It is impossible to understand the work of the Holy Spirit, or to get into a right relationship with the Holy Spirit, without first coming to know the Holy Spirit as a Person. One of the most fruitful sources of error and misconception, of unwholesome enthusiasm and false fire and fanaticism, in the treatment of this whole subject, is from trying to know the work of the Holy Spirit before we first come to know the Holy Spirit himself.
The doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit is of the highest importance from the standpoint of worship. If the Holy Spirit i thought of as an impersonal influence or power, as so many do, then we rob Him of the worship that is His due, of the love that is His due, and of the faith and confidence and surrender and obedience and worship that are His due. I pause to ask you, "Do you worship the Holy Spirit?" It is one thing to theoretically acknowledge the Holy Spirit in the doxology, "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." It is quite another thing to realize the meaning and the force of these words.
It is of the highest importance from a practical standpoint that we know the Holy Spirit as a Person. To think of the Spirit as merely an influence or power, then your thought will constantly be, "How can I get hold of the Holy Spirit and use it? How can I get more of the Holy Spirit? But if you think of Him in the biblical way, as a Person of divine majesty and glory, your thought will be, "How can the Holy Spirit get hold of me and use me? How can the Holy Spirit get more of me!?"
If you think of the Spirit as an influence that you are to get hold of, and then believe you have received the Spirit, the inevitable result will be that you will strut around as if you belonged to a superior order of Christians. We see far too much of that today. If you think of the Spirit as a divine Person of infinite majesty, who comes to dwell in our hearts and take possession of us and use us as He wills, it leads to humility. No great biblical truth more efficiently puts one in the dust and keeps one in the dust than this.
Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see the Holy Spirit as a Person who is just as real as Your Son Jesus. Show me what it is about the Spirit that I have misunderstood. There is nothing I desire more than to come to know Him as He really is. Amen
~R. A. Torrey~
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