Part 1 of 2 Over the last ten years I’ve been blessed to live in the reality of one of the most glorious communions with the Holy Spirit that you can imagine. It is so real to me, and I want it to be real to you, too. So I’m going to share some highlights of my personal journey into intimacy, in this teaching series. I’m hoping that my experience will inspire you— no matter what situation you find yourself in, whether intimacy is happening or not—and that you will receive a fresh infusion of passion for a close relationship with Him. So, come on! Let’s go! THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Let me give you a little background. I was impacted years ago, and first introduced to this kind of intimacy, through the ministries of Benny Hinn and Kathryn Kuhlman. They opened the way for me to go beyond the power of God’s Spirit, the gifts or any kind of experience like the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We must be careful not to define loving God according to our own ideas. Loving God is not to be defined according to human sentiment. We must define loving God as God defines it. Any other definition of love is a deception. We can only truly love God within the boundaries of pursuing to obey Him. Pursuing obedience is not necessarily the same thing as attaining obedience. The may still be areas in which we fall short, but if we are pursuing 100% obedience, our love is still genuine. As I look back, I can see that the person or presence of the Holy Spirit has become as real to me today as any man or woman would be anywhere I go. In fact, there are times when His presence is so real it’s as if a person is hovering over my shoulder. Or other times I’ll be walking along and I’ll sense His presence moving with me. I can feel it. Now I want to ask you several questions. What goes through your mind when you think of the Holy Spirit? When you see somebody shake and fall down under the power, or when someone speaks in tongues, do you think, there’s the Holy Spirit!? Or when you see a gift of the Spirit, do you call it the Holy Spirit? Actually, what you are seeing is the effect of the Spirit. But who is the Holy Spirit? I’m not talking about what He does—the Counselor or the Teacher. Who is He? Do you know what He feels? Do you know when He’s hurt? Do you know the emotions of the Holy Spirit? How much of the manifest presence of God’s Spirit do you know in your life? For example, I know Him like I know my wife. There are times when my wife will just look at me and I’ll know what she is thinking. It’s like when you are in such close relationship with someone and you’re in their presence, you just know. Nothing is even said, you just know. So, how close are you? Some of us think we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit; we can think of all the supporting scriptures and we invite the Holy Spirit to help us serve the Lord Jesus. We’re comfortable with the Father, we worship Jesus, and we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus. But there’s more. You can actually take it to another level . . . because your relationship with God isn’t just confined to the Father and Jesus Christ. It’s with the Holy Spirit, too. God is three persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and if you want to know the fullness of God, you need to know all three persons. Genesis Chapter 1 verse 26, Chapter 11 verse 7 and Isaiah Chapter 6 verse 8 all refer to the Godhead as “Us”—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, united in purpose THE HOLY SPIRIT IS EMOTIONAL As I got to know the Holy Spirit, I began to realize that He loves it when we begin to give honor and place to His presence. He just loves it when we say, “Holy Spirit, I want You.” Even if you’ve said this one hundred times, He likes to hear it just like my wife likes to hear me say, “I love you” again and again. When we do, He always comes in a mighty way. Wow! Why is that? It’s because He is welcomed, He is invited, and He is loved on! This gives Him great delight and pleasure. Have you ever felt the delight and the pleasure of the Spirit? Or, on the other hand, have you ever felt the anger of the Holy Spirit? There are times when I know when He is tormented, and I sure don’t like that! He’ll come and He’ll expect me to do something about it—“I’m sorry Holy Spirit. It’s people, it’s these people,” and I feel His weeping. I feel it when He’s grieved. Nothing is said, I just know because we’re that close. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul gave an important warning to the Ephesians not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. “Let no corrupt wordproceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” --- Eph. 4:29–32, emphasis mine. Grieve means: intense emotional suffering caused by a loss; a cause of such suffering; to vex. [Webster’s New World Dictionary]. To cause pain, to cause great sorrow [Online Dictionary]. Vex means: to disturb, annoy, distress, afflict [Webster’s New World Dictionary]. Did you notice in Ephesians 4 verses 29, 30 (above) that corrupt words, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking are connected to grieving the Holy Spirit? On the other hand, verse 32 states what pleases Him: “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” ---Eph. 4:32. So, please Him; don’t wound Him! If you continually speak corrupt, evil words, and if you are habitually full of bitterness, wrath, and clamor, then you can actually make yourself God’s enemy because you’re in rebellion and you’re grieving the Holy Spirit. Look at this verse in the Book of Isaiah: “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them” --- Is. 63.10. If you make yourself God’s enemy, He will fight against you, because there is something about the emotions of the Holy Spirit that the Father and Jesus are very protective of. About the best illustration that pictures this is a man protecting his wife. The Holy Ghost is not a woman, but He is like a woman in the area of emotions. I’m married to a beautiful wife. The more I spend time with her the more I see her emotional side and I want to protect her. Just like a husband is very protective of his wife, so the Father and Jesus are protective when it comes to the person of the Holy Spirit because He is the One that communicates all the emotions of the Godhead. And He is the One that communicates to us God’s feelings, especially His love. What’s more, Jesus gave a stern warning to anyone who would speak a word against the Holy Spirit. In other words, to anyone who commits blasphemy against the Spirit. Blasphemy means evil speaking, railing [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance [#988]. “Therefore I say to you,every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven me n. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. --- Matt. 12:31, 32, emphasis mine. Every sin and blasphemy against the Son of Man, Jesus, shall be forgiven men, but the Father and Jesus are so protective of the Holy Spirit that blasphemy against Him— speaking against Him, or evil speaking, or railing—will not be forgiven. It is the unpardonable sin. No forgiveness for that. Woe! COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT Look. We need an encounter with the Holy Spirit; we need to be in communion with Him, because if we really know the emotions of the Holy Spirit and what pleases Him, quickly we’ll be convicted and grieved about those things that cause Him pain and wounding. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, focused on communion with the Holy Spirit: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” --- 2 Cor. 13:14. Notice, he says “with you all.” His words are for all of us in the church today . . . that we would have an encounter, an experience with the Holy Spirit. It’s like he is saying, “I want one thing with you. I want the love of God with you. I want the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with you. But one thing I want to have, and I want to have with you, is the communion of the Holy Spirit. The word communion here means fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Paul is saying (paraphrase): “I want you to have an experience called communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.” So what is communion/fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Here is the answer. This kind of communion/fellowship is portrayed in the word koinonia, which means sharing and unity with the Holy Spirit. It refers to participation, partnership, close association, and ultimately an intimate bond with the Holy Spirit. DEVELOPING INTIMACY IS PRACTICAL Remember, an intimate bond doesn’t happen overnight. It is developed and cultivated, and so there is a practical, hands-on aspect involved here. By that I mean, for instance, in connection with sharing, I would actually have fellowship with the Holy Spirit reading the Bible to Him. Why not! After all, He is the one who inspired the living word! He is a teacher; a living teacher! While reading Him scripture I would feel so close to Him, just like with my wife. I’d thank Him for all the promises and I would begin to apply them to my life-experience. At times, when I didn’t understand certain scripture, I would ask Him the meaning and He would answer. That same practical, hands-on aspect goes for unity, too. Unity with the Holy Spirit means close association and partnership. In other words, the Holy Spirit and I are partners. Believers are invited to participate with the Holy Spirit in every miracle and every healing. Yes, it’s really the work of God’s Spirit but we can participate. Listen. Knowing that makes it exciting as I go to the nations. “Holy Spirit, we’re going to Africa! Look at the people out there. They’re going hear about Jesus Christ! Holy Spirit, help me tonight. We’re going to present the gospel; You and I. Holy Spirit we’re going to bring signs and wonders to these people tonight. Isn’t that great?” That’s how I would talk with the Holy Spirit, for hours—down-to-earth dialogue with the Holy Spirit—not some weird, magical, “come Holy Spirit.” Unity also involves fellowship and brotherhood, creating an intimate bond. How intimate is your bond with the Holy Spirit? How deep does your intimate bond with the Holy Spirit feel? You know, you can really only answer those questions about the bond if you are actually experiencing it. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS INTEGRAL TO EVERYTHING As I spent time honoring the Holy Spirit, building a friendship with Him and developing intimacy (for example, saying His name over and over and welcoming Him, and more) my whole walk with God came up to a much higher level. I always made (and make) every effort to say, “I can’t even get into the presence of God without You. I can’t even say ‘Jesus is Lord’ without You. I can’t even get to the Father unless You draw me. If I’m going to get close to the Father, I can’t get there without You, Holy Spirit, so let’s go! I can’t even feel the love of God without You putting it in my heart! The only way I can feel the presence of God is because You make it possible!” As I became aware that the Holy Spirit was integral to everything, I also noticed how Christians related to Him like He was somehow inferior to the Father and Jesus Christ, that somehow He was the servant of the body of Christ. Theologically we don’t believe that but you’d think so by the way we treat Him. The Holy Spirit in most of our lives is like the friend that we ask to come over for supper. We’re like this: “Come, Holy Ghost I want You to come to my house. But I want You to come just so You can bring all Your blessings and power.” Then we just say, “Hey, thanks for coming over. I asked You to come and I know that You’re here.” But then we don’t share our heart and give Him our love when He comes; we don’t set aside quality intimate time with Him. But when we need His power we say, “Come Holy Spirit, because I need to preach better, sing better, I need to move in miracles. So Holy Spirit come, would You move in my meeting, break out in joy, revival, renewal. Come, Holy Spirit!” The fact is, Jesus honored the Holy Spirit, and we need to be like Him. He didn’t do anything without the Holy Spirit. He didn’t even come into the world without the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit of God that overshadowed Mary enabling her to conceive the Son of God --- Luke 1:35. Jesus didn’t do any ministry unless He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power --- Luke 3:22; 4:1; 4:14–21; Acts 10:38. He didn’t even die without the Holy Spirit because scripture says He gave up His Spirit to the eternal Spirit --- Jn. 19:30. Jesus wasn’t even raised from the dead without the Holy Spirit --- Rom. 8:11. It’s amazing that everything in the Bible—creation, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, miracles—revolves around the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, everything He did, as great as it was, was by the Holy Spirit. That’s a picture of the fullness of God, and as I stated earlier, if we want to walk in the fullness of God, then we need to know the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. How can we know the fullness of God without knowing the fullness of all three? For instance, there are times when the presence of God will fill my room, and I can tell you which Person is waiting for me at that moment. Yes, it’s God and it’s the presence of God, but there’s always one personality that’s exemplified. In other words, I’ve come to know which one is pressing Himself out of the presence to me. I’ve come to the place where I can discern the personalities of the Godhead—if it’s the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit—just like I know the distinct personalities of each of my three children. At times I may be in prayer saying, “Jesus…precious wonderful Jesus. I love You Jesus.” Then all of a sudden, “Father, my Holy Father!” will flow out of me. My whole focus will be on the Father’s goodness and that I’m His child. Then I’m back in the presence of Jesus. But all of a sudden I’m trembling and weeping, sensing the Holy Spirit covering me like a blanket. “Wrap me in Your presence Holy Spirit. You are wonderful, I love You.” Then I’m back focusing on Jesus once again and after awhile I will be in the presence of the Father. This glorious cycle might last for hours—the visitation of God and understanding the three different personalities. CLOSING So take Part One to heart and let your desire for intimacy with the Holy Spirit, intensify. He wants to be intimate with you! Let Him help you take your relationship to an exciting new level. By making intimacy a top priority, your relationship is going to burst into full bloom! Now, before closing, I want to invite you to pray the following prayer with me: “God, as we come before You we want to ask for forgiveness if, in any way, we have neglected or have not held Your Holy Spirit in high esteem. We want to thank You for sending us Your Spirit and, today, we pledge ourselves to always honor the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”