Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Heart of God

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The heart, the heart of God, the heart of man, follow your heart, and Valentine’s Day all had something to do with starting this study. No, I am not going to cover all of those topics, but this study led me to places I did not expect. I began by putting “heart God” in the search box in Bible Gateway. Many verses came up, I looked at every one of them. What I did not find surprised me, more on that later.

The Heart

Preachers, poets, and movie people provide palpitations. Do our modern thoughts on the “heart” actually sync with the ancient words and ideas? Over the years I have read many different opinions and thoughts on the subject (I have no references). Read the Strong’s references and you will see there were metaphorical aspects to the thoughts on the heart or what controlled people.

Strong’s Greek: 2588. καρδία (kardia) — heart (biblehub.com)

Strong’s Hebrew: 3820. לֵב (leb) — inner man, mind, will, heart (biblehub.com)   See H3824.

Take a Muse Moment to consider an intelligent, observant populace. Please compare an active beating heart that was in the center of your chest that changed speeds at certain times; to a glob of stuff locked away in your skull that only gave you headaches. What would you think was important?

I tend to believe that our modern society wants to nullify God and put us in His place. We think too much of our hearts (emotions and feelings). Why would God allow or even use that imagery? When you are in the lead, you have to let your followers catch up.

The Heart of Man

Please consider these popular cliches: follow your heart, my heart was not in it, my heart’s desire, bless your heart. Hollywood, Wall Street, and a sin nature can be a problem, but there are many positive thoughts also.

The free will we have is the problem. God wants us to choose Him. The Tree that Eve picked and Adam ate from also shades the way we “naturally” chose to go. So, as you study the heart of man in the Bible the overwhelming number of verses refer to us not picking Him or going His Way.

What I Did Not Find

I did not find many verses that specifically refer to God’s leb or kardia. In my first search, I found Ezekiel 28: 2 and 6. Because there was a still small voice telling me to go further, I turned to my “leaf and ink” version of Strong’s Concordance and found three more: Genesis 6:6, Jeremiah 3:15, and 32:41. There may be more and the translation you use may require more study; using the meanings of leb or kardia are going to be the path. (Let me know.) The verses I will add from the New Testament will not have kardia in them but the Hebrew ideas associated with leb. I believe these should be part of this study because you have Hebrews writing in Greek.

The exoteric anthropomorphism of a beating heart in our God, in Scripture, was put there by our God. So, it is how He chooses to portray Himself and we need to learn about Him through this self-revelation. I will use bullet points just because, again leb and kardia are the focus thoughts, not our English words.

  • Genesis 6:6 – God is grieved because of man.
  • Jeremiah 3:15 – the Father will give us shepherds who will feed us.
  • Jeremiah 32:41 – He will plant us in His land.
  • Ezekiel 28:2 and 6 – these verses are about the king of Tyre, who believes he has a heart like God’s.
  • Romans 8:27 – the “mind of the Spirit” and the “will of God”. φρόνημα | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com
  • Romans 12:2 – “renew our minds” to prove His will. These are different Greek words in this verse.
  • 1 Corinthians 2:16 – “mind of the Lord” and we have the “mind of Christ”. (Isaiah 40:13 is a reference for this verse.) Please start in verse 10 and read through 16 for the complete thought. Your translation may have the word “thought” added for clarity. 1 Corinthians 2:11 Greek Text Analysis (biblehub.com)

The Heart of God

So, there does not seem to be many verses on the heart of God, or is there? Over the years many have told me what the heart of God is, needs, or wants. Were they in the know? (Please, this is a study.)

As I worked on this post, three ideas were reinforced in me. 1. His written Word reveals the heart of God. 2. Do not be quick to claim the heart of God. 3. The Holy Spirit is an integral part of the heart of God.

I give two of many verses that show what our God is like.

Psalm 86:5 (NASB) For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.

Psalm 33:4-5 (NIV) For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Ezekiel 28

Verse 2 in the NASB is, “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘The Lord God says this: “Because your heart is haughty And you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas’; Yet you are a mortal and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God.” (From Bible Gateway) This was the first verse I found that cited the heart of God. I did another search on this website Ezekiel 28:2 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com). Verse 6 also uses these words and ideas.

Tyre has a long and complicated place in Scripture, it starts with David and continues into the New Testament with Jesus and even into the Book of Acts. Joshua used it as a reference point. I will offer a “light look” at this verse.

  • Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon when God gave him this word to speak.
  • It appears to be written to a man. Most scholars will tell you this also refers to Satan.
  • The Complete Jewish Bible has, “You think that you think like God”. Many translations use this instead of the heart to portray the inner part of God.

Seven Spirits

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Revelations 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (KJV)

The phrase in this verse “the seven Spirits of God” has caused several Bible studies in the past, but I never found them explained or listed until now. I tried combing through the New Testament for seven distinct spirits or attributes of the Holy Spirit and even wrote a series on Him from the Old Testament. To be fair there are seven times “seven spirits” appear in the New Testament.

Seven – Because of Genesis 2:2 seven is associated with completeness or wholeness. That makes the eighth day a new beginning or another starting point. I keep those ideas in my mind as I read every verse or time 7 or 8 is used in Scripture. For this study, they work very well, so keep them in mind.

Ruach and Pneuma

These two words are translated into spirit in the Bible; ruach is Hebrew and pneuma is Greek. A confusing thing is that it is the same for good or evil spirits. Adjectives and context will determine if translators give it a capital letter for the Spirit of God. In both languages, they carry the idea of breath or wind. It will be pointed out that they come from the idea of something being immaterial in nature. If you use the Strong’s pneuma is G 4151 and ruach or ruah is H 7307.  

The evil ones – Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26 are Jesus’ teachings about when an evil spirit leaves a man. This block of teaching, in Matthew starts, in verse 22 where the Pharisees claim he drives demons out by the prince of demons. It actually reads that one leaves and brings back seven others making it a total of eight. The person is really bad off now. Jesus applies that concept to the entire generation; no wonder people are crazier now. Luke 8:2 tells of Mary Magdalene’s deliverance from seven demons or spirits. They did not come back.

The Good Ones

The “seven good ones” are in Revelations 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6. Revelations 1:4 may refer to the spirits assigned to those particular seven churches, but the other three are “the seven spirits of God”.

  • 3:1 This is in the letter to the Church in Sardis. Jesus is holding the seven spirits and seven stars.
  • 4:5 In front of the throne, seven lamps are burning and these are referred to as the seven spirits of God.
  • 5:6 The Lamb’s seven horns and eyes are the seven spirits of God that have been sent out into the world.

Before this goes weird, I serve a triune God. There is one Holy Spirit. Some commentators use the term sevenfold nature of God. That is fine and if you look through the corpus on the Holy Spirit, I believe it is correct. Jesus said He would send the Comforter to be with us, the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The term sevenfold is not used very much, but the King James and Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition had the most sevenfold entries listed for the ones I checked.

What I Found

Isaiah 11:1-4 is the text where I found seven attributes of the Spirit. In verse four “the breath of His mouth/lips” is ruach. I always stopped at the six listed in verse two. My study on wind is what did the trick for me. This chapter is a Christmas Connection as verse one is about Jesus (See the Root, Branch, and Fruit). Yes, it would also fit at His baptism.

The Seven Spirits of God or Yahweh in Isaiah 11:1-4 

  1. Wisdom H2451 chokmah, skill, wisdom
  2. Understanding H 998 binah, consideration, discernment, clearly, truth
  3. Counsel H 6098 etsah, advice, consultation
  4. Might H 1369 geburah, courage, strength, might  
  5. Knowledge H 1847 daath,  
  6. Fear of the Lord H 3374 yirah, awesome, fear, reverence  
  7. Judgment from His breath, shaphat or judgment is H8199, breath is H7307

Note – Elisha, the prophet, is the son of Shaphat (1 Kings 19:16).  

Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit

The term “Holy Spirit” or Ruach Hakodesh appears three times in the Old Testament. In the Christian Bible, there are many Ruach’s that are capitalized. The three times are Isaiah 63: 10 and 11 and Psalm 51. The Christian concept of the Holy Spirit is different than the Jewish one, so you may see that if you continue this study. I used these references; may they serve you well.

Hebrew Names for God – Ruach HaKodesh (hebrew4christians.com)

Ruach HaKodesh: The Holy Spirit | Living Word Discovery (livingwordin3d.com)

Hebrew Bible – Wikipedia

The four Hebrew letters for Hakodesh each have a separate symbolic meaning. You will find them on the websites. Holy Spirit in Judaism – Wikipedia   

Psalm 51

This psalm has three different uses of rauch.  One of them is “holy”. The translation is the Orthodox Jewish Bible by way of Bible Gateway.

10 (12) Create in me a lev tahor, O Elohim; and renew a ruach nekhon (steadfast spirit [i.e., regeneration Ezek 36:26; Yn 3:3,6]) within me.

11 (13) Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Ruach Hakodesh from me.

12 (14) Restore unto me the sasson of Thy salvation; and uphold me with a ruach nedivah (a willing spirit; see Jer 31:31-34).

Psalm 51 – Wikipedia

Firstborn

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Firstborn was conceived from this question-How can the firstborn of creation be the Last Adam or Second Man? After a fruitful study, I am now ready to birth this post about the Firstborn. This study started growing into a very complicated child because of all the aspects related to the topic of the firstborn. Maybe I will get to that plethora of information in a future post.

Some about the Firstborn

This is a title as well as a position on a family tree. Part of being the firstborn son was the inheritance and the blessing that went with that honor. These rights of the firstborn are mentioned in the Five Books of Moses. Each book has a slightly different focus. (I am making some very loose points here as rules and requirements are mentioned in Exodus to Deuteronomy.)

  • Genesis-The focus here is Jacob and how he handles the rights of the firstborn. He buys and steals them from Esau, takes them away from Ruben and gives them to Joseph, and transfers them to Ephraim. 1 Chronicles 5:1, Jeremiah 31:9, with Genesis 49:3,4; 48:5 and 14-20 all refer to the story of Ruben.
  • Exodus’ focus is that Egypt/Pharaoh will not let Israel (God’s firstborn) go, so it will cost them their firstborn.
  • Leviticus has only one mention of firstborn-Chapter 27. It states that they belong to the Lord.
  • Numbers-There are many things written about the firstborn in Numbers. The theme I saw was Egypt being traded for Israel, and now Israel would cover the redeeming of the Levites’ firstborn. Zelophehad’s daughters (Numbers 36:11) do set some rules about all-girl families.
  • Deuteronomy restates the rules and requirements of the firstborn. Chapter 21:15 adds a rule for loved and unloved wives, and whose children get the rights of the firstborn. I want to think this adjusts some things Jacob did so as not to be an excuse for later generations.

Firstborn of Creation

Adam was the prototype, while Jesus is the prototokos (Colossians 1:15). Adam was made/created/assembled by God and he received the breath of life (The first CPR:). Jesus came from that amazing creation when the Holy Spirit surrounded Mary with grace (charitoo) and put in the male half of the DNA to form Jesus. So, He was the first man born from the Spirit. (Luke 2:21-He was circumcised.) This sets the example of our born-again experience with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the firstborn of Creation (Hebrews 1:6, Colossians 1:15, Romans 8:29). He is also the firstborn of/from the dead (Revelation 1:5, Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the head of the church of the firstborn (Colossians 1:18, Hebrews 12:23).

1 Corinthians 15:45 and 46 is discussing the concepts that are also found in Romans 5:15 and 17 (here it is one man). The first Adam, the first man, allowed death into the world by his transgression. The last Adam (Jesus) is a life-giving Spirit that brought grace to us. In 1 Corinthians 15:46, Jesus is referred to as the second man. I believe, because of the Hebrew for Adam and man, being related has caused this to become the title of Second Adam.

Holy Spirit

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For Pentecost 2022, I was looking at the term (logos) Holy Spirit and found this interesting fact. Out of the New Testament writers, Doctor Luke uses Holy Spirit the most. (These are approximate numbers because translations are different.) Holy Spirit is used 100 times in the New Testament, 55 of those are used by Luke. The Greek doctor, who traveled with Paul and spent time with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, mentioned the Holy Spirit more than all the other writers combined. In his Gospel, it appears 13 times, with the rest (42 or 43) being in Acts. Luke wrote these letters to Theophilus (friend of God).

Other Tidbits

  • Ruach HaKodesh or HaKo’desh is Hebrew for Holy Spirit. Ruach is breath, wind, or spirit.
  • Hagios Pneuma is Greek for Holy Spirit. Pneuma is breath, wind, or spirit.
  • If you look in the KJV, use the term Holy Ghost instead of Holy Spirit.

Study of the Kingdom – Miracles

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Preach the Kingdom and Do Miracles

Jesus’ Kingdom is one of miracles!  Jesus did miracles, He sent His disciples out and they did miracles and people who came from their ministry did miracles.  Ananias who laid hands on Saul was a second-generation Christian, so that makes Saul/Paul a third-generation Christian and he did miracles.  It never really stopped, and the Azusa Street Revival was just one of several revivals that were used to reawaken the concept that God is a miracle-working God!

Matthew 4:23 says Jesus preached the “good news” and healed diseases and sickness.  Matthew 9: 35 restates that thought in almost the exact words and then Jesus sent the Twelve out to preach, heal diseases and sickness, and cast out evil spirits.  In between those two statements was a practical lesson from the Master Healer and Master Teacher.

  1. The Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes – preached the kingdom
  2. Healing a leper as a witness to the priest.  Mark 1: 40 tells the same story, only the man was disobedient. (The devil is a liar.)
  3. Heals the centurion’s (a Gentile) servant
  4. Calms a storm
  5. Heals the Man of the Gadarenes
  6. Heals the paralytic that dropped in through the roof
  7. Heals a sick woman and a dead girl
  8. Heals the blind and the mute

Preach the Good News of the Kingdom and Heal!  Hopefully, the point was made! 

Logos and the Rhema

The Logos (Jesus) spoke the rhema of the Kingdom and the crowds were amazed because of the authority of the teachings (Matthew 7:29).  The Logos also spoke the rhema of God and healed every illness and calmed storms.  As believers we needed the logos to preach and the rhema from Holy Spirit to heal!

Who Did You Ask and Who Gets the Glory?

Emotionalism!  Seeking some parts of the Holy Spirit’s ministry and rejecting others!  The Spirit accepts you, do you accept Him?  Knowledge and understanding of the moving and power of the Spirit are necessary, but head-knowledge does not replace the relationship.  

If you are asking the Father for the Holy Spirit why should you expect something harmful or hurtful?  Is Matthew 7:11 wrong?  The Father knows how to give good gifts, He gave us the Holy Spirit!  

Holy Spirit’s mission is to give glory to Jesus.  He will use willing people to channel His power to humanity and the glory goes to the Father and the Son!  Willingness leads to relationships!  “With your whole heart seek God and He will reward you.”  (Hebrews 11: 6) The Spirit will use you and do great things if you are willing.  How great? How willing!  Oh, you do not get to define great, the Spirit of God does that and it is on a person to person basis.  I can attest, unfortunately, it is very easy to replace a Holy Spirit relationship with works, rules, and many other things.  And then wonder why you are empty (the wrong way), shallow, and unproductive.

Peter and John worked at building a relationship with and knowing the Spirit.  At the Beautiful Gate when they healed the beggar they continually gave glory to God/Jesus for the healing.  (I wonder what happened to the beggar after their court appearance?).  Paul and Barnabas, in Acts 14 gave the glory to the Lord for the healing of the lame man.  Who gets the glory will tell you a lot about the miracle worker. 

Wait A Week

For Jesus, it was Sunday to Friday and they were hanging Him on the cross.

For the Church in Jerusalem, it was not long before favor went to headhunting.

Paul and Barnabas had a short time before the mob stoned Paul to death and Jesus healed him.

The devil hates it when Jesus gets praised!  The devil hates miracles because they undo his evil plans and works.  Unfortunately, it seems that the religious, who want the rules, are the ones who do the killing.  In the Welsh Revival, the leaders of the established church actually paid people to harm the revivalist and those who attended.

Miracles are an important part of the Church of Jesus Christ!  Just remember, the logos is spoken first, and then comes the rhema with signs and wonders to confirm the miracle of Jesus on the cross.