The Holy Spirit? - Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start

I consider we need to start at the very beginning of the Bible as we embark on the most exciting journey of our lives in researching the scriptural basis in finding credible answers to following five questions:-

What is the Holy Spirit?

Why is the Holy Spirit so important?

What does it do you for and for me?

How do I become filled with the Holy Spirit?

What tangible, indisputable evidence does God provide me that assures me I am filled with the Holy Spirit?

Over a number of weeks, as this journey unfolds we will equip ourselves, from a scriptural view point, with the learning and  knowledge and put ourselves in a position where we can confidently answer these five questions and better understand the relevance for each of us in today's new covenant age.

So lets get cracking in Genesis:

Genesis 1:1 & 2a;  ''In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was with out form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.''

Rather a sombre note - man's future habitation without form, void and lifeless!

But the first mention of the Holy Spirit -  throws this stark opening into the mounting glory of the next seven days:

Genesis 1: 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27 & 31; Genesis 2: 1 & 2;  ''And the Spirit of God moved [was hovering over] the face of the waters.  And God said let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And the evening and the morning were the first day.  And God said, Let there be a firmament [expanse] in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  And God called the firmament Heaven.  And the evening and the morning were the second day.  And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered to-gether in one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  And the evening and the morning were the third day.  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.''

In the Old Testament the Spirit is a term used for God's outgoing energy - creative and sustaining.

Here at the very beginning of The Bible the Spirit is credited as  being  part of God's transformational force, under His guidance and control, which takes a world  'without form and void' to one with form and fullness; summed up as follows:-

• Form: Day 1, Light and Dark; Day 2, Sea and Sky;  Day 3, Fertile Earth and;
• Fullness: Day 4, Lights of the Day and Night; Day 5, Creatures of Water and Air; Day 6, Creatures of the Land.

Next week we learn 1) Who else was present and worked in partnership with the Spirit during God's Creation, 2) How God used the Holy Spirit, in a final act of His Creation, in the joining and making one the material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual) parts of man and 3) Adam's responsibilities under the Edenic Covenant which God established with him.