A person’s nature is his inherent character or basic constitution. To discover the nature of the Holy Spirit is to discover the nature of God because he is God just as much as the father and the Son. To this end, we must refer to His word. God wants us to know him in experience. He wants us know how he thinks and acts and how to relate with him. God wants us to know him because our lives depend on it. In Jer.29:11-13 He said through the prophet:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Also, in Jer.33:3. He promises:
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
He even went the extra mile to send Jesus Christ His only begotten son to reconcile us back to Him so we can be reconnected to Him who is the source of our lives and live and be sustained with His life again.
1. He is spirit. The first appearance of God we see in the bible is the Spirit of God. This is in Gen.1:2 where we are told:
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
In Jn.4:23-24 also, the Lord Jesus Christ said:
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
I like the way the living bible puts it:
“It is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship, is our worship spiritual and real? Do we have the Holy Spirit’s help? God is Spirit and we must have his help to worship him as we should. The father wants this kind of worship from us.”
2. He is love: In 1Jn.4:7-8, we read:
“Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love.”
This scripture text reveals two things to us namely: first; God’s love nature and second; His expectation of us as His children.
In Ex.34:4-7, God speaks of himself to Moses in answer to his prayer to reveal Himself to him thus:
“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation”.
From here, we gather that: First, God is merciful and as such does not punish us as we deserve. Second, God is gracious and therefore benevolent, giving to people things they do not deserve. His mercy is also reflected in the length of time it takes him to reward righteousness as against the length of time it takes Him to punish iniquity. In Ez.18, he even went further in His mercy to specify that the righteousness of a son would protect him from the consequences of the iniquity of his father. He deliberately allows mercy to prevail over judgment. Third, He is longsuffering; this means that He has the ability to be very patient and to endure without complaining. This is part of the description of love Apostle Paul gives to us in 1Cor.13:4-8. In Isaiah 53:7, we are told in the prophecy of what God the Son would undergo for our sin:
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
Fourth, He is abundant in goodness and truth. [see Jn.13:34-35 and 1Jn.3:9.]
3. He cannot lie: This is reflected in the eternal nature of his word. In fact, when the Lord was to define truth in Jn.17:17, he said God’s word is truth and in Mt.24:35, the Lord said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” In fact Apostle Paul revealed a very sublime truth in his letter to Titus when he called him the God who cannot lie in Titus 1:1-3. It reads:
“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;”
As a result of His truthfulness, His word cannot fail. This is why you can stake your eternal destiny on the word of God and be safe. In Isaiah 55:8-11, this truth is brought out clearly thus:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
We are also told in Numbers 23:19 that God is not man that He should lie. Finally, Heb.6:18 also make us understand that it is impossible for God to lie. This explains why in 1Kings 18; at the context organized by Elijah between Him and false gods, He was the only one who could answer by fire.
4. He is faithful: You can count on Him to always be there for you. In Gen.3:15; in spite of man’s sin, God promised that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent and at the fullness of time, He sent Jesus Christ His only begotten son to saved us from our sin. In Deuteronomy 7:9, we are told:
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”
Even in our trials, He remains faithful to see us through and help us out. In 1Cor.10:13, we are told:
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
In the introduction of this book I told my experience of how The Holy Spirit faithfully wakes me up at 3:20 am every day and how on one occasion when I thought He did not keep to time I felt so bad until I realized He did and concluded that God is matchlessly faithful.
5. He is omnipotent: This means that the Holy Spirit is all powerful and has all ability. In Genesis 18:14, when Sarah laughed in disbelief at God’s promise to give her a son at the age of ninety, God asked Abraham if anything was too hard for the Lord, then affirmed that He would surely visit them the next year and in Genesis 21:1-2, we read:
“and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to Him.”
In Luke 1:37, we are told that with God, nothing shall be impossible.
Also, Jeremiah says concerning Him in Jeremiah 32:17:
“Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”.
This explains why He could call things which are not as though they were. Isaiah the prophet brought this out clearly when by divine inspiration, he said in Isaiah 45:1-14:
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
Hannah, the mother of Samuel describes Him in 1Sam.2:1-10 thus:
“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.
There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.
He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
6. He is Almighty: God’s ability is reflected in His miracle to Abraham. In Gen.17:1 He revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty God. Again, in the red sea when he caused His people to walk on dry land and finished their enemies in Exodus 14, he proved himself as being almighty. When He raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he was also proving himself as the almighty God. No one else has ever been raised from the dead never to die again. In Romans 8:11, Apostle Paul refers to Him as the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Also, His almightiness is displayed in causing two people to scale over death namely; Enoch and Elijah and very soon, He is going to show his almightiness and omnipotence again when He causes multitudes of people to disappear from this world at once without tasting physical death. This is the phenomenon that is popularly called the rapture of the Church.
7. He has features like a man: He has eyes that see, ears that hear, mouth that speaks, hands that can lift up. [See Jn.8:12; Ps.94:7-13; 135:15-18.]
8. He is all knowing. This is why He is described as omniscient, Ps.139:1-6 tells us:
“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it”.
In Heb.4:13, we are told:
“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
9. He does not change: In Mal.3:6; He said of Himself; “… I am the Lord, I change not…”
Also, in Numbers 23:19, we are told:
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
To repent is to turn around; to change. The Holy Spirit is God and not man and is therefore perfect and does not need to turn around or change.
10. He cannot faint or be tired: In Isaiah 40:28-31, we are told:
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
This is what gives the Lord the audacity in Matthew 11:28-30 to throw a blank cheque invitation to all who are weary and burdened to come to Him and that they shall find rest for their souls. Psalm 121 also makes us understand that God neither sleeps nor slumbers.
11. He is the Eternal self-existing one: He has no beginning and no ending. [Gen.1:1; Col.1:16-17] Jn.5:26 says: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself”. In Daniel 4:34-35, after humiliating Nebuchadnezzar to teach him a lesson in pride, here is his testimony about God:
“And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
12. He is creative: In fact, this is the first of his nature revealed to us in the word of God. Gen.1:1 says: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Also, col.1:16-17 says: “for by him were all things created visible or invisible whether they be thrones and dominions, all things were created by Him and for him”. The strength of His creativity, vests in the integrity of his word. The bible says in Ps.33:6, 9: “by the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of it by the breath of his mouth… for he spake, and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast.” In fact in John 1:3, we are made to understand that all things were created by the word of God and that without him is nothing made that was made.
13. He is Holy: In Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah had a vision where God was revealed to him in His holiness. The word translated holy here is the Hebrew word “qadosh” and it means sacred. In a similar encounter by John in Rev.4:8, the Greek word “hagios” meaning sacred was used. The definition of both words boil down to describing God as physically pure, morally blameless and consecrated. It can also be defined as God’s sacred personality. Holy also means to be set apart; to be distinguished. Holiness therefore, is the quality or state of being set apart, exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. This definition of holiness applies only to God. Indeed, this is who God is and that is why He has the ability to influence people to become pure no matter what their states were when He found them. He is not like any other. In 1Sam.2:2 Holy is used to mean exalted, worthy of complete devotion and one perfect in goodness and righteousness. In exodus 34, He describes himself as being abundant in goodness. His goodness has been greatly expressed in Calvary.
14. He loves righteousness and hates wickedness: [Ps.45:6-7; Heb.1:8-12]. This is why he could not and can never be dethroned as God. His throne is established on righteousness. He is the only one who is incapable of breaching His word.
15. He is omnipresent: This means that He is equally present everywhere at the same time. Psalm 139:7-12 reads:
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
This nature of God is what gives us the confidence to pray anywhere knowing he hears us. In fact, He heard Jonah when He prayed from the belly of the whale and caused the whale to vomit him on a sea shore without hurting him. Apostle Paul describes this nature if God this way in Eph.1:22-23
“fills all in all” and in Acts17:27-28, he says:
“he is not far from us all. For in him we live and move and have our being”.
Also, in Jer.23:23-24, we read:
“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”
This does not mean God is in everything because God condemns idolatry in very strong terms.
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