John 14:16, 26 says, “16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

 

Acts 1:8 says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 

 

The Holy Spirit is so amazing and real! He is the Spirit of Christ resting within us in the earth, whereby we are adopted as sons and daughters of God! His purpose is to comfort us, teach us the truth, convict us of anything that does not look like God, and empower us to be witnesses in the earth! This is the whole mission of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if a spirit that is leading you or speaking into your life is not doing these things, then you have to question its source and validity! Any spirit denying who Jesus is or not prophetically ministering for the purpose of edifying or exhorting is one you should surely not tolerate as being the voice of God! 

 

With this is in mind, there are some misconceptions of the Holy Spirit that have to be corrected:

 

1) Although the Holy Spirit is a comforter, He is not here to make you “comfortable”. I believe we are to rest in the presence of God and have a heart that has entered into pure devotion to Him! However, He will never allow you to be rocked to sleep in complacency with a lackadaisical faith. If you are living in a wrong way, He will convict you! In fact, He will “burn” within you the heart of the Father, which is to abide in a lifestyle of worship and see people the way God sees them! 

 

2) The Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself. He will not minister to and through one person with a message that contradicts the Word of God! If one prophet says one thing and another prophet says something that is completely opposite, then whoever spoke something that did not happen needs to be asked, questioned or held accountable. Oftentimes, we are afraid to tread those waters because of the conflict it can produce, but the Holy Spirit will not lie. He will speak the truth! Those moments of accountability are not to condemn someone, but to help each of us grow in hearing, knowing and understanding the voice of God with greater clarity! 

 

3) The Holy Spirit is not traditional, which makes God’s Word ineffective. One church body may believe the Holy Spirit can only move in a specific style of music, such as songs from the red book hymnal, or a preacher that is loud and yells in delivering his entire message. Another church may be the complete opposite, thinking the Holy Spirit only functions in modern-day worship from songs you hear on K-Love radio and preaching that is delivered calmly and illustratively. We are all created uniquely, but unity doesn’t reflect uniformity. A message may be delivered differently, but the Holy Spirit will still function with conviction and power. The worship style may be different, but it is about what comes from the heart! At the end of the day, it is about what is alignment with God’s Word and what declares the truth of the gospel!

 

4) The Holy Spirit doesn’t make you timid or shy in order to maintain an insecure peace. We must understand that is not the Holy Spirit, but fear! God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear will rob you of boldness, causing you to shy away from speaking and living the truth because of the fear man, which is a snare to our lives (Proverbs 29:25). However, the Holy Spirit drowns out fear and fills us with boldness, empowering us to be witnesses in the earth. How could the disciples have been martyrs for Christ if they were not filled with the Holy Spirit? It is time we function with this Holy Spirit, knowing that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of us (Romans 8:11).