Worshiping the Spirit of God

God the Spirit: The Holy Spirit is indeed true God, the distinct but inseparable third person of the Holy Trinity. The first identification of the Spirit and implication of the Trinity is found in Genesis 1:2 "…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

God gave his Spirit as His presence for creation. In Mark 1:10, God gave his Spirit as it descended on Christ after his baptism. This signified the fulfilled prophecy of Isaiah – the deliverance from sin and eternal life through the Son and the Spirit to mankind. God gave His Spirit to man for obtaining righteousness through faith in God.  The work of the Spirit is presented in the teaching of the Gospel and administering the sacraments.  Not many Christians acknowledge the Spirit in worship.  However, it is necessary to recognize, pray and worship the Spirit because he is the Spirit of the living God whom brings God glory to Himself.

The Holy Spirit produces faith and help to man, this pleases God in those who hear the Gospel.  Jesus promised the disciples of the coming of the Helper, Counselor and Comforter (John 14:16-18 and 16:7-14). Only the Christian who professes, "Jesus is Lord," is only accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit in that individual's life (1John 4:15). In the fifth article of the Augsburg confession, it is stated that through the Holy Spirit Christ sanctifies, purifies, strengthens, and comforts all believers.

After God finds us, we are cleansed from sin and are currently being transformed into His likeness by the power of the Spirit. In worship, some believe that we are to "stir up the Spirit," hoping that we may win his favor to engage himself in our service. This perspective is not biblical and is a selfish belief. The Bible indicates that we are "sealed with the spirit as a guarantee" (Ephesians 4:30). The term seal in the Greek means to stamp, seal up, moreover to be wielded together from two pieces of cast iron halves into one. This same word and imagery is used in Romans 4:11, where it says: "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith…" This meaning is important to a Jew and the Christian because in the Old Testament, circumcision was God's seal for man to be called His own.

The believer can never lose God's Spirit if indeed the Spirit lives in the believer (Hebrews 6:4, John 8:32, 1 John 5:13 & John 14:20). Because of God's truth that His Spirit will never fade (Hebrews. 13:5b-6), we have this treasure in Him that compels us to give Him praise and thanks (2Corinthians. 4:7). Robert Kolb wrote the titled book, "The Christian Faith," which clearly outlines the Christian faith and practices through a Lutheran expository study.  He writes:"Believers do not find the Spirit.  They do not take possession of him and hold him as their own.  He comes to us as a gift (Acts 10:45; 11:47). He is present in our lives as the first installment, or guarantee, of God's pledge that we belong to him (2Corinthians 1:22; 5:5,  Ephesians 1:14)," Kolb, pg. 180).How do we respond to this gift, since he first began in us?