Can I please use you to vent to for two to three minutes? It happened to me some eight hours ago and I am still shaking my head in disbelief. Here’s what happened … someone messaged me and, in mentioning the Holy Spirit, they typed the word “it”. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. They referred to the Holy Spirit as an “it”. Were they kidding me? If I could have reached my hands through my computer screen and used the internet to get to this person, I would have put a few holy slaps all over their face. (I’m just kidding about the slaps … or kinda’ kidding.)
So what’s the problem? Surely the “it” isn’t that big of a deal, right?
Big deal? YES! A Texas-size YES!!! Here is what I know to be true. Rather than knowing the “Personhood” (is that really a word?) of the Holy Spirit, the “it” reduces the Holy Spirit into being some force or mystical heavenly question mark that no one can understand. The “it” causes the third PERSON of the Godhead to be mistakenly identified as a dove, fire, wind, or vapor rather than God the Holy Spirit.
“Personhood”? Where do we see this in the Word? Jesus totally obliterated what I call the “it” factor and removed any cause for misunderstanding when He introduced the Holy Spirit to His disciples in John 14-16 identifying the Holy Spirit nineteen times with personal pronouns like He, Him, and Himself. There wasn’t a single “it” mentioned. These pronouns show that, as a Person, the Holy Spirit is One that you can know and enjoy a relationship. Knowing His “Personhood” allows:
- You to dialogue with the Holy Spirit. You can speak to Him and hear Him speak back to you.
- Him to be the Helper that Jesus promised.
- Him to connect you with the heart of the Father in ways not previously known.
- Him to be real to you so that He can be real through you.
I’ll close with one of the most powerful statements that I have ever read about the “Personhood” of the Holy Spirit. The late Kathryn Kuhlman said it best, “The Holy Spirit is more real to me than you are.”
Is He? If not, allow me to take this opportunity to introduce to you the Person named the Holy Spirit. I’ll quit writing so that you two can start dialoguing.
