Sweet Holy Spirit

Most know my story. I’ve chosen to be transparent. About my battle with fear and how God helped me overcome it. About the shift in my writing in 2019. I have been writing for over a decade now, and I see the path of my life, how Holy Spirit has guided me more and more into hearing His voice.

He asks me to write this to you today and to be transparent again.

He and I have conversations. Daily and hourly. We never fully stop talking. If you find this odd, then you are precisely the person He wishes to speak to. He longs to be let out of our mental box. For me, having to write and learning I needed His help with it forced me to turn loose of my restrictions on Him. You understand how that goes. When you are at a dead end, the bridge broken in front of you, you must do what it takes to find a way across.

I put our conversations down to a little book I wrote, years ago, called “Conversations With God.” It is free at all retailers. These are fictional dialogues between God and I, originally published on my blog. At the time, it was well-received, but being honest, though I believed in the idea, though I felt His heart for them, our conversations were one-sided. With me doing all the talking. That isn’t really a conversation.

We have been taught that this is how prayer goes. We address Him sincerely then pour out our needs and complaints. God has become a sounding box, a place to vent and beg and plead. Don’t misunderstand me. Prayer is meant to present our needs to the Father, but in the months since 2019, I have read many books by others, noted for hearing Him, and I have put into practice their advice. God, and for this post I do not prefer the generic term, they are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, THEY actually WANT to SPEAK. They want to tell us things beyond our imagining.

THEY WANT TO DO IT. But we are too busy to listen.

Listening is not something you will have in an instant, but you do have to begin somewhere. You cannot go from owning a piano to holding concerts overnight. No one applies for college, having all they need to know to receive their degree. TIME is required and DILIGENCE and REPETITION. EVERY DAY, many times a day, you must find time to HEAR.

I am a woman of few words. Ask anyone who knows me. What I write comes only through Holy Spirit’s guidance. What I choose to say is usually limited to a sentence or two. I have a low noise threshold. I don’t like TV running or constant music. I don’t really like talking. Now, I’m not saying you need to be like me, but I say that as an example because when the Spirit started speaking to me, I was QUIET ENOUGH TO HEAR HIM.

He will not force Himself on you. If you are waiting for a thunderclap, then you will not receive it. You ought to be concerned if He had to be that loud to get your attention anyway. His is a “still, small voice” not an earthquake or raging fire or a storm. (1Ki 19:11-12) His voice is that thought you had, which you figured came from you, except it turned out to be incredibly accurate.

One of the most important things I’ve learned from others who hear well is to EXPECT Him to speak. He LONGS to speak and loves to be EXPECTED to come. When I expect to hear from Him, then I learn to DISCERN His voice (those random thoughts) from what was on my mind. I do not limit Him to a certain time of day. I hear more in the wee hours and the early mornings, but He speaks to me all throughout the day. It’s a CONVERSATION. I speak. He replies. I ask a question. He responds. Sometimes, not right away, but He always answers. I trust Him.

When I rose this morning, He made two analogies to me. He showed me a pair of small dogs on a leash and said, “People have relegated me to a walk in the park, a friendly pat on the head, and a wag of the tail.”

I next saw a street blocked off by orange cones. He said, “People block off certain streets and force me to detour. I can only go certain ways.”

“They do not allow me in for daily, hourly, conversation like you do. They do not love me truly, down deep in their bones. I am not a craving that cannot be satisfied. I am a timeslot. ‘Holy Spirit, come from 2 to 5. And only on Sundays and Wednesday nights.’ I am a spoonful of sugar meant to help some other medicine palatable and not the medicine itself. They seek a remedy from other places. I have become an afterthought.”

“But if they would allow me in, sweep aside the roadblock, turn off the clock, give me your days, allow me into your jobs. Let's sit a spell and chat awhile. Treat me as important, as the MOST NECESSARY ingredient, and your lives will change.”

One morning, I asked to learn who He was. I was honest. I said I didn’t want to think of Him as a vapor. It is easier to picture the Father, Abba, and the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Those images have been painted well. But Holy Spirit has remained a mystery.

One book which has helped me tremendously is “Good Morning, Holy Spirit” by Benny Hinn. Along with his fascinating testimony, He shares some insights into WHO Holy Spirit is and gives Him His own personality. That’s an important key. STOP TREATING HIM LIKE A VAPOR. Stop making Him the lesser of the Trinity. In our minds, the Father is huge. Jesus is equally impressive. But Holy Spirit is just their helpful underling.

No, He is equally God. He is also LORD. And, as Minister Hinn pointed out, He is actually the Father of Jesus Christ. Yes, He is. Go read Luke 1:35 for yourself. It was HOLY SPIRIT that came upon Mary and caused her to conceive.

Another morning, while making my daily confessions, He gave me a new revelation of Him. I said, “God is not the author of confusion, so I am not confused. He is not the Spirit of fear, but the Spirit of power, the Spirit of love, and the Spirit of a sound mind.” A giant light bulb went off. These are His personality types. He is not the Spirit of fear. That is not who He is! He is the Spirit of love!

There are many other great descriptions of Him in the Word of God.

He is the:

• Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17; Jn 15:26; Jn 16:13; 1Jn 4:6)
• Spirit of holiness (Rm 1:4)
• Spirit of life (Rm 8:2; Rev 11:11)
• Spirit of Christ (Rm 8:9; 1Pe 1:11)
• Spirit of Resurrection (Rm 8:11)
• Spirit of God (Mt 3:16; Rm 8:14; Rm 15:19; 1Co 2:11-12; 1Co 3:16; 1Jn 4:2)
• Spirit of the living God (2Cor 3:3)
• Spirit of the Lord (Lk 4:18; Act 8:39; 2Cor 3:17)
• Spirit of meekness (1Cor 4:21; Gal 6:11)
• Spirit of faith (2Cor 4:13)
• Spirit of His Son (Gal 4:6)
• Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13)
• Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:17)
• Spirit of love (2Tim 1:7)
• Spirit of power (2Tim 1:7)
• Spirit of a sound mind (2Tim 1:7)
• Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29)
• Spirit of glory (1Pe 4:14)
• Spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10)
• Spirit of liberty (Lk 4:18; 2Cor 3:17)
• Spirit of the gospel to the poor (Lk 4:18)
• Spirit of healing for the brokenhearted (Lk 4:18)
• Spirit of deliverance (Lk 4:18)
• Spirit of unity (Eph 4:3)

He is NOT:

• spirit of unclean devils (Lk 4:33)
• spirit of infirmity (Lk 13:11)
• spirit of divination (Act 16:16)
• spirit of fear (Rm 8:15; 2Tim 1:7)
• spirit of bondage (Rm 8:15)
• spirit of the world (1Cor 2:12)
• spirit of antichrist (1Jn 4:3)
• spirit of error (1Jn 4:6)

What a blessing that revelation is to me! How can we say we know someone if we do not know what they do and don’t like, how they’d respond to situations, or what they would say under pressure? I can tell you what my husband would say in any situation. We’ve been married for over thirty years. We should KNOW HOLY SPIRIT to this same degree.

First, we must believe He WANTS to speak to us. Second, we stop and LISTEN. I often pray, “Let me hear you in the busyness.” Prophetess Lana Vawser talks about holding a job in a coffee shop when she was younger and what Holy Spirit said to her then. In the noise of a coffee shop, during the afternoon, while people are talking! If He desires to talk to her at times like that, then He will talk to me during whatever I am doing.

But I must cultivate it. I must renew my thinking. I picture Him in the room. I become “God conscious.” I become AWARE He is with me when I’m cooking, when I’m driving to store, when I’m sitting in the garden. I become AWARE of Him when the TV is running or I’m picking up food. The more conscious I am that He is there, the more He speaks to me.

He LONGS to speak to you. That is what He wants me to say. He would tell us so much more, but we push Him away. We don’t have time. We must catch the end of “this program.” We spend hours staring at our cell phones when that is time that we could spend with Him. When we don’t make time, when we don’t LISTEN, He will grow silent. That is HOW HE IS. He prefers to be PREFERRED, and in preferring Him, He will open up to you. In learning to hear, in expecting to hear, He will talk, and I promise you will change radically.

He DESIRES to manifest Himself. (1Cor 12:11) He wants to be wanted and loved for WHO HE IS. Not changed to fit our limited mindset. But instead, expand your mindset and you will soon SEE HIM everywhere. He will know He can talk to you. You’ve made Him important. Even greater, He is everything!

Minister Hinn talks about attending a Kathryn Kuhlman service where she begged the attendees not to grieve the Holy Spirit. “Please. He’s all I have,” she said. I understand that now. God, the Father is eternal love, Almighty God, and Jehovah. God, the Son, is Lord and Savior and the LIGHT of the world. I love them both incredibly. But God, the Holy Spirit, please don’t grieve Him. Don’t run Him away!

Sweet Holy Spirit, breath of God, speak to me now, tell me what’s on the Father’s heart, speak to me about my Savior, bring all things to my remembrance, and show me the amazing things to come. (Jn 14:26) Let’s commune awhile. Let’s talk. What’s on your heart today? What can I do to make you happy?

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them … But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ….” (Acts 2:14-18)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.feelgoodromance.com
www.suzannedwilliams.com