Holy Spirit 101: Understanding the Seven Spirits of God

By Darryl L. Gay

Holy Spirit 101: Understanding the Seven Spirits of God

This book provides a clear and concise picture of who the Holy Spirit is, His purpose, and His plan concerning how He interacts with the believer. In the Bible, the number 7 is often used to convey the idea of completion. The Word of God declares that the God we serve is a Spirit.

The Scriptures reveal that there are seven Spirits or attributes of God which clearly define who He desires to be in the life of every true believer. Additionally the Bible provides proof that our Creator wants all seven Spirits or attributes to actively operate in our lives to ensure that we are fully empowered to overcome every temptation and obstacle that the enemy may throw our way. Our Creator desires for us to mature into the people that we were created to become.

Journey with me as we learn more about the seven Spirits of God and how to incorporate them effectively into our daily lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9798886162660

Book preview

ISBN 979-8-88616-265-3 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88616-266-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Darryl L. Gay

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife, First Lady Mireille Pierre-Louis Gay, I praise the Lord for using you to teach and inspire me not to just finish this project but finish every work that the Lord requires of me in the future. Your drive and tenacity inspire me to push harder than ever for greatness. He used you, your patience, and your unconditional love to bring me out of deep darkness and depression; and I am forever grateful to the Lord for bringing you into my life when I needed you most. You have all my heart, love, and gratitude forever.

To my former wife of twenty-nine years, Prophetess and Pastor Elaine Martin Gay, whom the Lord used to encourage and teach me by example how to share His unconditional love with others. She passed and went to be with the Lord on August 8, 2021, which left me heartbroken. I know you are cheerleading for me to complete this work that you were a vital part of from its inception. To my surprise, the Lord decided to bless me with my current wife to help restore my life and get this book across the finish line.

Contents

Chapter 1: Who Is the Holy Spirit?

Chapter 2: Spirit of the Lord

Chapter 3: Spirit of Wisdom

Chapter 4: Spirit of Understanding

Chapter 5: Spirit of Counsel

Chapter 6: Spirit of Power

Chapter 7: Spirit of Knowledge

Chapter 8: Spirit of the Fear of the Lord

Chapter 9: Possessing the Fullness of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 10: Fire Baptized

Chapter 11: Praying the Will of the Father

Chapter 12: (Holy Spirit Gives) Deliverance from the Evil One

Chapter 13: Becoming Agents of Deliverance

Endnotes

Chapter 1

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

It is impossible to talk about the seven Spirits of God without having a truly clear understanding of who or what the Holy Spirit is according to the Bible and how He daily operates in the life of the believer. There are many misconceptions about the Holy Spirit, even in Christendom. One of the goals of this book is to bring more clarity to this complex and often perplexing subject matter. As we embark upon this daunting endeavor, we must willingly open our minds to consider that many things we have heard about Him (Holy Spirit) is not documented in the Holy Scriptures but are part of the opinions of other humans which have been shared from generation to generation. We must also be willing to prepare ourselves to modify our belief system as we learn what the Word of God really says about the Holy Spirit.

As we change our beliefs to be more in tune with the Holy Bible, we are then expected by our Lord to willingly share these truths with those who are living in a state of ignorance or confusion concerning who the Holy Spirit is and His function in the life of the unbeliever as well as the believer.¹ As believers, we have been empowered to share Holy Spirit-given revelation to all while understanding that the words we share will bring about change in the lives of others because they are not our words but His.² Scripture tells us that God’s people are destroyed for having a lack of knowledge.³ We must strongly consider that when God, by His Spirit, is willingly revealing information concerning Himself to us, we should graciously accept it and apply it to every area of our lives. By implementing the spiritual truths revealed in the Bible and elaborated upon in this book, we are declaring to the enemy that his plans for our lives are nullified and that we are literally experiencing the victorious plan that the Lord has for our lives.

The Holy Spirit is more than an "active force" or the power of God as some religions teach.⁴ He (the Holy Spirit) is the third person or attribute of the Godhead. By saying "person, we are not implying that God is a person, but rather we use this term to explain that God has conscience, mind, will, emotion, and feelings like we humans do, who were created in His image and likeness.⁵ When thinking about what is often called the Trinity, we can easily envision God as Father and Jesus as Son, but when we begin to think about the Holy Spirit, that is where confusion often arises, and we try to make Him an it" because from a human perspective, anything that we cannot connect to from a physical or natural point of view is not allowed to have masculine attributes. However, since the Bible clearly teaches God is One, we must willingly abandon this way of thinking to truly appreciate who the Holy Spirit is and what He desires to do within our personal lives.⁶ He is as much God as God is the Father (Source) and Jesus is the Son (Word), and He is the only person of the Godhead that cannot be spoken evil against and forgiveness later be received or obtained.⁷ God, in His infinite wisdom, has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind in three distinct manifestations with three different functions, but He is still one God in essence, purpose, and plan.⁸ There is complete unity within the Godhead.

Scripture teaches that God is continually reconciling mankind back to Himself.⁹ He does this reconciliation through the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit.¹⁰ God is complete, and it is His desire for mankind to be complete as well.¹¹ However, completion can only occur when the believer is connected to the Source, which is God the Father. Although we are spirit, soul, and body, we are still incomplete until we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts through the process commonly known as salvation—having faith that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins through His suffering and death on the cross, God raising Him from the dead, and because of this selfless act, we are now able to walk in newness of life.¹²

The function of the Holy Spirit is to bring those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into spiritual maturity.¹³ The maturity or perfection that He (Holy Spirit) brings into the life of the believer enables him to be a light and example of the goodness of God to others. The Holy Spirit is God on earth, and His major purpose is to lead, guide, and direct us on how to be more like Jesus Christ in our daily thoughts, words, and actions.¹⁴ He gives us the necessary power and authority to overcome all sins, traumas, and weaknesses.¹⁵ He is here to comfort us when we are heartbroken by the obstacles of life.¹⁶ The Holy Spirit is to the believer today what Jesus Christ was to His disciples when He was living on earth with them. Jesus promised His disciples that He would not leave them without a comforter but that He would come to them.¹⁷ This promise that He made to His followers almost two thousand years ago apply to those who follow Him today as well.¹⁸ We must embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which will give us the ability to live a victorious life and bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The term Holy Spirit is taken from two Hebrew words Qodesh (Holy) and Ruwach (Spirit). To be holy implies that we are to separate ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically from what is considered unholy. We must first understand that we humans do not decide what is holy or unholy. God, our Creator and Father, decided many eons ago and has chosen to inform us through the Holy Bible. He defines what is good and what is evil, what is clean and what is unclean, what is holy and unholy.¹⁹ When speaking of His Spirit, God the Father calls Him holy. This implies that there is no filth or sin within His Spirit. By using the term holy, He gives us a glimpse into His pureness and His character. Not only is the Holy Spirit pure in character but is also pure in nature. The Holy Spirit is integrity personified in the heart of the believer.

Jesus, as a representation of the Godhead on earth, had to walk in all pureness as well. The Bible states that there was no guile found in Him.²⁰ Guile means insidious cunning in attaining a goal, crafty or artful deception, duplicity.²¹ We can clearly understand that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was truly trustworthy when He walked on planet earth, and now that He has ascended to the right hand of the Father, we know even more that we can trust Him to do all that His Word says He will do concerning those who follow Him and His teachings.

Since God is one in character, essence, and purpose, we must understand that the Holy Spirit is without guile as well. Therefore, we can trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus Christ and His character or attributes to us as the Holy Scriptures stated He would.²² Jesus baptizes His followers with the Holy Spirit and fire.²³ The Spirit empowers us to live holy, and the fire cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Both are needed and required for our right relationship with the Lord to be established and for us to reap the benefits of this union. What a powerful combination!

As we look at the term holy as a description of God, we are challenged to understand that we have been given a mandate by this same God to be holy as He is holy.²⁴ He never asked us to try to be holy but just to be, which implies that He predetermined to give us the necessary ability to operate in holiness when we allow His Spirit to connect to our recreated spirits.²⁵ It is imperative that we understand that God would never command us to do something that He has not already given us the ability to successfully accomplish. To do otherwise would go against His character of being a holy, righteous, and trustworthy Father. This implies that deep within at the core of our being, we can live a holy and pure life. However, we must remember that it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit that we are able to do what we do for Him.²⁶ This removes our ability to make the excuse to God that we are doing the best that we can because He expects us to allow Him to live through us and work through us that He may bring glory to His holy name.²⁷

Acknowledging that we can only live in obedience as we allow His Spirit to operate within us literally destroys the spirit of pride that Satan desires to use to bring deception to us so that he may rule our lives. It is in Jesus Christ that we live, move, and have our being, and we cannot, under any circumstances, take credit for what is going on in our lives because God has promised to work all things together for the good of those who truly love Him.²⁸ Once the believer realizes this point, humility floods the heart, and a desire to please the Father quickly follows, which destroys the desires of the flesh, thus allowing the fruit of His Spirit to operate in a greater way in our lives.

As we yield ourselves to His plan, we further crucify our own fleshly nature, taking us further into a mindset of humility, which produces the peace of God in our lives. We must daily incorporate the truthful statement "without Him we can do nothing" into our lives so that we will take no credit for any of our accomplishments.²⁹ We must trust, rely, and depend on Him completely to become the people that He created us to be and thus to do what He created us to do. All things are possible when we keep our trust in the triune Godhead by allowing His Spirit to lead, guide, and direct us throughout our daily lives.³⁰ He gives us the ability to live stable and wholesome lives where peace permeates our every action, so much so that it will cause those who are lost to desire to have the same relationship we have with Jesus Christ. As we understand that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to draw people to the redemptive power released by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, we will allow Him to work through us to bring those who have not experienced salvation to a loving and lasting relationship with Him, which is clearly the will of the Father.³¹ We will then find ourselves allowing the holiness of God to not just rest within us through salvation but also to work through us to permanently change the lives of others.

Ruwach is translated into the English words wind, breath, and spirit. All three translations imply that there would be movement. Throughout Scripture, we can see God moving in the lives of people. When we are introduced to the Holy Spirit in Genesis 1, He is moving or hovering over the face of the waters.³² Mankind was a clay stature until God blew His ruwach (spirit) into Adam.³³ Once that occurred, Adam became a living soul. He became aware of his surroundings and was now able to move and operate in this four-dimensional physical universe. The breath of God is what sustains humans, and without His breath, we will find ourselves dead (lifeless). Additionally without the spiritual breath of God, we are spiritually dead. The term spiritually dead is often called unsaved or unbeliever by those who are Christian (believers).

Salvation, in a nutshell, is God’s Spirit breathing new life into our hearts and resurrecting our dead spirits, which have been separated from God because of Adam’s initial sin and our inherited sin nature.³⁴ As the Holy Spirit breathes upon us, we are ushered into newness of life, which occurs in Christ Jesus.³⁵ This newness of life often causes confusion in the life of the believer and for those who know him/her, because many of the things they did prior to this great salvation experience they no longer desire to do. Real and genuine salvation changes one from the inside, with the manifestation occurring with outside modification of behavior and actions. First, the mindset is changed and renewed by a newfound intimate love for our Creator and His Son. When we realize all that Christ suffered for us, our love and appreciation for Him causes us to not want to do anything that would bring additional pain or suffering unto Him.³⁶ The Holy Spirit then works with that great desire to practice obedience or adherence unto the Scriptures by empowering us to resist all the schemes and deceptions of the wicked one.³⁷

The Holy Spirit produces and provides what the Bible calls fruit and gifts into the life of the believer to help us walk in the Spirit so that we will not carry out the desires of our fleshly human nature.³⁸ The fruit of the Spirit is given to the believer to display the nature or characteristics of Jesus Christ. Demonstrating His character is not something that His followers are to do only on days of worship or only around other Christians, but it is something that must always be displayed so that those who are trapped in darkness will have a clear picture of who Jesus Christ is and what He can do in their lives. Because of having Christ living within, we are a beacon of light that shines so that those who are trapped in darkness can find a way of escape.³⁹

When we are focused on allowing the fruit of the Spirit to manifest in our lives, the Bible considers this walking in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is given to release different aspects of His character into our lives. For example, when we are dealing with people who have mistreated us, we are commanded to display His unconditional love, which will result in our forgiving them, praying for them, and even speaking blessings upon them.⁴⁰ The fruit of the Spirit does not give us the freedom to retaliate for being mistreated by others. Scripture clearly informs us that retaliation is something that God handles without our assistance.⁴¹ We understand that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the fallen kingdom of darkness.⁴² Therefore, we who love Christ with all our spirit, soul, mind, body, and strength find ourselves making daily modifications of our character traits to make sure that we are properly representing Him on earth. By walking in the Spirit, we are working diligently not to be a stumbling block or bring confusion to the younger Christian or the unbeliever.⁴³ All who are born again by the Spirit of God will possess the fruit of the Spirit and will practice walking in the Spirit instead of succumbing to their base nature, which only wants to participate in any and every sin possible.⁴⁴

As we look at the many examples given in this book of people who have been given access to different aspects or attributes of the Holy Spirit, we will find that they, too, will have the fruit of the Spirit operating in their lives. Often when looking at the Scriptures, we think that the Holy Spirit was only given to the New Testament believers. However, there is a thread running throughout this book which will reveal that the God we serve does not change. He has always reached out to His creation and desired to empower them with His Spirit. We will notice that God is the same today as He was eons ago when it comes to dealing with His creation.⁴⁵ We will soon realize that Acts 2 is an outpouring of His Spirit so that all humanity would have access to Him and not just the nation of Israel. Yet throughout time, we will notice that on certain occasions, and for specific assignments, God would pour His Spirit upon the lives of certain individuals, usually Jewish, so that they could accomplish certain tasks for Him.⁴⁶ We will also notice that whenever this occurred, we see His Fruit operating in the lives of those empowered by His Spirit as they walk in complete obedience to His will and plan for their lives.

On the other hand, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the believer so that he may be empowered to manifest (demonstrate) or display the acts (actions) of Jesus Christ.⁴⁷ If the fruit is not present and active before the gifts manifest, people will be hurt mentally and physically, and they will be damaged spiritually. Power displayed without character is extremely dangerous. The Lord requires those who will follow Him to deny themselves and to take up their cross and follow Him daily.⁴⁸ This literally means that we are to crucify the attributes of our character that He is not pleased with, like terrible behavior or mistreatment of others. He expects those who call upon and associate themselves with Him and His name to walk in integrity, which is literally walking in the Spirit. Once we understand how important it is to God for us to carry ourselves in a way that brings glory to His holy name, we will modify our behavior and lifestyles because we do not desire to bring hurt or harm to Him.⁴⁹ He uses our obedience to His Word to develop our character because it shows that He can trust us to be who we say we are.⁵⁰

As Christians, our word is all we have. He uses obstacles to develop our character as well. He has already promised us in His Word that all things are working together for our good because we love Him and are called according to His divine purpose.⁵¹ We must trust that whatever mechanism He chooses to use that He knows what is best for us and that His motives are pure, trustworthy, and honorable.⁵² The Holy Scriptures teach that God is both all-knowing and all-powerful.⁵³ It is our responsibility to accept this reality that since He knows the future, we can trust Him to bring to pass what is best for every individual, according to His plan and purpose for their specific lives.

Moreover, Acts 1:8 gives the followers of Jesus a promise that after the Holy Spirit had come upon them, that they would receive power. This power would not just give them the ability to be His witnesses to the entire world, but even more importantly, this power would provide them with the necessary ability to conquer temptation and sin.⁵⁴ The empowerment of the Holy Spirit will literally transform the lives of all who experience Him, and they will become like Jesus Christ in their thoughts, speech, and behavior. This concept is so important that initially, Jesus instructed His followers not to do anything or go anywhere until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit.⁵⁵ He knew that without the Holy Spirit living, ruling, and operating within them, that whatever they tried to do for God would fail miserably. He made a powerful proclamation by telling them that the Holy Spirit had been with them, but soon He would live and operate within them.⁵⁶ They had done wonderful works back when Jesus sent them out two by two but now to find that they did all that with Him only being with them.⁵⁷ How much more would they be able to do once He moved inside of them and took up residence?

With His coming to live within them, they would have complete access to His plan and desires for their lives because He would not speak about Himself but would bring them into closer relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ so that they would lovingly and willingly fulfill His purpose and destiny for the earth.⁵⁸ Additionally John 15:5 clearly reminds us that without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. Oh, that this generation of believers would utterly understand this simple yet powerful truth revealed by Holy Spirit. Furthermore, once we have His Spirit operating in our lives, we are informed that we will be able to do the works that Christ Himself did and even greater works.⁵⁹ Do we have the faith to believe His Word?

Jesus stated that His followers would never experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit if He did not leave and return to His Father.⁶⁰ His followers did not understand what He meant at that moment, but in a short period of time, they were living amid the fulfillment of that prophetic statement. As was prophesied, He both died on the cross and was raised physically from the dead after three days and three nights with all power in His hands or at His disposal.⁶¹ He showed Himself for forty days to His followers, and then He ascended back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, where He forever makes intercession (prays) for those who love Him.⁶² He told His followers to go to Jerusalem, the city of peace, and wait until they were empowered to do the work of the ministry.⁶³ Without the Spirit of Peace (Holy Spirit) entering them, they would not be able to do the work of the Lord in complete humility and unconditional love.

Judging others is a form of pride because we stop examining our own selves and how we can become more like Christ to either inform them or others of their shortcomings and/or failures. This also shows the lack of unconditional love. Therefore, as Christians, we must work diligently to allow the Holy Spirit to continually shed the love of Christ into our hearts.⁶⁴ The fulfillment of the Prophet Joel’s prophecy is witnessed in Acts 2 with the baptism of the Holy Spirit being released into the hearts of the believers and followers of Jesus Christ.⁶⁵ This empowerment by the Holy Spirit produced what would be considered strange demonstrations. The followers of Christ who were in the upper room were enveloped with cloven tongues like fire that literally sat upon each of them.⁶⁶ The evidence of the promised empowerment by the Holy Spirit was witnessed by all as these men and women began to speak in known and unknown languages as the Spirit of God gave them the languages to speak (utterance). This is revealed as some admitted that they heard them speak of the wonderful works of the God of Israel in their native languages, while others admitted that they babbled like drunken men.⁶⁷

The Apostle Peter stands up amid what appears to be confusion and informs all that what they were experiencing was the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the Prophet Joel hundreds of years prior.⁶⁸ Peter preached Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead to the audience and around three thousand people were immediately saved or added to the kingdom of God.⁶⁹ Before experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, all Peter could do in a group of people was deny that he even knew who Jesus was.⁷⁰ Now this same man is boldly proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and he is so effective in his delivery that thousands are converted. The Holy Spirit so radically changed Peter’s life that he never denied Christ again, and he literally gave his life for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. History says that this same Peter told the Roman soldiers not to crucify him in the same manner as they did his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because he was not worthy. Instead he requested to be crucified upside down.⁷¹ When allowed, the Holy Spirit’s baptism will profoundly change a life forever to fulfill the purpose and will of God the Father.

We all know that God is more complex than words could ever explain. However, He is kind and merciful enough to give us a glimpse into understanding the complexities of His Spirit and how He desires to operate in the life of the believer. We will now look at the seven Spirits of God mentioned in the books of Isaiah and Revelation for further clarity and enlightenment. Isaiah 11:1–4 states the following:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight