Understanding The Heart Of The Holy Spirit

By Dr. Mary Craig

The Holy Spirit is a Person. He has a personality. He has a mind. Romans 8.27 says: "Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit has a will. I Corinthians 12.11 says: "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." And the Holy Spirit has the attributes of feeling. Ephesians 4.30 says: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

Tonight I want to share with you some insight from the Word of God concerning the heart of the Holy Spirit that you might understand Him and what He desires better.

The Holy Spirit. What does He want? Well, some scriptures come easily to mind.

1. God commands all men everywhere to repent. (Acts 17.30) God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2.4) The Lord is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3.9)
2. The Holy Spirit desires truth, truth in the inward parts. Psalm 51.6 says "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom." The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and He guides us into the truth. (John 14) He is the Comforter, the Paraclete, the One who comes alongside. He brings to us the truth, revealing truth to us, revealing Jesus Christ to us and the things of God.
3. As God, the Holy Spirit desires mercy, not sacrifice. "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire. My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require." (Psalm 40.6) "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering." (Psalm 51.6) "I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And the knowledge of God above burnt offerings." (Hosea 6.6) Jesus said, "But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Mt. 9.13) And again, Jesus says, "But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless." (Mt. 12.7) And Hebrews 10.5, 8, 9 tell us: "Therefore, when He (Jesus) came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me." And "Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law, then He said, "Behold I have come to do You will, O God."
4. The Holy Spirit desires to declare the glory of God in all He does. He is here to glorify Jesus, to glorify the Father.
5. Because God is a good Father, He chastens, makes chaste, purifies those He loves, and the Holy Spirit brings that to pass. (Hebrews 12)

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He is the Mighty Third Person of the Trinity, and He is sent on a mission. That mission is to bring to pass all that the Father has declared and decreed and that Jesus has done. The Holy Spirit applies what Jesus has accomplished.

He speaks, He sends people out, He shows or demonstrates God’s Word. He convinces people that God loves them and empowers the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We will not exhaust teaching about the heart of the Holy Spirit tonight, but I desire in sharing His desires to encourage fellowship with Him. He is with you, in you, for you, and as the promise of the Father, Luke 24.49, is upon you. He is with you to convict, in you to cleanse, for you to justify you, upon you to empower you and to govern you.

The Holy Spirit desires to turn chaos into order and darkness into light. Right in the beginning, in Genesis 1.2, we see the Holy Spirit hovering upon the face of the waters. There in the midst of chaos and darkness, when God said, Let there be light, the Holy Spirit brought that light. He fulfills the desires of the Father, just as Jesus does. The Holy Spirit brings to expression the heart of the Father. They are One. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the Father declares and decrees and designs, Jesus delivers, forms, and accomplishes or executes the desires of the Father and the Holy Spirit makes it so. He brings it to pass with His power. He manifests it, demonstrates it, concludes it.

The Holy Spirit speaks and strives with men and women, boys and girls, in order to bring salvation, to spare you, to strengthen you inside, to justify and sanctify you. The Holy Spirit loves and desires to bring to you the love of the Father. He desires to bring you into fellowship with the Father through the atoning work of Jesus Christ already accomplished. He desires to bring to pass Jesus’ prayer that we be with Jesus and behold His glory (John 17.24).

The Holy Spirit teaches, commands, intercedes, and witnesses to us, guides us into all truth and leads us into righteousness. He directs our hearts into the love of God and longings after Jesus. He communicates God’s love to us (Romans 5.8).

The Holy Spirit is a Person. He has feelings, emotions, though they are pure and holy and clean. In contrast, our desires are described in the Bible as being wicked, evil, sinful, worldly, and very human. The Holy Spirit seeks to divest us of those desires and to align us to the desires of the Godhead.

In our efforts to maintain sinful desires of our little evil hearts, we as human beings are capable to lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5.3, 4), grieving Him and tormenting Him (Ephesians 4), quenching Him (1 Thess. 5.17), resisting Him (Acts 7), vexing Him (Psalm 78), and really opposing Him. (Galatians 5)

Opposing the Holy Spirit is not new. Nehemiah 9 gives a synoposis of old covenant Israel. Read.

When we fight the Holy Spirit, we must remember one thing about Him. He does not always strive. (Genesis 6.7) Yes, He strives to bring people to the knowledge of God, but Zechariah 7.8-14 says this: Read.

The heart of the Holy Spirit has remained constant, and it is still as we read here today. He will not always strive, and now He is withdrawing His presence where He is not wanted and where people are resisting Him and grieving Him and quenching Him and rebelling against Him and slandering His spokespeople.

For those who truly want Him and who truly desire what he desires, He is coming in great glory and with a mighty demonstration of His power and Presence. We are to get ready for the glory, desiring truth in the inward parts, desiring repentance, desiring holiness in our lives, desiring to put off sinful, evil, wicked desires and the things that oppose Him, desiring that the love of God be shed abroad.
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