John Bevere - Intimacy with the Holy Spirit
- Watch
- Donate
Hey everybody, welcome to lesson 8 of Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God. I’m really enjoying this course; I mean, I’m being ministered to as the Holy Spirit is ministering to all of us. You know, the next two lessons are where we really talk about where the rubber meets the road. I do want to mention that this particular lesson is so important that I wrote an entire book and course on this very subject. So, I want to say that you’re going to get a taste, but you really need to go into our app, the Messenger X app, and download the Holy Spirit: Introduction to the Holy Spirit course and book; go through it if this interests you.
We’re going to start by going back to James, our foundational scripture: James 4:8, «Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.» Now, let’s look at the fifth verse because, remember, in the very first lesson I said God is more passionate about being intimate with you than you are with Him. Listen to what verse 5 says: «Or do you think the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously'?» Now, I want you to notice «Spirit.» It does not say «Jesus who dwells in us yearns jealously.» I have news for you: Jesus isn’t on the Earth; He is at the right hand of the Father. The person of the Godhead who is here is the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended to the Father, the angels appeared and looked at the disciples and said, «He went back to the Father, and He’s not coming back until He comes in those clouds,» which is His second coming.
The person of the Godhead who has been here the last 2,000 years is the Holy Spirit. You know what? I personally feel He is the most neglected person in the church. Just ask yourself a question: how many times do you get in your car, and you drive alone? You think you drive for 20 minutes, and let me ask you, if one of your friends were sitting in the passenger seat, would you not say a word to them the whole 20 minutes? How often do we get in the car, drive for 20 minutes, and not say one word to the Holy Spirit? I mean, can you imagine if I was home with Lisa the whole day and didn’t say a single word to her? I would never do that; but we do that with the Holy Spirit. How many times do we go through a day without even saying a word to Him? He is the most ignored person in the church, and I think it all comes down to the fact that our image of Him is limited; we see the Holy Spirit as fire or wind or some other kind of smoke.
No, the Bible says that He has a mind (Romans 8:27), He has a will just like any other person (1 Corinthians 12:11), He has emotions (Romans 15:30), He speaks (Hebrews 3:7), He speaks clearly (1 Timothy 4:1), He teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13), He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), He can be insulted (Hebrews 10:29), and He can be lied to (Acts 5). Our first impression of the Holy Spirit is often limited. If a pastor stands up and says, «Next week, I’m going to do a series starting on the Holy Spirit,» there’s typically a dove on the screen. We think He’s a dove. No, He’s not a dove. In all four Gospels, it says He descended on Jesus like a dove. We make statements like «she runs like the wind,» but that doesn’t make her into wind. We might say «He’s strong like an ox,» but that doesn’t make Him a four-footed animal.
Well, John, wait a minute. The Book of Revelation says that the Holy Spirit was fire in front of the throne room of God. Oh yeah? Well, the same Book of Revelation— I think it’s in the same chapter— says that Jesus is a lamb. Now Jesus is not a four-footed animal; He is a human being. So why do we make the Holy Spirit into a dove? Why do we cast Him as wind or rain? He is a person, the third person— I’m going to say it again— the third person in the Trinity. In fact, He is the most wonderful person. If you look at Genesis chapter 1, God said, «Let us make man in our image.» God didn’t say, «Let me make man in my image» — «let us.» Who is «us»? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
You know what Psalm 104:31 says? «You sent forth your Spirit, they are created.» In verses 13 and 14, Paul the Apostle says this: «The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God» — now listen to this— «and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.» Now notice Paul assigns grace to Jesus Christ, for which we thank God, and then he assigns the love of God to the Father, but he assigns communion to the Holy Spirit. Not to be confused with communion as in bread and wine, the Hebrew word Koinonia, which means several things. The first definition is fellowship—so write that down: fellowship.
Okay, what is fellowship? The dictionary defines it as companionship or company. So, what he’s saying is, «May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you,» and «may the companionship— listen to this— of the Holy Spirit be with you.» Do you know what companions do? They interact with one another. It’s not a one-sided thing; it’s an interaction going on here. They keep each other informed. If you look at the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20, he made this statement: «And now I am going to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me except that the Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.»
In city after city, the Holy Spirit is talking to Paul about it. He probably said, «Paul, I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want to be locked up.» The Holy Spirit said, «Son, this is the way you’re going to get to talk to Caesar. I just need you to stay with us; trust me, I’ll protect you all the way through it.» The next city Paul goes to, he says, «Is there another way we can do this other than going to jail?» The Holy Spirit responds, «Well, son, it’s really the best avenue we have to get you in front of Caesar.»
If you look at Philip, he was in the middle of a revival in the city of Samaria. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit comes to him and says, «Hey, I want you to go out to the desert.» Actually, go read your Bible; it wasn’t the Holy Spirit—it was an angel. Yeah, an angel said to Philip, «Philip, I want you to go out into the desert.» Philip goes out into the desert, not knowing why, and then all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit speaks to him and says, «I want you to go and join this chariot.»
This is kind of amazing to me; the early church was so familiar with the Holy Spirit’s voice that Philip could actually recognize the difference between an angel and the Holy Spirit. I can see Luke writing the book of Acts, and Philip says, «No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, Luke. It wasn’t the Holy Spirit that told me to go out to the desert; it was actually an angel. But then, when I got out in the desert, it was the Holy Spirit who told me to go join the chariot.» To me, that’s amazing. They were so used to interacting with the Holy Spirit that they could tell the difference between His voice and that of an angel.
Look, let me tell you something—I can get on my cell phone and call home. I’ve been married to Lisa for 40 years, and my kids have gotten on the phone and tried to imitate Mom’s voice. «Hello!» No, it’s not that bad, and I’ll go, «Okay, is this Arden imitating your mother?» And he’ll go, «Dad, how’d you know?» I know her voice. I can be in a store, and she could be there, and I’ll hear her say something to somebody, and I’ll go, «Oh, she’s over there.» I mean, that just happened at the farmer’s market this weekend. I recognize her presence, her voice.
These guys were so familiar. If you look at Peter, the Holy Spirit said to him, «Behold, there are three men seeking you. Arise and go down and go with them, and don’t doubt anything, for I have sent them.» See? He recognized His voice. Paul’s entire team, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word of God in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them to go.
See, this is something I notice in the Book of Acts: the early church interacted with, spoke to, and fellowshiped with the Holy Spirit on a constant basis. Where is that today? He is the person of the Godhead who is here on the earth. Why do we ignore Him? Why don’t we have companionship with Him? Interaction with Him? It’s so important that we do.
The second definition of Koinonia, or fellowship, is sharing together or social intercourse. Okay, what does that mean? It means we exchange our thoughts and feelings. You know, if you’re getting up today and you just don’t feel like you’re in love with Jesus—listen, this just happened to me in the past week. I said, «Lord, right now, I’ve had a really busy week. I’m asking you, Holy Spirit, I need you to just put that emotional love in my heart for Jesus. I love Him; I love Him forever. I’m going to obey Him today, but I want the emotions of it.» I asked Him for that, and you know what? He did it. I interact; I share things with Him. Don’t hesitate to do it. He’s your companion.
Think about your best friend: do you go out with your best friend and not say a word to them? Do you not share your innermost heart and feelings? The richest times I’ve had with my inner circle of friends are when we get gut-level honest with each other, and that’s what I have to do with the Holy Spirit. When I go out to pray in the morning, I know He is the one who helps me to pray, and I say, «Holy Spirit, I gotta get gut-level honest here.» I know that’s how I’m going to connect with God this morning—I’m going to connect with you, so be vulnerable. Be vulnerable with the Holy Spirit. David says in Psalm 62, «Pour your heart out to God.»
Paul exemplifies this; he says, «In the presence of Christ, I speak with utter truthfulness; I do not lie. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm that what I’m saying is true.» Paul is actually citing that his companion is confirming that what he’s about to write is the absolute truth. The Old Testament saints cry out in Job 11:7, «Can you search out the deep things of God?» Well, our answer comes in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10: «But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.» We can know the deep things of God because of our companionship with the Holy Spirit—our sharing together, our social intercourse.
Number three, a definition of fellowship is to partner with or have joint participation. I love this example in the Book of Acts. We read the apostles writing this letter: «For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.» Now, I love this; you see two parties here: the Holy Spirit and us. They said it seemed good to both parties—that’s partnership, that’s joint participation right there.
If you look at Abraham, you can see it in the Old Testament. God comes down and says, «Hey, I’m not going to blow up Sodom and Gomorrah without first talking to my partner Abraham.» This is the partnership that we are to experience if we walk in humility and holy fear. This is the partnership that He desires for us today.
Number four, the definition is close mutual association. What do I mean by that? What does close mutual association mean? All right, I’m going to give away my age here, but if you say to me «The Three Stooges,» you don’t need to say another word: Mo, Larry, Curly. Everybody in my generation knew the Three Stooges. All you had to do was say «Three Stooges"—Mo, Larry, and Curly. If you said, «The Beatles,» Paul, John, George, and Ringo, you didn’t have to say their names; we all knew because they were associated with one another.
So I have been with people who have spent so much time with the Holy Spirit that when I get in their presence, I feel like I get in His presence because I actually do. The first guy who really exemplified this to me was Dr. Cho. Dr. Cho’s in heaven now; he built the largest church in the 20th century in the world—one million members in Seoul, Korea. I remember I had to host him. He got into my vehicle, and when he got into my vehicle, God got into my vehicle, and I just started crying. I was told not to talk to him before the service because he needed to be ready, and I just said, «Dr. Cho, God’s in the car.» He just looked at me and said, «I know.» There was a close mutual association between Dr. Cho and the Holy Spirit.
Number five: the definition of fellowship is intimacy. This word describes communion better than any other word. Fellowship or communion sums up the previous four categories. Webster defines communion this way: intimate fellowship or rapport communication. So intimacy can only be developed through communication. That’s the way we develop intimacy. I mean, we’re talking about a life of intimacy with God. You are not going to have intimacy with God unless you learn to listen to His voice in the way He speaks to you, in the way He’s communicating with you.
Okay, remember I said Lisa can give me one look, and I can write three pages? It’s not just words we’re looking for; we’re looking for how does the Spirit of God speak to me? I know one of the ways He really talks to me is when I read Scripture. Now I know my wife; one of the ways He really talks to her is through dreams. For me, it’s reading the Scripture. So when I sit down, every time I read my Bible, I say, «Holy Spirit, open my eyes and teach me,» and He does. He speaks to me so frequently as I’m reading Scripture that it has developed an intimacy between us over the past four decades of my life. Intimacy can only be developed through communication, which is the avenue to a strong friendship.
I want to read 2 Corinthians chapter 12 from the Message translation: «The intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.» I love that. Okay, now Jesus comes along in John chapter 14, and He says, «If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of Truth.» Now this is so important. Okay, we need to talk about this.
Number one: obedience. God gives His Spirit (Acts 5:32) to those who obey Him. Again, we’re finding obedience to be at the center of this intimate relationship with God. Now, when Jesus said, «I’m going to give you another helper,» the Greek word for «another» is the Greek word «allos» (a-l-l-o-s). Now there are two Greek words that are translated as «another» in Scripture. This is very important that you get this: «allos» and «heteros.» Okay, «allos» means another of the same kind, while «heteros» means another of a different sort.
Let me explain it to you like this: if I give you a banana, and you eat that banana and say, «Wow, that was good,» and I say, «Do you want another piece of fruit?» and you say, «Yes,» and I hand you another banana, I’ve handed you «another» of the same sort. If this time I hand you an apple, I’ve given you another piece of fruit, but it’s another of a different sort. The Greek word that Jesus uses is «allos,» which means the Holy Spirit is going to be just like Me. Now, when He says, «I give you another helper,» the word «helper» is «paracletos,» which means «one who is called alongside to help you.» Jesus is also called «Paracletus» in 1 John 2:1.
So let’s talk about this word «paracletos.» «Paracletos» means that He is one who is called alongside to aid Him. So Jesus is saying, «The Holy Spirit, He’s going to teach you all about Me. He’s going to reveal Me to you.» There are things that I wanted to say to you that I can’t say to you; you can’t handle them until the Spirit of God comes. When He comes, then I can show you the deeper things.
If you look at Peter and you look at Paul, it’s pretty interesting: Peter walked with Jesus for three and a half years, and I imagine a lot of his references went back to when he physically walked with Jesus. Paul comes along never having walked with Jesus, and he makes a statement: «We don’t know Jesus after the flesh.» He said, «We know Him by the Spirit of God.» If you look at Paul, he was able to enter into a relationship with Jesus that actually caused Peter to go, «Wow, the wisdom that God has given to Paul.» This is in 2 Peter; he writes this: «Some of it’s hard to understand.» You want to know why? I believe it was hard to understand because Peter often reverted back to his physical time with Jesus. Paul got to know Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Remember Jesus said, «There are things I need—things I want to show you, but you can’t handle them right now. But when the Spirit of God comes, you’ll be able to handle them.» I think it’s actually been a blessing that God hasn’t physically appeared to us. If you look at the days of Jesus, if you wanted to ask Him a question, oh my gosh, you had to travel to wherever He was in Galilee. You had to wait until the crowd was done talking to Him and then ask Him your question. With the Holy Spirit, He’s ready to answer your question at any time of the day. He doesn’t need to sleep; He can answer five million people’s questions at the exact same time.
This is why Jesus actually said to us, «It is actually better for you that I go away, because if I don’t go away, the Holy Spirit’s not going to come, and it’s better for you to have the Holy Spirit around, not Me physically around, because you can go to a deeper level of intimacy with Me and with the Father by My Spirit.»
So let me tell you something: where the rubber meets the road is us learning to interact and fellowship with the Holy Spirit because His greatest delight, the Holy Spirit’s greatest delight, is to reveal Jesus Christ to you. That is the rubber-meets-the-road aspect of walking intimately with God. Again, I want to stress that I have an entire book on this called *Introduction to the Holy Spirit*. I have a course on it on Messenger X, so just flip over to that course and go through it. It’s only six lessons; it’s really important that you go through it and read it, especially the chapters on the Holy Spirit at the end of the book. In this final lesson that we’re going into, we will talk about the one key element that must happen for us to have actual interaction with God, and we will discuss that in the next lesson. Don’t want to miss it!