“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, …
You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” —John 14:16–17
God can actually live in your heart? This truth from the Bible is all but impossible to grasp.
Heaven is His home, but God’s Spirit dwells in His followers. It’s a concept we can’t wrap our minds around. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is part of a trio—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
>>Want to learn more about the Holy Spirit? Try these free Bible studies from Anne Graham Lotz.
Billy Graham shared the hope of Christ with millions around the world. He explained the Holy Spirit this way:
“The Father is the source of all blessing, and the Son is the channel of all blessing,” Graham once said. “It is through the Holy Spirit at work in us that all truth becomes living and operative in our lives.”
Even many Christians don’t realize that the Holy Spirit is a person. We should refer to the Holy Spirit as “He” instead of “It,” Graham said. “The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotions, and will.”
There’s more. The Spirit keeps us honest about sin. “He uses a mother’s prayers, or a tragic experience, or a pastor’s sermon, or some other experience to convict us of sin and of our need to give our lives to Jesus Christ,” Billy Graham explained.
In his book Holy Spirit Graham wrote that too often, people don’t pay attention to promptings. “The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.”
This is God’s power in us.
“If you believe in Jesus Christ, a power is available to you that can change your life, even in such intimate areas as your marriage, your family relationships, and every other relationship,” Graham wrote.
Learn more about the Holy Spirit in this excerpt from “Practicing His Presence” by Charlie Riggs, a longtime director with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit lives in every believer and will teach us, help us live victoriously, give us a dynamic for witnessing and a quality of life that will demonstrate to the world that we belong to Jesus Christ. But too often the Holy Spirit lies dormant in our lives and the result is very evident.
In Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (ESV).
In other words, do not be controlled by or be under the influence of wine but be controlled by or be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is not an option, but a command. It is not once for all but moment by moment, day by day. For me to be controlled by the Holy Spirit takes a constant surrender on my part.
For the first several years of my life I did not realize this fact. In 1958, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, challenged me with the need to be daily filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Since then, I have started every day surrendering to the Holy Spirit and praying that God will help me walk in the Spirit.
Do a verse study on the following verses. Follow the same format of reading the verse, circling and defining two key words, paraphrasing and, through prayer, applying the verse to your daily life.
Monday
Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”Tuesday
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”Wednesday
Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”Thursday
Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”Friday
John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”Saturday
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”Sunday
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”Memorize Galatians 5:16. Ask God to help you walk in the Spirit throughout the day and enjoy more of His presence, joy, peace and power in your daily life.
Charlie Riggs (1916-2008) worked for the Navigators before joining the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1954, eventually serving as director of counseling and follow-up from 1957-88 while also serving as Crusade director for many meetings. At his passing, it was said that he had taught more people how to share their faith in Christ than anyone who had ever lived.
Find out more about the Holy Spirit from Billy Graham:
What do I need to do to get the Holy Spirit?
