The Significance Of The Holy Spirit In The Old Testament

In the Holy Bible, which is inspired by the word of God, whom is the creator of the

The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in Scripture are conveyed according to the will of the Holy Spirit to every man for the eventual purpose of the edification and building up the church body.

The Holy Spirit is the most forgotten part of the Trinity. A majority of westerners have had negative experiences with the Holy Spirit. People in the United States are more uncomfortable with the work of the Holy Spirit more than people in other countries. In result many Christians have eliminated the work of the Holy Spirit from their faith all together. The lack of interaction with the Holy Spirit has caused people to turn a blind eye to the mention of the Spirit in the Bible. In a matter of fact the Spirit is found all over the Bible. The Spirits role didn’t just start at Pentecost in the book of Acts, but in fact there is a trace of his activity since the Old Testament.

The Holy Spirit of God is the active force or power in one’s life, which most certainly includes spiritual formation (Pettit, 2008, p. 46). When Jesus was speaking with his disciples he made it clear – by using the analogy of a vine and branches – that apart from him they could do nothing (John 15:5). Only if one is connected to Christ will they have the ability to bear fruit and the way Jesus empowers those connected to him is through the Holy Spirt that that father will send in his name (John 14:26). The fact is that the triune God dwells in the Christian in and through the Holy Spirit. One sees this when they place multiple passages together to gain a full understanding of this concept. For example, Jesus made it clear that he and the father would come and make their home with the disciple (John 14:23). In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul reminds the Corinthians that their bodies are the very temple of God because the Holy Spirit dwells in them which is similar to what Jesus said would happen when he sent the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension (John 14:17, 16:7).

In this paper, I will review Robert Gromacki’s book The Holy Spirit: Who He is, What He Does I will detail what I feel the book is about. I will emphasize various points given by the author that stood out to me. Finally, I will give my personal evaluation of the book.

And this is clearly recorded in Genesis 1: 1-2 that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (NIV). Genesis shows the readers

The passage that I choose to write about was Genesis chapter 1 verses 1-5. I choose this passage because I was interested in studying how God supposedly created the earth and turned darkness into a world full of life and spirit. Genesis 1 begins by saying “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(NKJV) I think that the purpose of this verse is to summarize the things that God would do in the future. This text tells us that God existed before the heavens and the earth. We also learn that before God started to create, the earth was empty, dark, and lifeless. The text also represents the beginning of everything earthly by saying God will create life on earth and in

The Holy Spirit, as a member of the Trinity, has eternally existed and worked with the Father and the Son to bring about the plan for our salvation (CCC 686). In a similar vein, the Holy Spirit, along with the Word of God, “are at the origin of the being and life of every creature” (CCC 703). The Holy Spirit is present with humanity from the beginning of time and the beginning of our individual lives, for as the Gospel writer John says, “he abides with you, and he will be in you” (John 14:17).

are two types of spirits: the Holy Spirit, which they proclaim to be the spirit of God, and the human

The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in the lives of each and every believer; He can strengthen us with a strength that we cannot even begin to muster up in ourselves. He can bring us joy that we cannot even begin to find in the things of this world. He can bring peace to our lives more than anything that we can ever find on this earth. “The Holy Spirit which is primarily an energizing process, is also a revealing, refining, consuming, illuminating process, and one by which we are made to glow with love to God, and love to man, and love to souls.”

According to Gunton, the Spirit engages with the everyday life of people. He contends, “the Spirit is the one who is actively involved in the everyday life of the creature” (Gunton, The Christian Faith 21). Gunton also says that it is the Spirit who upholds when he says, “As the lord and giver of life, the Spirit is the upholder of the everyday” (The Triune Creator 177). For Gunton, the Spirit's enablement for humans to see Jesus also assists them in living their lives. Gunton mentions, the Spirit “enables us to glimpse something of the glory that shines from the face of Jesus Christ, so that we can like mirrors reflect it in the world”

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is equal in essence and in power in the Trinity to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit was originally sent by Jesus after his ascension into heaven, Jesus himself saying that he would send a “helper” after he departed from the earth. This spirit is worshipped just as the Father and the Son are, and also participated in the creation of the world, sustaining and giving life continually to all things, and exhibits the uniqueness and characteristics of the third person in the Trinity. This is the same Holy Spirit that divinely inspired the infallible word of God, and although the canon is now closed, the Holy Spirit still works powerfully and constantly in the life of the church and in believers. The Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual gifts, which are given at conversion and help the believer become more like their creator. The presence of the Holy Spirit is evident in the life of all true believers, and this Spirit turns cowardly men into mighty warriors for Christ who accomplish actions way beyond their natural ability.

The Holy Spirit is God Himself. He is a person that we can have a personal relationship with. Also, the Holy Spirit is the one that God gave to us as a guide, to direct and teach us in living a Holy life (King James Version, John 14:16). The Holy Spirit is the voice inside of us that tells us when something is not right with the choices that we have made. The voice inside of us comes from God, who loves and cares enough to show us our error that we have made. Also, the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity; where God transformed into three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When a person is born again, they believe and receive Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13), God comes through people’s life through the Holy Spirit (1Cor.3:16). The

The Bible accounts that when God spoke for the first time, Life, in the form of an energy called light, illuminated the universe. In that moment of time, darkness was the present condition across the expanse. The darkness could not understand the light and thus fled as God expressed his sovereign will through the spoken Word. The declaration of His Word brought forth light. This original light inundated the cosmos with life. Therefore, we conclude that life in the universe exists by the verbal Word of God. The written word of God, in comparison to the spoken word of God, first came to men on Mount Sinai when God himself carved with His finger upon tablets of stone. Moses was the original recipient of the written word. The stone tablets, however, was not the Lord?s first choice of where to put His Word. His first choice was to speak the Word directly into the hearts of His covenant people, Israel. Having a unique group of people who embraced His Word in their hearts was God?s perfect blueprint. However, as Sinai vibrated with the omnipotence of God speaking, the nation of Israel trembled with fear as they backed away from the voice of the Lord God. Moses was the only one at that time who drew near to where God was. On the

What captured my attention immediately after reading this section was one specific word, fearless. #259. “Spirit-filled evangelizers means evangelizers fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit.“ Pope Francis is not redefining anything but encouraging us to fearlessly be open to the Holy Spirit. I can count how many times I have been hindered or even paralyzed out of fear. I think admitting we have fear and identifying its true meaning and where it’s coming from is what will ignite the spirit Pope Francis wants us to have. We have a choice, we can fuel our fears or face them head on knowing we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. I am actively trying to choose the latter every moment I can, easier said than done. The way we counter fear is with fortitude. Fortitude is a cardinal virtue, CCC 1808 “Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.” I now see one of the most important reasons why Pope Francis wants us to not forget our prayer life while we journey towards missionary discipleship with a spirit filled evangelization. The closer we move to the Lord the more temptations and fears we face. “Lead us not into