How to Know the Holy Spirit

The value of true spiritual knowledge in the Christian life is very important. A man whose inheritance comes to him is no richer if he does not know how to take possession of it. In the same way, the gifts of God's grace cannot bring their full blessing until we truly understand and possess them.

In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It is the knowledge of Christ Jesus for which the believer is willing to count all things but loss. It is because of the lack of true knowledge of what God in Christ has prepared for us that the lives of believers are so weak.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians - that the Father would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him that they might know the hope of their calling and the riches of the inheritance and the exceeding goodness of the power working in them. This is a prayer we can never pray enough, whether for ourselves or for others.

But it is important that we know the teacher through whom all the other knowledge is to come! The Father has given each one of His children not only Christ, who is the Truth, but the Holy Spirit, who is the very Spirit of Christ and the truth.

Recognizing the Spirit

How do we know when it is the Spirit that is teaching us? If our knowledge of spiritual things is to be to us a certainty and a comfort, we must know the teacher Himself. Knowing Him will be to us the evidence that our spiritual knowledge is no deception. Our blessed Lord assures us that we will "know" the Spirit. Messengers and witnesses do not speak of themselves.

The Holy Spirit, when He testifies of Christ and glorifies Him, must be known and acknowledged. In this way we can have the assurance that the knowledge we receive is indeed of God and not what our human reason has gathered from the Word of God. To know the King's seal is the only safeguard against a counterfeit image. To know the Spirit is the divine foundation of certainty.

How can the Holy Spirit be known? Jesus says, "Ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." The indwelling of the Spirit is the condition of knowing Him. As we allow Him to dwell in us, and allow Him to testify of Jesus as Lord, He will prove Himself to be the Spirit of God. "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth" (1 John 5:6).

The presence of the Spirit as the indwelling teacher of every believer is little known and recognized in the Church. As the result, the workings of the Spirit are few. There is much doubt and hesitation about the recognition of the witness of the Spirit. As the truth and experience of the indwelling of the Spirit are restored among God's people, and the Spirit is free again to work in power among us, His blessed presence will be sufficient proof. We will indeed know Him.
e
But as long as His presence is so little recognized, and His power hindered, how is He to be known? If you honestly desire to know that you have the Spirit as a personal possession and teacher, study the teaching of the Word concerning the Spirit. Do not be content with the teachings of men about the Spirit, but go to the Word. Do not be content with your ordinary readin of the Word, or what you already know about its doctrines.

If you earnestly want to know the Holy Spirit, go and search the Word as one thirsting to drink deeply of  the water of life. Collect all the scriptures concerning the Spirit, His indwelling and His work, and hide them in your heart. Be determined to accept nothing except what the Word teaches, but accept it heartily. Study the Word in dependence on the Spirit's teaching. If you study it with your human wisdom, your study of it may only confirm you mistaken views.

If you are a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit to teach you, even though you do not yet know how He works in you, or how to listen to Him. Ask the Father to work through Him in you and to make the Word life and light in you. If you submit heartily to the Word, you will find the promise surely fulfilled: you will be taught by God. Give up all your thoughts and man's thoughts as you accept the Word. Ask God to reveal in you, by His Spirit, His thoughts concerning His Spirit. He will surely do so!!