The Truth About the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 11:2 

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord."

Have you noticed? Most of the teachers who are willing to talk about the Holy Spirit are a bit odd. Half of the Christian pastors are literally scared of the Holy Spirit. The other half seem to be obsessed with only the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not so much that they are obsessed with the Holy Spirit, but with the force of power that they think is the Holy Spirit. Often this power they feel in or around them is an evil spirit, but they are fooled and think it's the Holy Spirit. 

I was bothered by both extremes my entire Christian life. At first I didn't get why no one talked about the Holy Spirit. Then I went to a Pentecostal church. Almost the whole church filed to the front after the sermon. The pastor put a cross on their foreheads in oil and then they all fell down shaking all over. It looked as crazy as a seizure. That freaked me out, obviously. I tried reasoning with the leaders of that church that God would not do things like that. God is a God of order, not disorder.  It did not seem to sink in at all with them. 

Then you have the other side of Christianity, where pastors are too scared to even bring up the Holy Spirit. That is very sad because the Holy Spirit is the main person of the trinity that interacts with us. He convicts us of sin. Most think of that still, small voice in their heads as their conscience. That is actually the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the person of the trinity that initially saves people. He teaches unbelievers about Jesus. He helps us desire to worship God the Father. He reminds us of verses we have read in the Bible. To ignore the Holy Spirit is to ignore God's greatest helper to us. 

It is understandable that most pastors are afraid to talk about the Holy Spirit. They don't want everyone to fall on the floor and start shaking, as if just speaking the word Holy Spirit might be a trigger word. Almost the entire world is confused about what the Holy Spirit does and who he is. I personally think any time someone is shaking, that is caused by an evil spirit, not the Holy Spirit. There is not one single story in the Bible about the Holy Spirit or God or Jesus causing someone to shake. 

At Pentecost the disciples all spoke in tongues when filled with the Holy Spirit, in order to preach the gospel. The main reason that the Holy Spirit fills a person is so they can preach the gospel. The disciples spoke the gospel to anyone around, in their native languages, so they could understand. The people asked if they were drunk. Some have interpreted that to mean they were falling all over and acting drunk. No, the reason they possibly seemed drunk was because they were bold and courageous. Anyone who has drank a lot has noticed they develop a more outgoing personality. The Holy Spirit causes us to be more outgoing, for the purpose of witnessing and saving as many as we can. 

We are all naturally shy, probably because people have been mean to us at some point. We hide in our turtle shell and are hesitant to come out and be social. We don't easily trust others. But when we get filled with the Holy Spirit, it can make us a totally different person. He can change our personality. He can turn us into bold witnesses for Jesus. 

If you wish you had more courage in general, that is a good reason to let the Holy Spirit fill you. You don't need to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. He isn't going to make you fall all over the ground and shake. He isn't even going to Make you speak in tongues if you don't want to. He will just gently guide you into all truth. He will convict you of your sin. He will give you advice constantly on the wisest thing to do. He will be your best friend. And he will help you reach others for Christ. 

I recommend that you get closer to the Holy Spirit. It really can be a wonderful friendship.