Fellowship with the Holy Spirit

“I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive…. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16).
 
Dear Intercessors,
 
We all want fellowship. We feel sad when we get lonely. We all want relationship with God, but how many of us know how to really fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Multitudes of believers never develop a relationship with the very one who dwells inside of them. So many of us feel like orphans all alone with no Father, no one to guide and help us through life.
 
The Holy Spirit wants our friendship! We are His temple (1 Cor. 3:9, 16-17; 6: 17, 19). He knows everything about everything.
 
He wants to reveal the deep things of God to us (1 Cor. 2:9). He wants to gives us His power and strength. A lady went to a jeweler to get her watch fixed. He disappeared and came back quickly with her watch running perfectly. She asked him,“How could you fix it in such a short time?” He told her that it only needed a small battery. All this time the lady had been trying to wind the watch. She didn’t know she only needed a battery to keep it running. 
 
This is so much like the Christian life. Many times we do not realize the inner power that we have in the Holy Spirit. He can run everything in our life, but so often we think we have to take matters into our own hands. So we live a powerless life. The lack of reality, godliness, power, and fruit in our lives is due to unbelief and our lack of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We need to go deeper in partnership with the Holy Spirit if we want to live powerful lives. 

Many of us are living life with a dead battery. We feel dead inside. We must begin fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. He will bring life to our hearts! He will show us the way to really live and find fulfilment.
 
How to Learn to Fellowship with the Holy Spirit
 
Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is not complicated. It’s all about a two-way dialogue. We learn to share our hearts freely with the Spirit. We start the conversation, and He speaks back to us. But we must stay engaged. He wants our heart connection. Out of our abiding connection with the Holy Spirit will flow all the issues of life (love, joy, peace, etc.) or death (Proverbs 4:23, Song of Songs 4:12, 16; 5:1; 6:2, John 7:38).

Learn to linger in His presence without rushing. Speak affectionately, slowly, softly, and briefly with short phrases to Him. Pause and listen to His still, small voice. Journal your thoughts and what you believe He is saying to you.

One way to enhance your fellowship with the Holy Spirit is by using these 5 practical phrases using the acrostic T-R-U-S-T.

• T - Thank you -Thank the Holy Spirit for His indwelling presence. We approach God through thanksgiving (Psalm 100:1-5). Pray, “Thank you Holy Spirit for your presence in me, for your guidance, etc. I love your leadership…”
   
• R - Release revelation - Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you His heart and open your eyes to the realm of His glory. Ephesians 1:17-19 is a great prayer to pray. Pray, “Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see the realm of God’s glory. Open the eyes of my understanding, give me the spirit of wisdom and understanding, etc.”
   
• U - Use me - Ask the Holy Spirit to use you more and more. Put your sails up and expect Him to use you every day. Pray,“Thank you Holy Spirit for releasing your power and gifts through my life. Use me fully for your glory…”
   
• S - Strengthen me - Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your mind, will, and emotions with His divine might so that you may contain more of His wisdom, fruit, and gifts. See Ephesians 3:16. Pray, “Thank you Holy Spirit for your love, patience, joy, etc. Increase my capacity to contain more of your wisdom, gifts, and fruit…”
   
• T - Teach me - Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you about God’s Word and ways. Ask Him to manifest His leadership in every area of your life. He will order your steps and give you new and creative ideas. See John 14:26 and 16:13. Pray, “Holy Spirit let me see what you see and feel what you feel. Release it with power through my life…”

The river that flows from the throne of God is the Spirit. Jesus said that out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). The Bible describes 5 facets of the Holy Spirit’s activity in us as light, wind, fire, wine, and a river. In John 3:8 and Acts 2:2, the Spirit is described as the sound of a violent, rushing wind. My husband, Norm, is from Buffalo, New York where Niagara Falls is located. We often visit the falls and are always amazed at that violent, gushing waterfall. It is powerful and sounds like the violent, rushing wind. Look at the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we fellowship with us:

• Bright Light -gives life (John 1:4; 8:12), purifies, unifies, empowers (1 John 1:5-7), illuminates mind with revelation, truth, and direction (Psalm 43:3; Luke 12:35-36; John 8:32; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6), and overcomes the works of darkness (John 1:4-5; 3:19-21; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor. 4:3-6; James 1:7).
   
• Mighty Wind -gives divine strength, stirs hunger, imparts desire (Phil. 2:13), releases fresh creativity (John 3:8), and inspires, directs, and empowers the Church (Acts 2:2-4; 8:26-40).
   
• Consuming Fire -energizes (Acts 2:4), tenderizes our hearts, devours that which hinders love (Hebrews 12:29, Luke 24:32, John 5:35), and imparts God’s jealous affection for us (Deut. 4:24; Psalm 79:5; Song of Songs 8:6; Ezek. 23:25; 38:19; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8).
   
• New Wine - awakens the sleeping and revives (Song of Songs 7:9), imparts the Father’s love (Song of Songs 2:4-5), strengthens heart, refreshes soul (Isa. 28:12), releases joy and thanksgiving (Mt. 9:17; Mk. 2:22; Lk. 5:37-38; Acts 2:13; 15; Eph. 5:18-19).
   
• Flowing River -invigorates, rejuvenates, restores, and satisfies the soul (John 7:37-39).

An author named Jamie Buckingham visited a dam on the Columbia River. He thought that the water spilling over the top gave the dam its’ power, but he was absolutely wrong. That was only the froth. The turbines and generators deep within transformed the power of tons and tons of water into electricity. All of this was happening quietly and without notice deep within.

In the same way, it is the Holy Spirit who is working deep within each of our lives. He gives us the power. It isn’t the flashy froth like in this dam, but it is His deep work in our lives that gives us real spiritual power and makes us like a river of living water. 

Without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. Our life depends on it. We must know His power! 

“It must be perfectly obvious to anyone that what the whole church needs from top to bottom is a deeper conversion, a profounder experience of the power of the Holy Spirit.” Samuel Shoemaker

The Holy Spirit wants to fellowship with us in life in a deeper dimension than we have ever experienced or dreamed possible. He wants to have His strength and power operating within us—He wants to give us His wisdom—He wants to participate in everything we are doing. When we pray, He wants to pray with us and through us. He wants to transform everything that we do with His glorious power. We must learn to fellowship with the Holy Spirit every day in order to go deeper in our prayer lives. This is an absolute necessity.

“This is more than the Spirit with a portion of Christ’s influence and power. This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus in His exaltation and power, coming to us as the Spirit of the indwelling Jesus, revealing the Son and the Father within us (John 14:16-23). This Spirit cannot simply be the Spirit of our hours of prayer. It must be the Spirit of our whole lives and walks, glorifying Jesus in us by revealing the completeness of His work and making us wholly one with Him and like Him. Then we can pray in His name, because we are truly one with Him. Then we have the immediate access to the Father of which Jesus said, “I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you” (John 16:26). Andrew Murray

*This Article First Published 8/5/2013