Blog 3

The Holy Spirit

As a Christian, it means that I believe in the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit- three in one and one in three. Growing up Catholic, I had known and familiarized myself with that vernacular, but it wasn’t until the last couple of years that I saw and understood them as “different beings”. They all “speak” in different ways and even though it is three in one, they all have something unique to share.

In this blog, I am going to focus more so on the Holy Spirit. As for me personally, He was the one that was harder to wrap my mind around. As I grew in my walk, I started to see God the Father as the Creator of the Universe, the one who formed us uniquely in His image, the one who established the Heavens and the Earth and the mind, body, soul and spirit. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, the one who was at the beginning, and stepped down and became man, who wore our sins and took on our punishment so we could be reconciled back to the Father, our Savior. Aaaaaaand the Holy Spirit is His Spirit.

At first, that was all I saw Him as, but I soon learned that wait, there’s more!

There actually is so much more to unpack when it comes to the Holy Spirit and I feel like, as a whole, He’s the one that gets slept on. Jesus Himself declared on Earth that it was better for Him to go away so that He could send us His Spirit:

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”

• John 16:7 NLT

If Jesus stayed on earth after the resurrection, could you imagine the line to see Him up close and personal? To ask Him the burning questions we all have? He had to leave not only so He could conquer death but also so His Spirit could abide in each and every one of us all at once. The Holy Spirit is the one who is with us 24/7. He is the one who advocates on our behalf and the one who translates our groanings and tears into prayers.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[a] in harmony with God’s own will.”

• Romans 8:26-27 NLT

Even so, He is so much more than that.

He is our comforter, counselor, uplifter, supporter, encourager, cheerleader, and all-around best friend. He is the one who has given me this opportunity to put thoughts into words and share it with you. Without Him, I would not and could not do this. He knows our thoughts well before we even think them, travels with us everywhere, feels every emotion we are feeling as we feel them. He laughs with us, cries with us, and opens our spiritual eyes to see the more. Without Him, we would not be able to have a relationship with God. He is our lifeline.

One of the more encouraging things I could ever tell someone is that the Lord already knows your thoughts and your intentions well before your do, so it’s better for all involved to never lock anything away. There’s no point in hiding it no matter how hard you want to because the Holy Spirit has already seen it and loves you regardless. On the other side of that, I still encourage you to talk to Him as there is so much power in transparency and communication. There is no where you can go where the Holy Spirit won’t be with you. Please, take comfort in that because it is so powerful.

In my relationship with the Holy Spirit, my eyes were opened to just how much fun He is. I’m not saying that Jesus and the Father don’t have their moments, but whenever I am alongside the Holy Spirit, I get so giddy! In who the Lord calls me to be, I’ve had to learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit for words in many different situations, and whenever I feel Him take over, I feel like my chest is glowing. I’ve gotten into the habit of turning around and high-fiving the air because I feel so accomplished in having shared what He’s encouraged me to share. That’s another amazing thing about Him, when you invite Him in to speak through you or move, He always will

“-for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”
– Luke 12:12 NLT

When it came to discovering who He is and how He speaks to me, I noticed that I felt Him most prominently in my car and at the beach. Back in December of 2023, my friend Rachel gifted me a journal that became my “Holy Spirit journal” and every time I sat in His presence, I brought it along with me. I didn’t know where to start, I didn’t know what to say. To be honest, I felt a little foolish, sitting in my car staring at the waves with the journal open.

Over time, I invited Him to speak to me, audibly asking Him to come alive in the pages, as I needed all the help and guidance I could get. It took time, but the more I pressed into Him and sought Him out, the more He revealed Himself to me. Soon, He was no longer confined to my car or the beach, I began to see Him walking alongside me when I needed it, whispering words of encouragement whenever I felt low.

That’s another thing I feel like gets tricky or pushed aside: please remember that at the end of the day, it’s a relationship with God. How do you grow and mature a relationship with a friend? You talk to them, spend time with them, and ask them questions, right? It’s the same with God. I began to ask the Holy Spirit the burning questions I wanted and needed to know. Holy Spirit, how do You speak to me? What’s something You want me to know? With this situation, what could I have done better?

Then the most important ingredient: sitting quietly in His presence and yielding. An analogy I always use is imagine you just called God on the phone. You start babbling on and on about your life and all the things that happened, good and bad, you barely even remember to take a breath. How lucky are we that we can talk to God so freely? As you near the end of your “call”, you wrap it up with “Well, that was nice. Let’s do it again sometime.”

Then you hang up the phone.

Where was His space to speak? If that sounds familiar, then I encourage you to stay on the “phone” longer, but in silence. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman at the end of the day, He won’t force Himself on you but the moment you invite Him in, He will be there. He always is, but now you’re giving yourself the chance to hear from Him. He wants to talk to you more than you want to hear from Him. So let Him talk to you. Let Him show you how much He loves you. Let Him show you where He’s been in your life. I’ve seen Him grieve with me when a situation calls for it, and it really is the most beautiful thing to know that we serve a God who sits with us in our pain.

Let Him.

I hope this was encouragement to anyone who may have needed it and if you did have questions or curiosities about the Holy Spirit, I hope this helped scratch the surface. Are there any questions or promptings you feel Him highlighting in your life? Has He shown you a place to go where there are few distractions? My challenge for you this week, act on those promptings. Go sit and talk to Him, but don’t hang up the phone when you’re done speaking. Press into that silence and envision Him sitting next to you, listening intently, excited to answer your questions.

He is so good. Allow yourself to see just how good He is.

Praying with you,

Big Al