Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical

Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.

50 Things the Holy Spirit Does

This post is an excerpt from my new book, Jesus Now: Unveiling the Present-Day Ministry of Christ.

The book includes many lists like this one while highlighting the 7 aspects of Christ’s present-day ministry.

Here are the 50 Things the Holy Spirit Does

  • The Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).
  • The Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13).
  • The Spirit regenerates us (John 3:5–8; Titus 3:5).
  • The Spirit glorifies and testifies of Christ (John 15:26; 16:14).
  • The Spirit reveals Christ to us and in us (John 16:14–15).
  • The Spirit leads us (Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18).
  • The Spirit sanctifies us (Rom. 15:16; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2).
  • The Spirit empowers us (Luke 4:14; 24:49; Acts 1:8; Rom. 15:19).
  • The Spirit fills us (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; Eph. 5:18).
  • The Spirit teaches us to pray (Rom. 8:26-27; Jude 1:20).
  • The Spirit “bears witness” in us “that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16 NKJV).
  • The Spirit produces in us the fruit or evidence of His work and presence (Gal. 5:22–23).
  • The Spirit distributes spiritual gifts and manifestations (the outshining) of His presence to and through the body (1 Cor. 12:4, 8–10; Heb. 2:4).
  • The Spirit anoints us for ministry (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38).
  • The Spirit washes and renews us (Titus 3:5).
  • The Spirit brings unity and oneness to the body (Eph. 4:3; 2:14–18). Here He plays the same role that He plays in the Godhead. The Spirit is the life that unites Father and Son, and He plays this role in the church. When the Spirit is operating in a group of people, He unites them in love. Therefore, a sure evidence of the Holy Spirit working in a group is love and unity—not signs and wonders (those are seasonal and can be counterfeited).
  • The Spirit is our guarantee and deposit of the future resurrection (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5 NIV).
  • The Spirit seals us for the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30).
  • The Spirit sets us “free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).
  • The Spirit quickens our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11 KJV).
  • The Spirit reveals “the deep things of God” to us (1 Cor. 2:10 NKJV).
  • The Spirit reveals “what God has given us freely” (1 Cor. 2:12 NIV).
  • The Spirit dwells in us (John 14:17; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14).
  • The Spirit speaks to, in, and through us (Matt. 10:20; Acts 2:4; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12, 28; 13:2; 16:6, 7; 21:4, 11; 1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 3:7; Rev. 2:11).
  • The Spirit is the agent by which we are baptized into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).
  • The Spirit brings liberty (2 Cor. 3:17).
  • The Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
  • The Spirit cries in our hearts, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6).
  • The Spirit enables us to wait (Gal. 5:5).
  • The Spirit supplies us with Christ (Phil. 1:19 KJV).
  • The Spirit grants everlasting life (Gal. 6:8 KJV).
  • The Spirit gives us access to God the Father (Eph. 2:18).
  • The Spirit makes us (corporately) God’s habitation (Eph. 2:22 KJV).
  • The Spirit reveals the mystery of God to us (Eph. 3:4–5).
  • The Spirit strengthens our spirits (Eph. 3:16).
  • The Spirit enables us to obey the truth (1 Pet. 1:22).
  • The Spirit enables us to know that Jesus abides in us (1 John 3:24; 4:13).
  • The Spirit confesses that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2).
  • The Spirit says, “Come, Lord Jesus,” along with the bride (Rev. 22:17).
  • The Spirit pours out God’s love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5).
  • The Spirit bears witness to the truth in our conscience (Rom. 9:1).
  • The Spirit teaches us (1 Cor. 2:13; John 14:26).
  • The Spirit gives us joy (1 Thess. 1:6).
  • The Spirit enables some to preach the gospel (1 Pet. 1:12).
  • The Spirit moves us (2 Pet. 1:21).
  • The Spirit knows the thoughts of God (1 Cor. 2:11).
  • The Spirit casts out demons (Matt. 12:28).
  • The Spirit brings things to our remembrance (John 14:26).
  • The Spirit comforts us (Acts 9:31).
  • The Spirit makes some overseers in the church, and through the body He sends some out to do the work of church planting (Acts 20:28; 13:2; 1 Cor. 1:17; Gal. 1:1).

In sum, the Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus Christ and to His body. He reveals Christ to us, gives us His life, and makes Christ alive in us.

The Spirit takes the experiences of Jesus—His incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension—and brings them into our own experience. Because of the Holy Spirit, the history of Jesus Christ becomes our story and experience.

The Holy Spirit grants what Christ bestows. He makes real and experiential the work of Jesus. Therefore, we cannot separate what Christ does from what the Spirit does.

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Comments

  1. After much time studying Christian books and very little time in the Word, I felt the need to return to the simplicity of the gospel. Your list was a great way to study the Holy Spirit and His role in our Christian walk. You did alot of the work for me and others. Your new book will be a blessing to many. Focusing us back to the Word. That’s a good book!

    Reply

  2. Thank you so much for this excellent study. One of the ladies in our Bible Study group sent your page to me this week. Our subject this month was The Holy Spirit. We had 4 lessons on it; and as I taught the last lesson I felt the Holy Spirit, the lessons are not finished yet; you need to teach one more week on this subject. And, I prayed: Lord guide me what YOU want me to talk about yet to conclude the subject. As I read this page, I knew I should share it with the ladies.

    May the Lord Jesus bless you as you continue to teach everyone. It is a blessing, let us be faithful to our calling proclaiming accurately the Word of our God. Thank you once again, God bless you dear brother in Christ Jesus as you continue your ministry.

    Reply

  5. Thanks for this wonderful job. May the Lord continue to give you wisdom, knowledge and understanding of His word.

    Reply

  8. Love this. The Holy Spirit does wonderfully in helping us understand the deep things of God.

    thank you for the insight.

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  9. First thanks for putting this together. I am in quest of learning more about the person of the Holy Spirit this post has really helped me regarding opening my eyes about the works of the Holy Spirit.

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  10. I have been enjoying this blog on the Holy Spirit and I have taught from it over and over. I will like to have your ebooks and other lists in this book

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  11. This is amazing. Thank you and may God richly bless you for yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit.

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  12. Hi Frank, I was thinking this morning about how great it is to have the Holy Spirit as our personal teacher. Wanting a quick answer to where a certain scripture was, I googled it, and voila!! Great info. Thank you so much. Hope you are well. Haven’t seen you since Southern House Church Conference in Clemson many years back. Have enjoyed Pagan Ch. Great blog.

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  23. Thank you so much for your list of what the Holy Spirit does for us, as God children we are so very blessed. This is a list I will look at often to remind me of all the riches I have in Christ Jesus my Lord.

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  27. Thanks for putting this together. What would we do without The Holy Spirit? I’m sure it was no accident that you have listed 50 things here. 50 is the number of Pentecost which is the “Feast of the Holy Spirit”.

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  29. I love the list! And pertaining to #16, I love the signs and wonders of God…they were given that unbelievers might believe, and they convinced ME! But they are not an end unto themselves…only a means! Now that I am a believer, I agree…it is the UNITY of the Spirit and the LOVE of the brethren one for another that is the greatest working of His Holy Spirit! Love love love the list!

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  30. It is a wonderful list, which helps clarify works from the Spirit. When I am not sure why the Spirit did things, I can check this list conveniently. I will share it with my Chinese friends.

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  31. Erik: the blog manager sent me your questions. They are all answered in REIMAGINING CHURCH. I’d encourage you to read it along with the whole ReChurch Library as they all answer your questions in depth. While you can pick it up at Family Christian, Borders, or Barnes & Noble, it’s presently on discount at http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org

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  32. Thanks Erik: Just a note that we aren’t arguing for church in the home. That’s not our emphasis. See my post in the archives “house church vs. organic church.”

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  33. Erik: As I explain in REIMAGINING CHURCH, God will work in His people regardless of the systems to which they belong, if He can find open hearts. Remember the Babylonian captivity. Even though only a remnant return to the land to fulfill God’s highest will in rebuilding His temple, those who chose to remain in Babylon will still His people and He still loved them and worked with them as best He could. They just missed out on the fullest blessings. I don’t think that miracles, signs, and wonders are God’s highest by any means. They are quite elementary really.

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  40. Amen and amen! I really like #18, the Spirit’s sealing us. In that first chapter of Ephesians, there is the entire Triune God working on us. The Father predestinates and selects us (vv. 3-6), the Son redeems us (vv. 7-12), and the Spirit seals us (vv. 13-14)!

    To me, this sealing is like a seal of paint on a piece of wood or something. When I paint something, I have to paint a small coat, let that dry and paint another small coat, and keep going. Day by day, the Spirit paints us with the death and resurrection of Christ. We get a little coat there, we get another little coat here. That’s the Spirit’s sealing. Anyway, that’s how I read it according to my own experience. It could be wrong, though.

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  45. Michele, I agree. The elaboration of #16 is a necessary balance for those of us coming from a charismatic background.

    Frank, Thank you for putting this together.

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  46. Thanks Frank. Your list is a very creative idea. The point you make in #16 about the Holy Spirit plays the role of uniting/or is the life that unites the Father and the Son is new to me. Where do you find that taught in the Word? It’s a very intriguing thought. Grace & Peace…

    Reply

    • Pete: It’s based on a theological understanding of texts like John 14,15,16, and 17 put together and interpreted in light of what the entire biblical canon has to say about the Spirit, oneness, and life.

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  47. I love this, Frank. Thanks for putting it together. I especially like your elaboration on #16!

    Are you familiar with the blog app RefTagger by Logos? It is free and You really should consider installing it. As you place your cursor over a Bible reference, the full verse appears in a box above it. You can choose any translation too. This would be ideal for a post like this that lists so many verses. Just a suggestion!

    Reply

  50. Fantastic List.

    My wife and I have been unearthing the Holy Spirit in our lives a bit lately and our conversation always turns to this:

    But it’s not like (enter uber-charasmastic practice of Holy Spirit life).
    But it’s also not like (enter uber-stoic practice of Christian religion without Holy Spirit).

    Reply

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