LiV Filled, Comforted, and Guided By The Holy Spirit

It is important to understand in great detail, factors that make us human. It is only then that we will be fully equipped to define a human being and see the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Who are we? Are we spiritual or physical beings?

According to the scriptures, we are created in God’s Own Image. God is a Spirit, meaning that we are also spirit beings. Unlike other spiritual entities in the universe, our spirit looks like God! When outside our physical bodies, we cannot be mistaken for anything else but children of God by resemblance!

We are beings from the spiritual realm living in a physical body. It is hard to imagine ourselves as bodiless, intelligent and creative beings floating in space! However, our lack of grasp to this fact does not negate the truth! The human body can be compared to a spacesuit that, we spiritual beings, use to live interactively with the physical on planet earth!

How does the body come into our lives?

The first human bodies were formed outside of another body. Human souls were breathed into the formed bodies. God being a master builder, then made the human bodies with the ability to reproduce themselves as He continued breathing souls into this forming bodies!

He cleverly gave the responsibility and ownership of these young bodies to both man and his helper, the woman. That is why even a witch and a sorcerer can still love and care for their own children.

However, though our bodies can create other human bodies, we cannot create the person (soul) in that body. The creation of us (souls) is a sole responsibility of the Creator, God. I have mentioned elsewhere in my writings that your body is a chip off your ancestors but the soul is a chip off the Creator!

When were our souls created?

It is evident in the following scriptures that the soul was created before the body and not necessarily when your body was formed or born.

Jeremiah 1:5 (NLT) “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb…”

Genesis 2:7 (NIV) Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NLT) For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

The soul was cleverly inserted in the forming body in the womb or in case of Adam and Eve, in the formed body outside the womb!

Humans are made to be conquerors of the physical world. They can create, they can build, they can dominate and are masters of everything on earth! There is only one reason for this, we are made in the image of the Creator and therefore by extension, we are creative. Creativity is not a brain function, creativity is a spiritual function. The brain is just a utility to physically implement the final picture! Some utilities are better suited to specific tasks than others! Again a clever way the Creator devised to distribute our earthly responsibilities so that we don’t live selfishly in self sufficiency but reach out in humility as we learn the acts of love when receiving or giving service to others!

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Though we have a physical body to interact with the physical world, our woes, pain and sorrows come from the dark spiritual world, from evil spiritual beings that we can’t see who hate us with a passion!

This is a challenge to those with a carnal mindset because they are spiritually blind. They don’t believe that we are spiritual beings or believe in the Creator Who is a Spiritual Being, and that we are made in His Own Image. They also don’t believe that there are evil spiritual beings within the spiritual realm around us or that our spiritual self can connect to the bad that floats in the spiritual world. This type of thinking makes such a person a sitting duck to the invisible army of demons!

Ephesians 6:12 Living Bible (TLB) For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

We have real spiritual enemies! The spiritual world has beings that don’t like us because we are God’s most precious creation. We occupy a position of privilege in God’s Kingdom! Our spiritual looks do not make the matter any better, since we are made in God’s Own Image and the devil hates that! Lucifer the devil is the architect of all evil and has an army of evil beings that prowl our spiritual world looking for a human to deceive and destroy!

Though we may not believe or see it, nearly anything you do in this physical world is influenced by the spiritual world that intercepts with the physical. You may say “I am not spiritual but a physical being”. You are either ignorant, stupid, clever in your own eyes or all of the above!

Think! When you hate or dislike someone, they know it before you to tell them with your body language! Why? Spiritual communication! Hate is a spiritual interaction. Hate is a good example of an everyday spiritual act! On the other hand, if you love someone, you don’t need to tell them. They will feel it in their spirit. This is another example of a spiritual interaction.

We fail against evil! Irrespective of how intelligent you are, we cannot claim to be able to live in victory in our immediate environment. We are susceptible to failure and there is evidence of this from our lifestyles. We fall to hate, violence, sexual immorality, alcoholism, drugs, lies, murder and many other spiritual entities! Think of each of the above as a spiritual enemy or an intelligent specialist being without a body living within you and is in a silent tug of war with your soul. Their goal is to use your body to carry out any of these things for their own pleasures!

Our biggest problem is not that we fail against these evils, but the fact that we foolishly think that we can use our physical brains and a set of rules to overcome the spiritual enemy behind the evils!

If we look back at the beginning of creation, we see God giving humans dominion over everything physical, the large, the small or the complicated physical entities. They were made subject to us, and we were given full powers over them.

Genesis 1:28 (NIV) … fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

However, evil is a spiritual entity and cannot be handled by a physical tool. In Ephesians 6:12 above, we learn that evil is an intelligent spiritual being! It is a person not a thing! Evil is a person without a body!

Our first failure is not to recognize that evil is a living being like you and me but without their own body who constantly tracks you. God gave a warning to Cain in Genesis 4:7 (NIV) “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you…”. Cain didn’t want to know and in the end he killed his brother! The evil being that was crouching was a spirit of murder! ‘It’ is most likely used here because evil beings have no gender!

When you are about to sin, something enters your spirit. A person who is spiritually alive (born of the Spirit of God), will be able to tell, because the Holy Spirit will warn them the same way God warned Cain.

However, if you don’t believe in the act of being born again or in other words, born of the Holy Spirit, you have no power or chance against evil. You will most likely try to use your super intelligent brain but fail miserably! This has been the failure of men and women from day one in our human history!

We need a Spiritual helper in order to overcome evil!

The scriptures take us through a recorded history of humans trying to subdue evil using their physical tools but with disastrous results. Victory only came through or to persons filled by the Holy Sprit.

In order to live in victory, desire to be filled by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians14:1 (NIV) Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit…

This is why God promised the Holy Spirit as a helper. John 16:7 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

If you wish to overcome evil permanently, then you need to have the Holy Spirit live inside of you.

You may ask, “how can I get the Holy Spirit to live inside of me?”. There are a number of factors involved but you need to know that the Holy Spirit is not a person we work for. He is a gift to us from God.

Though you don’t need to work to get the Holy Spirit, you need to desire to be filled by Him.

The bible is clear that your body is made to be a temple of the Holy Spirit and you need to hate all evils, especially those that affect the body like any acts, forms or appearances of sexual immorality. These sins will not only keep the Holy Spirit away but you will be cut off from the inheritance of eternal life. If you already have the Holy Spirit, you will quench Him and He will leave and when He leaves, you will get an evil spirit instead. You will suffer immensely under stress and depression!

Please study and meditate on the scriptures below.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV) Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV) Do not quench the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:9(NIV) Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral …

1 Samuel 16:14 (NIV) …Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God and part of the TRINITY of God. That is; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

The Holy Spirit is our guide we can overcome nothing spiritual without Him.

Historical records of the work of the Holy Spirit since creation

The Holy Spirit was on earth during creation and He never left. Genesis 1:2 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

Before Jesus was born, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had not been revealed but they were involved in what God was doing with humans. Old testament experiences show them in action.

The Holy Spirit was working through a selected few before the day of the Pentecost.

We study with admiration the accomplishments of people like, Moses, Joshua, Sampson, David, Elisha, John the Baptist among many others that God used!

We look at them as heroes! All these people had one thing in common, the Holy Spirit lived in them! He was the hero of what they did and not them! So, the Holy Spirit Has a long history of involvement with humans! When humans let Him do the work, they won against evil! When they ditched Him and depended on themselves or on the creation, they lost!

The following bible extracts give us a glimpse of the Holy Spirit working through humans! The Holy Spirit gave them, creativity, leadership skills, insight, faith, courage, endurance, power over evil, and many other qualities!

One of the earliest examples involves Moses. Moses had a big task of taking thousands and thousands of people from Egypt to their promised land, Canaan. In the process, he ran into so many problems. Moses was not alone. He not only had God in a cloud during the day and a cloud of fire at night to guide him, but Moses had something we all want to have. He had the Holy Spirit in him. He tried to do as much as he could, but God told him to select a few other people as leaders and let them have what he had so that they can help him manage the people.

Moses gathers and brings seventy elders to the presence of God to receive the Holy Spirit that was in him.

Number 11:16-17 (NIV) The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

So, though Moses selected them as leaders, God knew that they cannot do much without the Holy Spirit. He used Moses to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Same thing happens today. God uses those filled with the Holy Spirit to fill those who want to be filled! God does the filling not a human being!

We see Sampson operating under the Holy Spirit in  Judges 14:6 The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done

King Soul and King David also operated under the Holy Spirit.

1 Samuel 16:13-14 (NIV) So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

David receives the Holy Spirit, and at the same time, the Holy Spirit departs from Soul due to his rebellion. An evil spirit entered his spirit and controlled him.  I am now losing count of persons I have encountered who are operating under unclean spirits, but thinking that they are servants of God. King Soul was under the same delusion.

In the scriptures below, prophet Elisha gets the Holy Spirit of God through Elijah, this is another good example of a spiritual candle lighting another spiritual candle.

2 Kings 2:13-15 (NIV) Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 

Then we see an amazing fact of John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb. This is fascinating!

Luke 1:15 (NIV) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb

When were disciples filled with the Holy Spirit?

When the disciples were with Jesus, they didn’t need the Holy Spirit. Jesus was there with them but, when he left, they scattered. They could not face the scrutiny or the persecution for being the disciples of Jesus. They could do nothing, so when Jesus was crucified, they ran away.

After Jesus died and resurrected, the disciples went about their lives and returned to what they new best, fishing! See John 21.

Jesus must have really sympathized with the disciples who looked lost and worried! He made it His business to be there to encourage them. He appeared to them several times during this period and in one of his visits, he told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had received power.

Jesus knew that they could not withstand evil that was against them with only what they had learnt from Him, they needed a Helper in form of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:49 (NIV) “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Acts 2:1-4 (ESV) When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Jesus sympathizes with us when we try to do things without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please note that after being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples had power to withstand opposition.

In the scripture below, we see Peter on fire after being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:40-41 (ESV) And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptised, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

The Holy Spirit is now a promise to all people. You and I can enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Joel 2:28 (NIV) ..And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit as Our Helper and comforter because we can do nothing without Him. The Holy Spirit is now not for the chosen few but for all believers. The filling may not be as dramatic as it happened during Pentecost but you will surely retain a divine peace when it happens. He will takes away your loneliness!

John 14:16-17(KJB) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you

We all have the right to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You only need to be in the presence of God, open your mouth and drink-in the Holy Spirit. God is more than willing to fill you.

The filling of the Holy Spirit gives you two things; the FRUITS and the GIFTS.

The Nine FRUITS of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit gives us the FRUITS to help us have a pleasant interaction with others and also for our own benefit by living a peaceful and joyful lives.

The presence of the Holy Spirit within us drives off unclean spirits that try to cling on us. Some of the most common traits from unclean spirits in our world today are kept off our lives once we start living within the guiding power of the Holy Spirit. Some of these things are constant headaches, depression, shyness, fear, anger the need to gratify the flesh sexually, among many others. These traits should also be a reminder that we have ignored something from the Holy Spirit and could be time to seek forgiveness by repenting and creating time for a fellowship with God in the privacy of our room!

We should strive to cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we display the fruits, it brings God the glory for we make other people happy by our presence alone. We also gain favor with others, giving the Holy Spirit inside us an opportunity to reach people we interact with.

Remember that the devil will try to interfere with the fruits by removing or substituting them with bad fruits so that you don’t make a positive impact in your social environment. A few examples of bad fruits are anger, hate, fear, uncontrollable desires for sexual gratification and general unpleasantness, among many others.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Unclean spirits in us, give us the opposite of what is listed in this scripture. If you feel that there is a stubborn unclean spirit that clings to you, take authority and ask the spirit to go. You can enlist persons full of the Holy Spirit to help you get rid of this spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you have repented by changing your mindset, you can command an evil spirit to leave. It is simple. Say it’s a spirit of depression, “I command you spirit of depression to leave my life and never come back in Jesus name”. You don’t have to say many things like an ignorant person. So long as you are genuinely a born again Christian, the unclean spirit should leave. Mark 16:17 (NIV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons…

The Nine GIFTS of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit gives you the GIFTS to help you overcome the work of satan in your life and the life of others around you. There is more personal victory over temptations and spiritual exploits in the life of a believer who has the gifts than the one who doesn’t .

The devil again will try to interfere or prevent you from receiving your gifts. He works through your attitude so that you have an unfavorable base of receiving the Holy Spirit. He entices you with the act of personal edification, pride, jealousy, greed, monetary gain or other. He pushes you to get the gifts for these reasons other than for the sole reason of glorifying God in your lifestyle.

Spiritual gifts are free. We have freely received we need to put the gift in action freely (Mathew 10:8 (NIV) Freely you have received; freely give)

1 Corinthians 12: 7 -11 (NLT) A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

You are called to prepare yourself to manifest fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. How? If you’ve not started, the following steps will help.

Accepting the supremacy of the Creator God and the redemption from our sins by the person of Jesus being crucified on the cross for your sins is a good first step.

Believe that you have the right to receive the Holy Spirit as a helper and a guide in our social environment.

Do you need deliverance? Habitual sins may hinder the fruits and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you have some habitual sins that trail you and you can’t shake them off, please read on how to overcome habitual sin before you are destroyed by evil . If you were once involved in a false religion, human traditions or occult, this is idolatry and God hates idolatry you need to renounce it! Be prepared to get rid of any physical items in your possession such as ornaments, rings, bungles, necklace or clothing. Burn or destroy them whichever is easier for you. Renounce any vows you made that binds you to any of these acts of idolatry. Seek deliverance or prayers for generational sins known or unknown.

Cloth yourself with a repentant attitude not a holy-than-thou attitude towards yourself and others.

Spend some quiet time with God in private every day praying in spirit and in truth. Sometimes you don’t even need to pray just be there focusing on His love for you. Fight all other thoughts that come at this time. It’s hard at the beginning but after a few days you will learn to spend quality time with the Creator.

Open your mouth and pray what comes from your heart during this time. You will find yourself speaking in some language you don’t understand. Don’t suppress it just pray. You will get a few words in the beginning but more words in future as you grow more in God’s word.

You will know when the Holy Spirit is in you because He will overshadow you with His love and peace.

Remember, because you don’t speak in tongues does not necessarily mean that you have not received the Holy Spirit. It just means the manifestation has not come out yet or it may have come out but you have not spoken.

Some people will start speaking in tongues once they are in the right environment in a prayer meeting where people are worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

Just like a small kid who is about to talk. They talk because they hear other people talking. Then they join in unconsciously. Same thing with people who start speaking in tongues for the first time. Don’t try to learn from others (that is faking and it belongs to the children of satan), just open your mouth and pray in your language, the other language will come automatically at its own time.

If you wish to be filled by the Holy Spirit, listen to this first

Are you born again, you think that you are spirit filled but still in a lot of emotional issues?

The problem is more likely your rebellion  Click here

You could also read on a related article that deals with depression!

I hope I have been of help to you in your understanding of the Holy Spirit. If you have any comments, please send them to me through our contact page.

May our God richly bless you.

[Article Author: Joseph GM]