Let’s bring forward God’s truth so we can fight against the schemes of the devil. Again, the Holy Spirit brings TRUTH. We can cut through the deception and evil by the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6). The sword of the Spirit is our weapon of defense and it is the Word of God. The Spirit teaches us how to use the sword which is why it is crucial to spend time with God and in His Word. I hope you all feel blessed today and I hope you still celebrate God’s goodness this fall and all the wonderful foods and blessing that this beautiful season brings.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:12-1
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