Before we jump into this blog post we want to make one thing very clear:
There is only ONE HOLY SPIRIT!
If you haven't read the blog post about The Menorah in the Bible before - we'd strongly recommend you read it first before reading this blog.
The menorah in the tabernacle in the desert was a shadow of what's to come with the New Covenant through Yeshua our Messiah. He came for one Bride - to reconcile the Jews, His Covenant Nation and the Gentiles who turned back to Yeshua and follows His instructions. Jew and Gentile called together, brought purified and clean before God to dwell with him. How profound! How blessed are we to have been brought into the New Covenant, and that we can see the fulfillment in Yeshua, the One to whom the menorah points. As born-again believers, we are the light of the world. The lamp unto the nations. And we have a responsibility to stand firm in Him till the very end of days!
This blog is not intended to confuse or mislead you. As mentioned earlier - there is only one Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit operates / ministers in different ways - which is known as the Seven Spirits of the Lord. In other words we can say that the Seven Spirits of the Lord is seven ways in which the Holy Spirit works. Many Biblical scholars refers to it as the 7 attributes / characteristics of the Holy Spirit.
As born-again believers we believe that once we surrender our hearts to Yeshua, He pours out His Holy Spirit (רוח הקודש= transliterated: Ruach HaKodesh) on us.
Completely irrelevant but interesting fact: We have derived our little girl's name - Ruahné - from the Hebrew word "Ruach" which means Spirit or Breath of God! We are excited to see how Abba will use her for His glory and His Kingdom!
The Holy Spirit is God's breath! The Holy Spirit was present and active from the Old Testament. But in the New Testament we read about a more personal way in which the Holy Spirit started to operate in lives. At the Passover meal, Yeshua (Jesus) revealed the work of the Holy Spirit to His disciples. In the book of Acts we can learn more about the Holy Spirit as well - when He visits the disciples and gives them truth, comfort, guidance, wisdom, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit was in Yeshua, He operated in the complete work of the Holy Spirit.
But where does the idea of the 7 Spirits of the LORD come from?
The first time we read about it is in Isaiah 11:2:
"and the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD"
When we read the Name LORD, written in capital letters - it means that the original Hebrew Name for God was used. The original Hebrew was יהוה - transliterated as YHVH. And pronounced as Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, which is literally the 4 letters. Many people pronounce it as Yahweh.
The 7 Spirits are then often referred to again in the book of Revelations.
Go read Rev 1:4-5 | Rev 3:1 | Rev 4:5 | Rev 5:6 | Zech 4:2
The Seven Spirits of God are as follow:
The Spirit of the LORD;
The Spirit of Wisdom;
The Spirit of Understanding;
The Spirit of Counsel;
The Spirit of Power (or might);
The Spirit of Knowledge;
The Spirit of the Fear of the LORD.
The Number 7 in the Bible refers to completeness. In the same manner we can look at the 7 Spirits of the Lord: The Holy Spirit completes His work in us, through these 7 attributes. This is not seven different Spirits, the Holy Spirit is One but it operates / manifests itself in different ways.
Our purpose in life is not only to be saved and then live our lives any way we want to until the day we die. No! We are made for a very specific purpose and a very specific time! Hence, we have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in order that we can all walk and fulfill our God-given destiny!
The seven Spirits of the Holy Spirit is not locked up in heaven, we all have access to it. As born-again believers we carry the Holy Spirit within us and thus the guidance of the Holy Spirit - in these 7 different ways - should be active and visible in our lives.
In John 14:26 we read: "But 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."
In 1 Cor 2:10-11 we read "But God had revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
The Holy Spirit is God giving us guidance in our everyday lives. Abba's plan right from Genesis all throughout to Revelations is one massive redemption plan! He wants the whole world to be save - even though we know that unfortunately the whole world won't be saved. Because we realise that to be saved, requires something from our side as well. We cannot save ourselves - Yeshua did the complete work on the cross. However, once we accept His work on the cross on our lives, out of thankfulness - we will change our lives to reflect our thankfulness. You cannot possibly try to convince me that you are thankful that Yeshua gave His LIFE for you by living your life like the rest of the world does. That's making His Grace cheap!
Through Yeshua's death and resurrection, Abba provided a way for salvation and through the Holy Spirit Abba provides us guidance on how our lives should look like once we are saved.
The Spirit of the LORD: (Rev 4:5-6)
This is the Spirit of YHVH, I AM, GOD. As we read in Isaiah 11:2 - the other 6 attributes / nature / characteristics of the Holy Spirit flows from the Spirit of YHVH! Abba's Spirit operated in and through Yeshua. And we know that we should follow Yeshua's example. In other words if the Holy Spirit flowed through Him, it should also flow through us and His work should be evident in our lives.
The use of the word "flow" was intentional. Because we cannot put the Holy Spirit in a box. When we first surrender our lives to God, we are spiritual babies. We have only a limited understanding of the spiritual realm and only know a little about the Holy Spirit. But as we grow in our faith walk, Abba starts to reveal more an more. And the flow of His Spirit increases in us! Without the Holy Spirit, we would have understood very little about the Kingdom of God! It's the Holy Spirit that leads us to Yeshua, Who leads us to surrender ourselves and teaches us to walk in Abba's ways and principles. The Holy Spirit is our ever flowing stream of Living Water!
The Spirit of Wisdom: (Prov 15:31-33)
The Holy Spirit provides wisdom, because God Himself is Wisdom! Any wisdom obtained from other sources are not true wisdom. Our souls have intellect and imagination. But our spirit have wisdom and understanding! Wisdom is a gift from God through His Holy Spirit. Abba desires for us to walk in wisdom. We can only walk in wisdom when the knowledge of the Word meets the intimacy of a relationship with Yeshua. Wisdom has nothing to do with age. You can be old without any true wisdom or you can be a child with endless true wisdom. The level of our knowledge of the Word combined with the intimate time we spend with Yeshua will determine our true Wisdom. Knowledge can be a good thing, but not all knowledge is wisdom. As long as there is no intimacy and relationship with Yeshua, the knowledge will remain intellectual (soul) and will never become wisdom (spiritual). The soul cannot bring forth life. What we cultivate in our spiritual lives will determine the eternal weight.
Wisdom is a small still voice that flows from knowledge - by listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, when we make choices: big and small. Part of becoming the Bride of Yeshua is about gaining wisdom as we walk this spiritual journey. It's a journey of studying the Word of God AND then waiting on the Holy Spirit to break it open to us AND applying it to our lives. Wisdom is the little voice that often tells us to wait a bit, pause - wait for an answer. But our fleshly minds (soul) just wants to get things done, so we don't listen to that small voice (Spirit) - and we end up burning our fingers. We have to train ourselves to intentionally listen to the small voice, to silence our minds (soul) so that we can actually listen. We'd be surprised by how much we'd hear if only we were willing to listen.
The Spirit of Understanding: (Prov 2:2-11)
Understanding goes hand in hand with wisdom and knowledge. It's about receiving knowledge or instruction NOT in an intellectual (soulish) way. Sarah van Vuuren described it beautifully in her book Shama, she said that the Spirit of Understanding is like glasses that help you to see, know and perceive the things of God's Kingdom.
Without the Spirit of Understanding we are veiled by religion! We can have all this knowledge about the Scriptures and quote one verse after the other - but our lives does not reflect the Word. That's dead religion. Once the Holy Spirit gives us Understanding, it breaks open the Word of God and it enables us to see it for what it truly means and opens our eyes to the fact that the Word is still just as valid for our lives today as it was 2000 years ago! Our opinions truly don't matter. The only thing that matters is the Kindgom of God.
Opinions can never be found in the spiritual realm... Only in the soul / fleshly realm. That alone should be enough to tell us that our opinions weighs nothing against the Word of God! When we walk in the Spirit, we will gain understanding and revelation about the Truth. People have opinions because we see and try to understand things from our intellectual perspective and carnal reasoning. And many times because we have knowledge about God we think that we know Him. But unless our knowledge turns into wisdom and understanding - we only know about Him and not know Him truly. That's dead religion, with no eternity value - and we'll never get more revelation on the Truth of His Word if we stay in religion.
When we gain understanding, we can start to walk in righteousness. Because we understand and have gained wisdom through the Holy Spirit, we choose to obey His instructions and live righteously. We cannot approach the things of the Spirit without the Spirit of Understanding, as we won't be able to see and know that it comes from God and we'll miss His revelations. The Holy Spirit gives us discernment - to discern between intellectual knowledge and wisdom. The Holy Spirit is the only One Who can gives us true Understanding of the Word of God and the things of the spiritual realm.
The Spirit of Counsel: (2 Tim 3:3-16 | Prov 3:5-7)
If we chose to walk a life of righteousness - listening an obeying the Word - the Spirit of Counsel will lead us. We read in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is our Counsellor. If we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives - He will guide us in our everyday choices. The Holy Spirit's counsel will keep us on the right path, to persue life and to walk in our individual callings.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and wait on His instruction, Abba will reveal more and more of His heart and His Kingdom to us.
We cannot fool God. He knows the intentions of our hearts. We can do all the things that looks religiously correct and have no visible fruit in our lives. Or we can skip the religious facade and just seek Him. As we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, we will adjust and live our lives so that we can be in right standing with God. Without the Spirit of Counsel we will be misled. In the natural things might appear to be right, but we must walk in the spirit so that we can recognise the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every single aspect of our lives.
We tend to argue that God doesn't care about the small things. But truth is - He does! God is into the tiniest bit of detail! In our fleshly walk, we waste so much time - taking detours, delaying the outcomes, etc... Simply because we are not willing to wait and listen. We pray and then immediately we want to move into a direction - based on what looks like the right choice. We lean on our own understanding instead of waiting on the counsel of the Holy Spirit to guide us. We justify our actions by making decisions on our own by saying that it was time dependent and we couldn't wait any longer. As if God's not trustworthy and in control. God is NEVER late and He ALWAYS answers. The question is weather we are willing to wait on Him and His timing. We are the ones who are in a hurry and not willing to listen - and then we end up burning our fingers and have the arrogance to ask God "why" it had to happen or "why" we had to go through certain experiences.
The Holy Spirit is ready and waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. If we allow Him, He will search our hearts, purify our intentions and lead us to walk in Abba's ways that brings forth life!
The Spirit of Power: (Ps 106:8 | Isa 33:13 | Jer 10:6 | Jer 16:21 | Zech 4:6)
In Zech 4:6 we read "So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts."
We cannot obtain the attributes / characteristics of Yeshua through our own fleshly works. We can only become more and more like Him, through the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Therefore, we have to come to a place of surrender and shalom (peace) - in order that God can show us His power in our lives and transform us. We cannot workout / control the spiritual things with our fleshly nature. When we hand over the controls to God, He will make things happen and fall into place the way they should and the way He planned for it to. The power of God is like a mighty, rushing wind. And we need to allow Him to flow through us - we do that by handing over the control to Him instead of trying to control everything ourselves.
I always say that I'm not here to convince you. I'm simply sharing what I've learned and came to know. It's not my work to convince you - that's the work of the Spirit. When we try to control situations and outcomes, we take over the work of the Spirit.
We are not called to control situations or our lives. We are called to surrender ourselves and rest in Him. We should place our faith in Abba, walk in obedience and then we will have the opportunity to witness His Power working and moving in and through our lives.
I'm going to quote from Sarah's book (Shama) again: "God is really Who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do but we need to come in right standing with Him and create the environment for Him to come and do the work and bring the change.
The Spirit of Knowledge: (Ps 119:66 | Prov 1:2-7 | Prov 18:15)
Abba has created us with the ability to learn, gather information, memorise things and recall it at a later stage. Everything we learn and experience in our lives, build structures in our brain and thus in our soul.
If we invest time in learning about God's Kingdom and His ways, we'll have godly structures in our soul. These Godly structures will lead us to walk in righteousness. We have do make the decision to gain knowledge about things that matter to God and things that will help us to grow spiritually. If we keep ourselves busy with things that are not important to God, we are busy gaining knowledge that will only keep us carnally busy but won't produce any spiritual fruit. We need to assess what we prioritise learning about in life. What knowledge is important to you? If we place to high value on worldly knowledge, it will distract us from what's really important!
When the Holy Spirit is actively working in you, the fruits of wisdom, understanding & knowledge will be visible for the world to see. Our lives should reflect Yeshua to the world! Our knowledge can be a help unto others. I firmly believe that we can all learn from one another. If we don't allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, we won't gain spiritual knowledge and grow. We need to grow so that we get in line with His Truth and Word and so that the world won't be able to deceive us. God's standards are not the world's standards. God's standards are not religious standards. If we don't invite the Holy Spirit in and allow Him to truly work in our lives, we will be deceived and we won't even realise it.
The world might not understand the choices that you make or the lifestyle you chose, but when you walk with the Spirit - what the world thinks, does not really matter.
The Spirit of the fear of the LORD: (Zech 3:3-9)
When we are born-again, we are made righteous with the Blood of Yeshua. Our blemishes are washed and we get dressed in pure white garments. But throughout life, we easily get spots again on our white garments. I think it's safe to say - we all know the struggle of staying clean when wearing white. Playing in mud or baking a chocolate cake is probably not the best idea when wearing white. The same goes for our spiritual lives.
When we don't walk in the fear of the Lord, our white clothes will easily get dirty. When we wear white, we know that we have to be careful around dirty places and things. The same applies to our spiritual lives. We are spiritually clothed in white and we have to be alert to not get our garments dirty. How do we do that? By knowing WHO we are in Yeshua! When we know our identity in Yeshua, we will realise that our lives won't and shouldn't look like the rest of the world. We should not fit in. Like a crisp clean white dress in the middle of a muddy pig pen! It's our responsibility to keep our garments clean. And we do that through walking in the fear of the Lord. Yes our feet might become dirty - because we are still living here on earth. But striving to become the Bride of Yeshua means that we're living a lifestyle of repentance! When we live a lifestyle of repentance, our feet still get dirty - but we come before God continuously and He will was us clean.
Becoming the Bride of Yeshua, will cost us. It will cost us to lay down the foolishness of our fleshly lives and keeping our eyes locked on our Bridegroom. It will require many choices that the world would not only not understand, but also frown upon. When we fear the Lord, we come to the beginning of wisdom. Unless we understand the spiritual implication of being dressed in white, we cannot understand the importance of the fear of the Lord. We need to grasp how serious this is and how easy it is to get a dirt mark on our white garments. When we have the fear of the Lord, we value wearing white. We value keeping our garments without spot or blemish. Because we know, that without our white garments - we cannot enter the wedding feast! The fear of the Lord is not like the fear the world knows. It's not a fear that cripples you and leaves you in a state of panic. The fear of the Lord is a reverential fear rooted in love! It's a desire to be holy and clean so that you can dance with your Pure Bridegroom, Yeshua!
The choice belongs to each one of us. We can either choose to dip our toes in the mud puddles and enjoy the fleshly pleasures. Or we can find our enjoyment in the presence of the King! Temporary gratification & pleasure OR eternal reward. The choice is each one of ours.
Helpful Links:
Blue Letter Bible - Who are the seven spirits?https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/the-identity-of-the-holy-spirit/20-who-are-the-seven-spirits.cfm
Crosswalk - What are the seven spirits of God? https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-are-the-seven-spirits-of-god.html
God Encounters Ministries - Do You Know the 7 Spirits of God? https://godencounters.com/7-spirits-of-god/
Got Questions - What are the Seven Spirits of God? https://www.gotquestions.org/seven-spirits-God.html
Shama - A daily walk of listening and obeying by Sarah van Vuuren (Book available at https://atavah.com/collections/books/products/shama-by-sarah-van-vuuren)
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