What does the Holy Ghost mean to you?

[RBerman]

Are you saying that your Holy Spirit is some sort of energy source for your Father? Without the power of Holy Spirit, your Father can't hear your prayers?

It's not a matter of what God can hear. God hears everything, all the time, in the sense that he is aware of everything. But sometimes we use "hear" to mean "consider favorably." God considers the prayers of his children favorably. And it is due to the Holy Spirit that particular men are qualified to be considered God's children. So it would be better to say that God, due to his holiness, has determined only to favorably consider the prayers of those who "have" his Spirit within them.

[Tanakh Keeper]

It's not a matter of what God can hear. God hears everything, all the time, in the sense that he is aware of everything. But sometimes we use "hear" to mean "consider favorably." God considers the prayers of his children favorably. And it is due to the Holy Spirit that particular men are qualified to be considered God's children. So it would be better to say that God, due to his holiness, has determined only to favorably consider the prayers of those who "have" his Spirit within them.

Ah, okay. So thats what you mean that you pray to your God by the "power" of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the qualfier for your prayers. Not necessarily louder as in a power source, but a qualifier as the labeler of the prayee.

My OP looks to be answered. Thanks!

A follow up question. As only certain people are considered to be your God's children, whose children are the other people?

[Manwë Súlimo]

As only certain people are considered to be your God's children, whose children are the other people?

If you are an enemy of God, you are a son of the devil (this includes even non-Hitlers ). The line you sometimes hear about us being all God's children isn't necessarily correct.

[Manwë Súlimo]

I'm sorry Manwe, my first post to you was off my own topic.

You say your Holy Spirit (a) empowers prayer, (b) enables and encourages growth in holiness and (c) convicts people of sin.
a) What do you mean by "empowers" prayer?

RB answered this well.

b) Do you pray to your Holy Spirit to become more holy?

That's the idea. The problem is that my prayer life is pretty atrophied. Hey, irony.

c) Do you pray to your Holy Spirit to not convict you?

On the contrary. I want and need to be convicted.

Once you are convicted, in whose name do you pray to, to un-convict you?

The only way to do that is to pray for forgiveness and mercy. Again, you claim the blood of Christ to the Father, through the Son.

[RBerman]

As only certain people are considered to be your God's children, whose children are the other people?

Well, there are different senses of being "children." There's a very general sense in which all men are "God's children" since God made the earth and all in it. Thus Paul said to the philosophers of Athens,

Acts 17:278-29

As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

However, usually in the Bible when God talks about "his children" he means "his special people, his elect." This starts as far back as God's instructions to Moses in Exodus:

Exodus 4:22-23

Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

Hosea 11:1-2

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.

The king of Israel was declared, among his people, to be the pre-eminent "son of God" in his role of dispensing God's justice to the people:

Psalm 2:7-8

I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.

To be a son of God is a status, but also a description of behavior. This dichotomy between those who are "God's people" and those who are not "God's people" continues into the New Testament. Thus Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are not true children of Abraham; their refusal to acknowledge the Messiah makes them "children of the devil." (John 8:31-47 is too long to post here, but it's well worth a read.) Jesus is the true and only begotten "Son of God" because he alone can claim true affinity with God in nature as well as behavior. But the rest of us can become "children of God" through spiritual union with Christ, which God accomplishes by causing his Holy Spirit to live within us. That's the point of that Romans quotation above. In summary, the adopted "children of God" in our day are those who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are willing and able to confess that Jesus is the Messiah of God. As Jesus said, his family members are those who do the will of God (Matthew 12:46-50). And the will of God is that we believe in Jesus as his Messiah. (John 6:29)

There's much more that could be said on this topic, which is a central one of the Bible, but that will do for a start.

[Cow Poke]

was it the Amazing Race? I saw some contestants praying for God to help them win on one show. I was thinking that was pretty much an abuse of prayer. By asking God to make you rich in a contest, you are also asking God to make the other contestants lose. It seems pretty greedy too. Praying to God for strength and so on, I can see. but asking God to help you win a contest over others seems just wrong.

This was Abraham Lincoln's problem in the civil war -- to pray for the Union troops to win would imply that God would help the Confederates to lose.

[Cow Poke]

I usually will pray to the Holy Ghost to fill me and convict me of any sin I need to address, to help me to overcome. To give me compassion for others.

We have a chorus we sing in our Church...
Holy Spirit Thou art welcome in this place
Holy Spirit Thou art welcome in this place
Omnipotent Father of Mercy and Grace
Thou art welcome in this place

My thinking is that the Holy Ghost does not force Himself upon you, but is ready to comfort, aid, teach, etc...
and, yes, "convict of sin" (or bring to remembrance things you have done for which you should ask forgiveness)

[OneSizeFit]

Dancin wit da ghost! Amen, amen, hallelujah, can I get an amen! Say it again, amen!

[OneSizeFit]

But seriously, it's hard to understand, and I know christianity clings to the holy spirit as a person thingy, but to me, it's more like Gods power which actively works in and through believers in Christ. Just like Moses handed out the Spirit which was solely resting on Him to the 70 elders in Lev 11, so did Jesus, our Moses, hand out the Spirit to the Apostles in Acts, I believe they called it Power from on High. I like that definition. One of my favorite prayers is to ask god for a refill of holy spirit, I need some power from on high God, hook it up!

[reece1984]

This is a serious question.

The other day I was watching a reality TV show and several of the contestants called out for Jesus to help them complete a task. This got me thinking. I have heard many Christians calling out for Jesus to help them. I have also heard people calling out to God for aid. However, I don't recall hearing anyone ever calling out to the Holy Ghost for help.

What does this part of your god do? Do yall ever call out to it for something? What does this part of your god mean to you? What are its strengths? What are its abilities?

Thanks.

This Holy Spirit is not part of my God, the Holy Spirit is my God! He is God just as fully as the Father and the Son. Further, I pray directly to thee Holy Spirit just as I often pray directly to the Father and to the Son. Sometimes I might not call him 'the Holy Spirit,' I might call him by another name or title such as Jehovah, God or Lord, but I still mean the Holy Spirit. By extention, Jesus is the Eternal Father of Isaiah 9:6, and just because I might say 'Father,' doesn't mean I'm not talking to the Son. So you never know whats in a person's heart when they pray! What does the Holy Spirit do? Everything that God does! He hears prayer, empowers us with gifts and abilities to do his will, answers prayer, convicts of sin, guides me into all truth, comforts me in my sorrow, etc....This is not an exhaustive list. Do you believe the Holy Spirit is a person? Do you know that he is God? What role does he play in your life?

[reece1984]

But seriously, it's hard to understand, and I know christianity clings to the holy spirit as a person thingy, but to me, it's more like Gods power which actively works in and through believers in Christ. Just like Moses handed out the Spirit which was solely resting on Him to the 70 elders in Lev 11, so did Jesus, our Moses, hand out the Spirit to the Apostles in Acts, I believe they called it Power from on High. I like that definition. One of my favorite prayers is to ask god for a refill of holy spirit, I need some power from on high God, hook it up!

Acts 13:2-4 "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Selucia."
This is no mere personification, for words were literally spoken, and it was the Holy Spirit which said these words. Surely you can't deny that a person was speaking. Further, you can't be sent out by a force. If I called you on the telephone and sent you somewhere, you wouldn't say "the telephone sent me out," you would name the person who gave you orders. The Holy spirit is definitely a person in this passage.

Acts 5:3 "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie ot the Holy Ghost...?"
You cannot lie t a force. You can't lie to a pair of shoes, or to a book, or to a brick wall. Lies are meant to deceive; he could only lie to the Holy Ghost if he is a person! Also, why would Satan want to lie to a force anyway? Why lie to the wind? That makes no sense!

Acts 15:28 "For it seemed good the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things."
If this were a personification, then it would have been a personification of the apostles, for "it seemed good" not only to thew Holy Spirit, but also to them! The same way it seemed good to the apostles, it seemed good also the the Spirit. He must be just as much a person as they were!

No, the Holy Spirit is not God's power! Proof?

Zechariah 4:6 "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Here the Holy Spirit is distinguished from God's power. In fact, the Holy Spirit is never called power in the Bible. The account in Numbers 11 doesn't say that the spirit which rested on the elders was the Holy Spirit, but even if it is, (and it might be) it doesn't show that the spirit is not a person. The fact is that a spirit person can fill, canliterally be inside another person. A man was filled by a whole legion of demons in Luke 8:27-33, yet these spirits were persons. Ephesians 3:19 speaks about us being "filled with all the fulness of God." God fills us and yet he is a person. Jeremiah 23:23,24 tells us that God is both far and near, he fills both heaven and earth. Here is the omnipresence of God. He can be more than one place at the same time. (Psalms 139:7-10) So even when the Holy Spirit is said to fill people, ad so forth, this in no ways detracts from his personhood.

Matthew 10:18-20 mentions that "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Only a person can speak through us. For God to speak through the prophets he had to be a person, the same is true of the Holy Spirit when he speaks through us. Note that the words don't originae with us, but the Spirit. This spirit must be intelligent. In fact, he has a mind. (Romans 8:26,27) I do hope you acknowledge the personhood of th Holy Spirit in your own life, so that you can be guided into all the truth by him. (John 16:7-15)

[OneSizeFit]

No, the Holy Spirit is not God's power! Proof?

Luke 24:49

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Acts 8:10

They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

If it bothers you that much, I am sure the active power of God, the Power Jesus used to heal, can be a "person" in Nicean metaphysical speak. But again, I think if most Christians really thought of the Spirit as a "person" like we think of Jesus is a "person" more of us would pray to the Spirit. Like most Christian theology it comes down to word games.

[RBerman]

But seriously, it's hard to understand, and I know christianity clings to the holy spirit as a person thingy, but to me, it's more like Gods power which actively works in and through believers in Christ. Just like Moses handed out the Spirit which was solely resting on Him to the 70 elders in Lev 11, so did Jesus, our Moses, hand out the Spirit to the Apostles in Acts, I believe they called it Power from on High. I like that definition. One of my favorite prayers is to ask god for a refill of holy spirit, I need some power from on high God, hook it up!

Well, the Holy Spirit brings power, which is different than the Holy Spirit being power. That's why it's not redundant for the angel to tell the disciples that "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." (Acts 1:8).

[OneSizeFit]

Personified power, like the Logos/Word is personified wisdom. But it's still God, we are monotheists, correct?

[OneSizeFit]

When in doubt, look to the Torah.

Numbers 11

16 The Lord said to Moses, "Bring me 70 of Israel's elders. Bring men that you know are leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting. I want them to stand there with you. 17 I will come down. I will speak with you there. I will take some of my Spirit that is on you. And I will put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the people's load. Then you will not have to carry it alone.