I’ve wondered for a long time why I couldn’t pray the way I wanted to. Other people would spend hours praying and be consistent about it too. What was wrong with me? Then I realized something – my biggest roadblock in talking to God was that He seemed distant – as if His voice was coming from some far away place. I often sang “come, Jesus come,” at church, assuming that unless I expressly asked Him to come He wouldn’t be there with me. When you think someone is far away, it’s hard to believe they know or care about you.
But this kind of thinking is completely contrary to what the Bible says about God.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (Jn. 14:16-18)
Jesus actually said that He would come live inside of us forever. When he was about to lift off the ground and go up to heaven, he also said this:
[…] I’ll be with you…day after day after day, right up to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:20)He says “I will be with you,” and “I will come to you.” The Holy Spirit is 100% God in the exact same way that Jesus and His Father are. We believe in one God, three persons. Jesus went away, yet He came in Spirit, the essence of who He is, and started literally living inside of His disciples and everyone else who has ever believed in Him.
Mostly we concentrate on God the Father or Jesus, and we want so much to see them, or touch them, or visit heaven because “that’s where they are.” It’s true that both God the Father and Jesus spend a lot of time physically up in heaven, and of course heavenly encounters are wonderful. But the Holy Spirit is God just as much as Jesus or God the Father, and He is inside of each of us who follow Jesus.
[…] For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:10-11)Talk to Holy Spirit like he is right next to you. Because He is. Pour out your heart to Him like He cares. Because He does. Ask Him to help you. Because He wants to. Talk to Him like He is God. Because He is. He will tell you the deep things of His heart.
