“9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as He came up out of the water, He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending to Him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven:

“You are My beloved Son;
I take delight in You!”

12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels began to serve Him.”
Mark 1:9-13 HCSB
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I am bothered when I see the Holy Spirit being ‘used’ by ministers and churches as if it is their servant, at their beck and call. They treat Him as if He is something less than God, something they can command and direct. Scheduled times for ‘healing services’ and giving commands to the Spirit when they pray. Their treatment of the Spirit is repugnant and disturbing and full of pride. There is a lack of reverence and respect shown and it is no wonder that many times it is the psychosomatic response being seen and not real lasting healing.

Does the Holy Spirit move to heal? Absolutely. I have seen it happen many times. I love to hear doctors get confused when bodies full of cancer are suddenly clean and clear. I have seen birth defects healed, lives changed and people bought to restoration by the work of the Holy Spirit. He definitely moves and does so with all the power God offers to His people. But we cannot treat the Holy Spirit like He is ours to command or compel. Instead, we need to look and be refreshed as to what His role within the Trinity really is.

God is mystery, and His Holy Spirit is probably the most mysterious part of His nature because He is so multifaceted. It is also difficult to describe the parts of the Trinity without wandering into heresies because of our limited understanding and ability to understand and describe our infinite God. But I usually tell people to look at Genesis 1. God the Father is the will, The Son is the spoken word and the Holy Spirit is the movement to bring things into being. So the Father desired light, and the Son spoke that desire and Holy Spirit made it happen. And that, though simple, is an incomplete description that can lead to inaccurate understanding. So again, I do not like to describe the roles and hows and say that it is better to simply say that the nature of the Trinity is mystery.

The Holy Spirit is just as much God as Jesus is who is equal in nature to the Father. We cannot act like He is subordinate to us, but rather look to Jesus’ example here in Mark 1. The Spirit interacts with Him at His baptism to help us see and learn and understand. Jesus didn’t need the Spirit to be added to Himself, it didn’t change who He was in that moment. Instead, it was for His encouragement and our benefit to see this happen.

The Spirit then drove Him into the wilderness, but its not as if Jesus lacked the understanding that this is what needed to happen. Jesus’ interactions with the Spirit are not going to be identical to ours because it is the Trinity interacting within Himself. God does not need to petition Himself, but we do. It is valuable to see how God works, but we cannot presume to be privy to that process or to have the authority to tell Him what to do and when. Instead, we understand that God speaks to us and compels us and moves us, His redeemed children.

We learn and know our places, seeing that He is in control of us, not us of Him. Does He listen to the cry of His children? Certainly! Does He hear our concerns and desires? Of course He does! He guides us and cares for us as we GoLove people according to His desire, but He tells us how it is to be done, not the other way around. Sometimes our desires do not line up with His, and we need to be okay with it when He says ‘No.’ even if it is in regard to healing or something that we see as beneficial and good. He still has a greater plan than we can see, and it is up to Him to decide how He will move. Jesus showed submission to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and we should take that example from our Master seriously as we think about God working in us and through us to glorify Himself.