Ghost Story ;)

Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)

Looking back on my life and testimony, I’ve been struck by a certain progression. I was aware of God and genuinely drawn to Him as a young child. My relationship with Jesus became especially personal at the age of twelve. And I became intimately acquainted with the Holy Spirit when I was in my thirties. Each phase of my life with God has been real and heartfelt. And with each revelation of the Triune Life, I’ve been formed in new and deeper ways. 

Kyle and I recently joined a small group at our new church. As we’re getting to know these new friends, we share bits and pieces of our stories. Last time we met, I summarized the transformative experience of my fourth decade, saying something like, “When I was twelve years old I fell in love with Jesus; and when I was in my thirties I realized God was in love with me.” Later pondering the conversation, I remembered something I once heard about the Holy Spirit being personified Love. 

And yet the Holy Spirit is more than personification. The Spirit is a Person. The Holy Spirit is God. 

Since childhood I’ve heard the language of “personal relationship” when it comes to Jesus, the human image of God. Jesus is God in flesh, who lived among us. The incarnation. We hold an image of Jesus in our imaginations, and we can picture ourselves as his friends. 

Jesus is also the fullness of the Father—and here’s another concept we can wrap our minds around. We imagine the Father running toward the prodigal. We see ourselves wrapped in the Father’s love. 

But what about Holy Spirit? 

Spirit in Hebrew is ruakh; the Greek is pneuma. Both words have nuanced meaning. Spirit is energy, life-force, breath and wind. I’ve always found this to be a beautiful picture. Spirit in creation hovering over dark and unformed waters. Spirit breathing life into every creature. Spirit reawakening new creation. 

Holy Spirit is the life-source of all that is Father and Son. And yet, Spirit is also a PERSON. One with Yahweh. One with Jesus. 

I was in my fourth decade when my relationship with Holy Spirit became especially personal. Was he with me before? Of course, he was with me. He was the one drawing me to the arms of the Father. He was my wholehearted YES when I gave my life to Jesus. He was the breath in my singing lungs. I just didn’t quite know him yet as my ever-present friend. 

I was 34 years old when something changed. It started as an outpouring of the Father’s love. I was swimming in the waters of love. And this love, I now know, was Holy Spirit, revealing himself. Over the course of a decade, I gradually got to know him. He became my teacher. My therapist-counselor. Giver of grace and holiness. He did for me what I could never do for myself, again and again and again. I learned his voice. I recognized his leading. I began to spot him in whispers and tangible revelations. I began to talk with him in prayer. 

It’s a curious thing, how we are introduced to a personal Jesus, but rarely a personal Spirit. 

We live in odd times. The waters are again dark and chaotic. The Church is fractured and divided. We are in desperate need of re-creation. And the Spirit hovers. The Spirit hovers over the Church just as he once hovered over the unformed world. And his wind is blowing. The gates of hell will not prevail over Christ’s Church, because the Spirit’s restorative presence is here to stay. Paul writes—

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6) 

The Spirit is always re-creating, and even in these divided times, he is working in ways we can’t possibly imagine. He is always blowing us back together, persistently urging us to the oneness of Church. 

There’s a joke circulating about Christians today: “We are people who worship Father, Son, and Holy Scripture.” We chuckle, acknowledging truth. How much easier to pursue a written word, than one whose name can be translated Ghost. 

Nicodemus was a learned man, who knew the Scriptures through and through. And yet he was an infant in his understanding of the God he worshipped. He approached Jesus under cover of night, seeking to know this rabbi teacher. 

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) 

What a beautiful mystery—this rebirthing wind of Spirit!

The miracle of my mid-thirties was defined by two equally strong impressions. I was swimming in the waters of God’s deep love, and I found myself in an almost constant response of wholehearted worship. And it was through these two things—Love and Worship—that I encountered the very real person of Holy Spirit. 

This reminds me of something Jesus once told a woman he encountered by a Samaria well. (John’s Gospel places this interaction right after the one with Nicodemus.) The woman asked a question about the practicalities of worship, and Jesus responded: 

“An hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) 

Are you beginning to see the pattern? 

Just as the prophet Elijah heard God’s voice in a soft whisper, I imagine the Spirit quietly inviting God’s people to know him again. To hear his voice, and know his presence. To let him lead the way back to being whole and holy people. 

People filled to overflowing with Spirit Love.