The Holy Spirit is referred to by various Names and Titles throughout the Word of God, some of which we will look at in other articles.
One of His Names which is central to His role in our lives is: The Spirit of Truth.
Jesus specifically referred to Him with this Name while teaching the disciples in John concerning the coming Spirit after Jesus’ departure, using it more than once in reference to The Holy Spirit.
EThis repetitive use by Jesus shows that there is something we need to learn from understanding who The Holy Spirit is as ‘The Spirit of Truth’.
One thing Jesus mentions is that The Spirit of Truth will show us things that Jesus had not been able to teach them yet.
John 14:16-17
:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–
:17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 15:26
:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
John 16:12-15
:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
:14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
:15 “All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
In each of these verses the Holy Spirit is called ‘The Spirit of Truth’.
In John 16:13 Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will ‘guide you into all truth’, He will take the things of Jesus and declares (shows them) to us. We can learn to draw from Him and gain greater understanding of the truth.
Don’t underestimate the importance of truth in your life:
This aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry may seem to some to be insignificant or unimportant, because they do not understand the value of truth, and it’s importance to God.
What we value in life and what God sees as important are often different.
Most people do not realise that getting a hold of truth is one of the most powerful and necessary things you can do with you life. People think they don’t need to know truth, what they need is answered prayer, healing, needs met, marriages fixed etc.
They need real answers to real problems in life, real help in time of trouble. We think ‘truth’ is something best left for philosophers, theologians and scientists!
What we need to understand is that truth IS real help.
Knowing the Word of God; understanding who you are In Christ, what God has done for you through Jesus and what God has made available to you through your inheritance In Christ and how to receive these things are some of the most important things you could ever get a hold of in life.
John 8:31,32
:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
There is liberty and freedom in the truth. The Word of God IS the truth.
John 17:17
:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
God’s truth sets free, the devil uses lies to bind people and trap them.
The devil is the deceiver, he uses lies and deception to control humans. When people accept and believe his lies, they open themselves up to his control and to him bringing problems into their lives.
There are so many people who are suffering and struggling in life and what they need is the truth, which is a very real help. Truth acted upon brings results.
Many times you hear Christians talking about needing ‘deliverance’. To deliver is to set free. Truth has to power to deliver people from what the devil has used to trap and bind them in life.
That is why the Holy Spirit’s ministry toward us as ‘The Spirit of Truth’ is so important. He will lead and guide you into truth and that truth will set you free and have a profound effect upon your life.
Psalm 107:20
:20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.
Here we see that God sent His Word to do 2 things:
- To heal and
- To deliver from destruction.
There is freedom – deliverance – in the Word, the truth
There is healing in the Word, the truth.
As the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, by revealing the Word of God to you, you can begin to walk in greater freedom and healing.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
:25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
:26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
When people get to know the truth, they can escape the snare (trap) of the enemy who is manipulating and controlling people’s lives with death, destruction, pain, suffering etc. the enemy is using lies to blind people and keep them from the freedom that is found in God’s truth.
There is no greater thing in life than knowing and walking in the truth.
Knowing the truth of what Jesus did for you in redeeming your life from the enemy, from death and the curse, knowing the truth of what God has given you in your inheritance In Christ and your right to healing, freedom and prosperity. Knowing the truths of how to pray results orientated prayers, and how to use your faith to receive all that God has provided for you.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth shows you these things. He teaches you the Word, and reminds you of things. He brings scriptures to your remembrance when you need to stand on them in life.
We have THE Teacher living within us. Often we don’t have a human around who can show us things. We may not know someone who can show us the Bible and how to understand it, but the Holy Spirit will show you.
1 John 2:,27
:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
(The anointing is a reference to the Holy Spirit as we will look at later)
1 Corinthians 2:12-14
:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Verse 12 says that the reason we have received the Spirit is, ‘that we might know the things that have been freely given us by God’
The Holy Spirit is not ‘just a feeling’ or a ‘fun experience’. He is not just there to give you goose pimples or to make to ‘fall down’. He has a far greater purpose in our lives, and many people are not taking full advantage of the ministry God has sent Him into our lives to fulfil.
Many people are experiencing a ‘surface level’ experience of the Holy Spirit. Yes, they ‘feel’ His touch in church on Sundays, they may even get goose pimples and fall over. But when they get up, they have not taken the time to get ‘truth’ from the Holy Spirit.
The feelings and the experiences can be wonderful, but they wear off. What about the next day when you have to face life again?
The experiences won’t get you through the long haul of life, but TRUTH will.
The Holy Spirit reveals, shows and teaches us what God has given us.
Through Christ we have been given an amazing inheritance which includes salvation, healing, deliverance, victory over life and challenges, freedom, prosperity etc.
The Holy Spirit within us shows us what is ours, what God has given us and teaches us how to receive. By bringing us light of the Word of God the Holy Spirit helps bring us into the fullness of our inheritance In Christ. He also reminds us what we have let slip and the truths we are no longer walking in.
Have you ever noticed that you will never do something you forgot about?
Have you ever gone to the grocery store to get something, but never wrote it down and when you got there you forgot, getting everything else except what you went for?
Why? You will never get something you forget you needed!
You will never do something you forgot about!
When I was at school sometimes the teacher would ask, ‘Did you do your assignment?’ and people would often answer, ‘No, I forgot’
There are important spiritual truths that we need to ensure we are putting into practice in our lives, but if we forget about them we will never do them.
Often it’s not the things you don’t know that are hindering you, rather it is the things you know but have forgotten about!
The Holy Spirit reminds us, bringing to our remembrance the things that the Word of God has taught us, so that we can do them, putting them into practice, enabling us to receive the full benefit of the truths.
What the Holy Spirit does in our lives is spiritual and often to the natural mind it doesn’t look like what we need. (1 Corinthians 2:13-14).
Man’s wisdom says one thing, God’s wisdom says another.
We need to learn to not despise what the Holy Spirit shows us or leads us into. When He teaches us truth from the Word of God, don’t belittle it or devalue its importance. Very often contained within those truths are the answer we need for our lives, but our natural mind can talk us out of them.
Our mind will tell us, ‘That’s not what you need’, but it is! The Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need and what will help you. Take what He shows and follow His leadings and you will come out on top in life!
The Word and the Spirit:
Since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and God’s Word is Truth, we can see a direct connection between the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
1 John 5:7
:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
The Word and the Spirit work together.
Many people think that the Spirit and the Word are 2 different options.
You get churches that are classed as ‘Word churches’ and places where people think there is more of the Spirit but not much Word.
In truth they both work together and do not contradict. The Holy Spirit will never lead you differently to the Word or in a way that contradicts the Word.
He is the Spirit of Truth and He always works with and in line with the Truth, which is the Word of God.
His ministry is taking the things of Jesus (The Word made flesh) and revealing or showing them to us. He also reminds us of what Jesus said. All of this comes back to the Word
Sometimes Christians do things that are completely opposite to the Word of God and they use the excuse that the Spirit led them to do it.
I cannot agree with that as being correct, since the Holy Spirit does not contradict the Word. Often people use the Holy Spirit as an excuse for things they came up with.
Many times when people say God led them to do something, really it was themselves leading themselves to do it, and God is getting blamed!
We ought to have more respect for the God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit than just flippantly saying things are of God when they are clearly not. God is not confused and He works with His Word and with His Spirit. They are all One.
If it is God it will be in line with His Word and in line with the Love commandment. The Holy Spirit will never violate the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
He works with and in line with the truth all the time.
He reveals truth and guides us into all truth, so everything He says and does will be in line with the Word of God which IS the truth.
