You have to know someone intimately to be familiar with the desires of his or her heart.
And you have to be in close proximity to hear your friend express a quiet wish.
But it takes more than intimacy, and more than proximity, to move you to sacrifice your own priorities in favour of those of your friend.
Only love will move you to lay down your life.
Such was the love of three of David’s mighty men who were close enough to hear him say, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
Unbidden, the three warriors broke through enemy lines at risk of their lives to fulfil David’s wish. (2 Samuel 23:13-17)
How to Have Intimacy With The Holy Spirit
Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5)
There is a lot of talk about the Holy Spirit in Christian circles today.
Many of us have a great longing to see the Holy Spirit move, or for His power to be released to bring healing, deliverance, signs and miracles.
Kathryn Kuhlman once said,
‘There are literally thousands and thousands in the great charismatic movement who have never become acquainted with the person of the Holy Spirit, only with His gifts.’ [1]
And sadly, that statement is as true today as it was then.
So the question I am asking of you and myself today in response to this statement is, ‘Are you one of the many—the ‘thousands and thousands’—or one of the few?’
Many times we talk about ‘using’ the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But there is another way of life possible—where we allow the Holy Spirit to ‘use’ us.
This way of living is only going to happen when we give Him leadership of our lives.
- When we so value His Presence with us, and the relationship that we have with Him, that we cannot bear for anything to come between us.
- When we are listening, ready for the sound of His voice
- When we have so become attuned to Him as a Person—to His desires and what grieves and pleases Him…
…that we will respond accordingly [2].
The Fellowship of the Spirit
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity—God living in and with us.
He is not merely an impersonal power. The New Testament reveals the Spirit to be a Person with will, mind and emotions.
As well as empowering us, the Holy Spirit communicates and fellowship with us. He guides, teaches, helps, assures and comforts us. [3]
The Holy Spirit is God up close and personal.
The Ungrieved Presence of the Holy Spirit
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Eph 4:30)
Many years ago I read the story of a Chinese scholar-turned-pastor called Hsi [4]. It made a lasting impression upon me.
Pastor Hsi ministered deliverance to a troubled young man called K’ong at a conference.
A missionary who saw Hsi minister in the power of the Spirit pressed a large sum of money into his hands, as a gift towards his ministry.
Hsi received the cash without praying as to whether or not he should accept it. Immediately he felt uncomfortable.
As he went to pray about the matter, Hsi heard cries as the demonised man became uncontrollable once more.
No longer fearing Hsi, the demons in K’ong taunted him, saying ‘You have no power to control me any more.’
Realising that his soul’s response to the money had affected his ability to minister in the Spirit, Hsi went to the donor and returned the cash. He confessed that the sudden possession of a large sum of money had ‘come between his soul and God.’
Immediately he went to where K’ong was causing the commotion and quietly commanded the demons to be quiet and leave—with immediate and effective results.
Pastor Hsi later summed up this painful lesson with the words,
‘The ungrieved presence of the Holy Spirit is more to be desired than abundance of gold and silver.’
7 Ways To Begin An Intimate Relationship With The Holy Spirit
Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love? (James 4:5, AMP)
I want to have the kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit that Kathryn Kuhlman experienced—and that Hsi valued.
If this kind of relationship with the One who is God present with you, the Holy Spirit, is what you want, here are some steps to help you move closer to Him:
1. Realise that such a relationship—fellowship with the Holy Spirit—is possible
2. Hunger and thirst for intimacy with Him
3. Learn all you can about the Holy Spirit. Study His role, purpose, names, likes and dislikes from Scripture
4. Pray—ask to know Him more and for Him to fill you
5. Make a decision to go deeper in your relationship with God—to be more available to Him
6. Desire sensitivity to the Holy Spirit—and begin to practice it
7. Allow God to put His finger on anything in your life that displeases the Holy Spirit—and deal with it
He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Cor 1:21)
When I stand before the Father on that Day, He may ask me,
“What did you do with what I entrusted to you—your gifts and talents, your time, opportunities, relationships, and call?”
But there is another question He may ask that is currently challenging me:
“What did you do with the One I sent you?”
Notes:
[1] A Glimpse Into Glory, by Kathryn Kuhlman with Jamie Buckingham
[2] Recommended Reading: Romans 8
[3] Recommended Reading: John chapters 14-16
[4] From “One of China’s Scholars” by Howard Taylor
Related Post: 7 Ways to Grow in Intimacy with the Holy Spirit
Welcome to the School of Intimacy and Prayer
Would you like to grow in intimacy with the Holy Spirit in the context of prayer?- Does the thought of being empowered in prophetic prayer stir you?
A significant amount of the teaching on the School of Intimacy and Prayer is devoted to developing your relationship with the Holy Spirit.
The Enliven School of Intimacy and Prayer is an online video course that can be completed at your own pace, and you can find out more here.
© Helen Calder
Enliven Ministries: in the David McCracken Ministries family
Helen Calder is a prophetic minister and writer, and founder of Enliven Ministries. Helen has a unique gift of equipping in prophetic ministry and prayer. She is known for Enliven Blog (est. 2009), an online resource that reaches thousands of people globally.
Hi Mary Ann, thank you for all that :-)
I love that you share my passion for intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Thank you for encouraging us all!
I hope you will understand that I work for a ministry organisation and that we need to be very careful about what we allow to be promoted on the website, even in the comments section.
One reason for this is that we have some core values about prophetic ministry and hearing from God. We believe that prophetically gifted people need to be connected in church community and practice accountability, allowing revelation personally received to be weighed up.
For example, my thoughts on prophetic journaling are here: http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2010/01/24/sharpen-your-prophetic-gift-through-journaling/ (see note on weighing up)
And other posts outlining our core values are here:http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2011/09/13/differences-between-old-and-new-testament-prophetic-ministry/
and here: http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2013/01/29/the-power-of-prophetic-accountability/
So I will keep your links for a short time, but will need to take some time to look into your material before promoting it to our readers.
Having said that, we so much need to be encouraged in our personal and intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, so I do look forward to having a look at your book sometime soon.
Thanks for taking the time to visit the blog and leave your notes, Mary Ann.:-)
I am happy to submit to all of this and completely understand where you are coming from. It is after midnight now so I need to get some sleep but I will check out these links tomorrow. With Blessings and much Love, Mary Ann
Helen if I want to post a prophetic word on here should I submit it to you first. How do I go about it? Thanks, Mary Ann
This is so exciting!! Ps David Von Blankensee came to our church on Wednesday and shared about the spiritual realm. After hearing that, I asked how I could grow closer to him and how I could get there. He said to have a desire, so that’s what I’ve got. And reading this is what I needed, there’s so much of God to explore and I’m so keen to find out more about him! Seeing I’m only 15, I’ve got loads of time to get close to the father and Holy Spirit!!
Hi Levi, that’s awesome. Keep on going for it, and never let the hunger wane! :-)
Sorry I had trouble loading this and it got garbled. What I was saying is when we have tasted of His Love, your mind will be renewed and your soul will be transformed by the renewal of your mind by His amazing Love. Then when we see Him in the right perspective and ourselves and love our selves the way He loves us, then we can love others with the same Love He has lavished on us. Holy Spirit is your teacher and will teach you how to Love HIm. He is spirit and you are body, but He can be felt tangibly by you and He will show you how . A lot of it is using your imagination and ability to envision. Just as a child. He is spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father. When you love Him, you are loving Them. They each are in the other One. There is no difference. Holy Spirit is Who you relate to. Jesus is in Heaven with the Father. His work on earth is finished. He only comes down here for special assignments and emergencies. Holy Spirit is Who Father sent to take the place of His Son to be with us forever. He is a Person. He is your Teacher and will lead you and guide you in all truth. He is such a wonderful Person to Know and Love. His name is Ruach Ha Kodesh. Ruach is breath in Hebrew and Kodesh is Holy in Hebrew.
Hi Mary Ann,
Thank you for leaving your thoughts on intimacy with Holy Spirit here. Our love relationship with Him is to be treasured greatly.
I think my perspective is a little different to yours.
I believe that each child of God will have his or her own unique way of relating to Him – and that includes our relationship with Holy Spirit. I have written more about this here: http://enlivenpublishing.com/blog/2014/01/14/relational-pathways-to-intimacy-with-god/
As a teacher, I want to take as many people with me on the journey to intimacy with God as possible. I speak to congregations, for example, where there are Australian men (Aussie blokes!) in the audience. Not every person can identify with a ‘bridal chamber’ approach to intimacy with the Spirit and what may be special to you (and many others) is not necessarily appropriate for everyone (I know you see this differently).
We can see many ways of relating to Him in Scripture.
Amongst the disciples, the individuals related to Jesus differently – John knew himself as the ‘beloved’ whereas Peter had a different kind of relationship with Him. Neither is wrong – just unique and greatly treasured by God.
I do agree that there are greater levels of intimacy with Holy Spirit than we have experienced and we should seek and hunger for greater closeness with Him.
Another thought – in the article I link to here, I discuss that each member of the Trinity has different ‘roles’ revealed in Scripture and that these can provide a general (although not exclusive) guideline in how we relate to Him. In Scripture, our Bridegroom relationship is with Jesus rather than the Holy Spirit.
Thanks!
That’s what I want to know.
I’ll take the steps.