One Holy Spirit

25 January

Galatians 4:6; “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

One God 2.0It seems like a lifetime ago when I met with a friend for lunch and the hour I spent with her opened the door of a brand new world. Although at the time I didn’t understand why, I really enjoyed being in her presence. We both had husbands stationed at Nellis Air Base, and realized we had a lot of other things in common as well. On this particular day as we were chatting an overwhelming sense of peace and calmness washed over me, and I noticed whenever I was around her afterwards, the same thing happened! After I accepted the Lord I realized I had witnessed the effects of the Holy Spirit in the life of my friend who was a believer.

As we mentioned in the first part of this series, there’s a laundry list of new experiences awaiting the new ex-Mormon Christian. One of the biggest topics we’ve dealt with in the ministry is explaining how God’s Holy Spirit works, who He is, where He resides, and when He comes into the life of a believer. Not surprisingly, when you don’t worship the correct God, you won’t be fellowshipping with His Holy Spirit, and Mormons are fed a steady diet of false teachings about God and how He operates.

Putting It In Context

An important biblical passage we can use to combat false teachings is found in Paul’s epistle with Galatians 4:4-6.

When Paul wrote his epistle, many early believers were in danger of stepping back into the world of legalism, being led there by false teachers perverting the message of grace with the Law. Their fallacious teachings denied justification by faith, holding people hostage in a life of bondage to self.

Legalism will always tie you to the never ending dependence on personal performance because it substitutes the Law with God’s true intention; dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s illustration of justification was brilliant because he used word pictures of slaves and heirs which were real life scenarios for those living at that time. Unbelievers, like slaves, are in bondage to all sorts of religious systems because they haven’t  accepted the truth. Both are also like children because there’s no freedom. Kids live under the rule and authority of their parents until he comes of age and receives the full rights and benefits of being a legal heir.

Without Christ we’re all under bondage to some type of controlling system that never offers true salvation in Him.

Most thankfully, God solved two problems by sending His Son for us! 1 – We’re set free from the old system of rules and commandments. 2 – We’ve received the full rights of being sons and daughters. All the benefits a son would enjoy is now available to us because God sent His Spirit to reside inside of us! We’ve been marked with the Seal of His promise – the Holy Spirit – Ephesians 1:13.

As stated in the other two parts of this series, our focus here is solely on God, and in this case, the Holy Spirit. We’ve listed 53 passages of scripture defining the Holy Spirit that we hope will be of help to you in your own life, and for use when witnessing to Mormons.

If you’re LDS, we encourage you to look these references up for yourself and find out what God has for you to know! Compare these with what the LDS canon says – remember – there’s never anything wrong with studying! Acts 17:11

If you’d like info on Joseph Smith, and/or his teachings on this subject, you can read more in our section ‘Joseph Smith’.

Genesis 1:2; “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.”

Genesis 6:3; “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

Genesis 24:34; “And he said, I am Abraham’s servant.”

Genesis 41:38; “And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?”

1 Samuel 16:13; “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”

Proverbs 20:27; “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, Searching all the inward parts of the belly.”

Isaiah 4:4; “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, And shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.”

Isaiah 9:6; “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

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”.

Isaiah 32:15; “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness be a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.”

Isaiah 40:13; “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or being his counseller hath taught him?”

Isaiah 63:10-11; “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. 11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?”

Ezekiel 11:19; “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh”.

Joel 2:28-32; “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

Zechariah 12:10; “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Matthew 12:31; “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”

Luke 1:35; “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Luke 5:17; “And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them”.

John 3:34; “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”

John 14:16-18; “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

John 14:23; “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

John 16:7-8; “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me.”

John 16:13; “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

Acts 2:2; “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”

Acts 2:4; “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 2:17-21; “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Acts 2:33; “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”

Acts 9:17-18; “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”

Acts 16:7; “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.”

Romans 1:4; “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Romans 8:2; “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8:9, 11; “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodiesby his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Romans 8:26; “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”.

Galatians 3:14; “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Gal. 4:4-6; “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Ephesians 1:13; “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”.

Philippians 1:19; “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”

1Cor. 3:16; “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwellethin you?”

1 Corinthians 6:19; “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

1 Corinthians 12:4; “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:3; “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

2 Corinthians 3:18; “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

2 Cor 5:17; “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

2 Timothy 1:7; “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Titus 3:5; “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”.

2 Thessalonians 2:13; “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”

1 Peter 4:14; “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.”

Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Hebrews 10:29; “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?”

1 John 2:27; “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

1 John 3:24; “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

1 John 4:4; “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Revelation 4:5; “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”

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