Is the Holy Spirit a Small Asian Woman?

Lately I've been really challenged by my lack of knowledge on the Holy Spirit. Being raised conservative Southern Baptist I think the topic was scary to talk about because if someone got the wrong idea they might start doing weird things in church. So instead of educating on what the role of the Holy Spirit is in the life of a believer we just ignored it all together. As a result I believe that my spiritual growth was stunted.

William P Young in his book "The Shack" (I book I do NOT endorse) illustrates the Holy Spirit as a small Asian woman named Sarayu (wind). In the book she is described as the "breathing of Life". So I have to be honest after reading this book I was very uneasy by the way Young attempts to shed light on the trinity. So please don't think I'm telling you if you want to understand the Holy Spirit or the trinity run out and pick up this book.

So just to be clear the Holy Spirit is not a small Asian woman. So what is the Holy Spirit. What is His role in my life? How can I know that the He is active in my life? After looking to the Holy Scriptures one of my favorite passages that sheds light on this topic is John 16:1-15. Jesus is teaching his disciples explaining to them that He is going to be leaving them, going back to the Father. He then goes on to tell them that it's a good thing He is leaving because if He were to not leave that the Helper would not come. This Helper He speaks of is the Holy Spirit. Jesus then goes on to tell His disciples that the Helper will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The first thing I learn here about the Holy Spirit is that He convicts people of sin. There have been many times I've sat in a church service and while listening to a preacher felt an overwhelming sense of guilt because of sin in my life. Apparently this wasn't because the speaker was really talented but because the Holy Spirit was working in my life illuminating sin that needed to be dealt with. Jesus continues to teach in this passage by saying "He (the Helper) will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on his own authority but whatever He hears He will Speak, and He will declare to You the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you." This was pretty insightful to me. We learn here that the Holy Spirit does not act on His own authority but actually under the authority of Jesus. His job is to speak the things that Jesus says and to glorify Jesus.

How this hits home. If I want the Holy Spirit to guide and direct me I have to be about making much of Jesus. There are entire churches that are built around a moment caught up in the spirit. People leave talking about the Spirit. Unless I'm wrong here, scripture pretty clearly tell us that the role of the Holy Spirit is the illuminate sin in a persons life and to glorify Jesus. If we leave talking about the Holy Spirit then possibly that wasn't the Holy Spirit moving. The point of this blog isn't to discredit churches though. Instead I want to be led by the Spirit and I want others to be led by the Spirit and it seems like if we want the Holy Spirit to move, and teach, and guide then we have to be about Christ. "Spirit fall today, teach us how to love Jesus more."