Linda Goldfarb: 0:08

Welcome to Staying Real About Faith and Family. If you’re looking for a community where you can get real about life without resistance, you are in the right place. I’m Linda Goldfarb. And each week I offer insight with enthusiasm to help you experience life, relational issues and spiritual growth. From a biblical viewpoint with practical applications, staying real with the Holy Spirit’s leading is all I know to do. And I hope you are blessed. In this time that we have together. I am so glad that you are here. Let’s take a moment and go to Father. Father God, we thank you for being present with us. We thank you for the knowledge you give us. We thank you, that you are drawing us closer and closer, ever closer to yourself, to have an intimate relationship with you, Lord, so that we will recognize immediately the counterfeit actions of counterfeit words, the counterfeit knowledge swirling around us on a daily basis, Father, that we will know you so clearly, everything else will red flag itself. And we thank you. You give us clarity through your Holy Spirit, through the understanding of your scriptures, and because you love us dearly. We love you, Lord, thank you for this time. Show us favor, give us clarity. Pour out Your wisdom. We seek you in all things in Jesus name, Amen. And amen. And, as I do each and every week, I invite you to please welcome my podcast, buddy and good friend, Heather Greer. So Heather, how’s it going today?

Heather Greer: 2:08

I am feeling really good about the day yesterday was one of those days where everything just falls perfectly in place when I was writing and you can’t manufacture it. You can’t make it happen on your own. It just it’s like God goes here you go. I know you need this and plops it in your lap. And I was able to get everything done that I needed to yesterday and finished up a story. So I am praising him and feeling really good about it. And I am ready for today’s episode. Ready for today’s episode.

Linda Goldfarb: 2:43

I’m so glad that you’re here with me and I love that prompting of God, where he will just plop all we need right where we need it. And he does it without hesitation. I concur. We had a crazy morning yesterday. I got up really early, and I heard this heavy thud. At first I thought there was something on my porch. And I was like, What in the world? So of course like anyone would I go immediately to the door and open it up to see. And it’s not till afterwards I thought, well, that could have been really dumb. Yeah, I’m not that brave. (laughter) We live on some acreage and as I opened the door, I saw in the shadows, a huge portion of one of our trees had fallen. And Sam’s car was wedged between the branches, not touched at all.

Heather Greer: 3:21

Wow. I looked at it, walked over a little bit closer. I thought, “Okay, we’re good.” Went back into the house, locked the door, sat down and got into his word. Because I wanted to know what he was going to plop in my lap at that moment. And he gave me a wonderful word as I sat down. I said to myself, I’m not going to be distracted from him. And that’s part of what we’re looking at today, the value of really getting to know God in a intimate, deeper way. I appreciate you sharing and I am glad that you’re here with me each and every week. It’s makes me feel good to have someone else across the way, though we’re not sitting in the same room. We are in the same studio and I appreciate you being here. What do we have for today? Well, today we are looking at the Holy Spirit and more specifically, who is the Holy Spirit and I know that’s something all of us struggle with from time to time.

Linda Goldfarb: 4:42

I think it is, Heather. When I was a child, I mentioned this on the last episode. I grew up in the church, went to church every Sunday, every Wednesday, It was kind of like whenever the doors were open. I went to church. We moved a lot as a military family. Went to a lot of the same denominations. And not a lot was said about the Holy Spirit. As I grew, I started realizing when other people spoke about the Holy Spirit, I was like, “there’s something missing for me, what is missing.” And there was one night in January, many years back where I was about to go to bed. And I was really hesitating in that moment, Heather, I was like, “God, I feel like I’m missing something, I feel there’s more. And I’m a little bit angry, I feel an anger inside of me. Because I feel like I’ve been deprived. So much has happened in my life. So many tragedies, distractions and chaos. And all of this has happened in my life, Father God, and I know there’s going to be suffering in our lives, even as children, your children. God, I want you to help me have a hunger for you. Beyond my love for my husband, father, I need you to give me a thirst for you. Beyond how much I care about and love my children, I want to know you intimately. I want you to be my All in all, my go to, everything that I do. I want you to be first. Because I need help.” And I will tell you, Heather, I went to bed, I slept so good. And when I woke up in the morning, I could not get to my Bible quick enough. It started me on a journey of having intimate scripture time with God. I started reading the Bible more. I got up very early in the morning, went to my little place where I turn on my little light. It doesn’t blare, I like having just a medium light, you know, I don’t need to be woke up by the world in order to be awake with the Lord. So I had my Bible, and I was in the word going on two hours. And I didn’t want to leave, I was journaling. I was writing down what I was receiving. And I was just like, “This is amazing. How how is all of this happening with me.” And upon further research, is when I really discovered the Holy Spirit. Being able to share today, part of my discovery is very humbling. And I feel that it’s an honor and and folks, I’m just going to share with you, your relationship with God. And I’m talking about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, Father, God, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, this is who I’m talking to. When I reference God, it is a big G God, not the little g different gods. This is who I’m talking about. But in your relationship with him, when you are seeking Him, He will provide to you what you need. That is who God is. He will give you provision. I guess what I’m wanting to say to you is your relationship with God is intimate, however deep you want to go and to know him more. That’s between you and God. This Staying Real About Faith and Family. This is not a judgement zone. Never. What we discuss here, what I share, what Heather comes back to me with, this is our heart. This is what we feel. We want to hear your heart. We want to know if you have questions. As we come into this time, I’m going to share from my heart, who the Holy Spirit is what I have, who I have found him to be he is not a what he is a who. And I pray that during this time, ears will be open to hear. Yes, hearts will be open to receive. And Father God I pray. If there is anything I speak or share today and it is not a view that will not be remembered. It will not be remembered at all. I thank you Lord for who you are.

I have four scripture references we’re going to be looking at. I’m going to go ahead and let you know what they are ahead of time, of course, you’re going to have the show notes. And we are providing transcripts. For every episode, if you’d like to read along with this, we’re going to be looking at John 14, verse 16, the majority of the time I read from the ESV translation. So John 14:16, then we’re going to look at John 14:26. Then we’re going to look at John 16:13. And we’re going to end up with 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. That’s what we’re going to be looking at. But you’ll have all of this in the show notes as well. Let’s go with, who is the Holy Spirit, according to John 14: 9:53

16, he is our helper. Let me read the Word. “And I,” this is Jesus who’s talking our Messiah who’s talking, he says, “and I will ask the Father” because Jesus is the Son. So “I will ask the Father,” God the Father, “and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever.” And those of you, if you’re looking at different translations, some will capitalize the phrases and words that stipulate any portion of the Divinity. Helper may be a capital H, Father, capital F, some translations do not. There are times when I will go to my translation, and I will circle the words I know are referencing God in any fashion, it kind of centers my mind into that area. Listen as I read this again, “and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” Jesus loves us so much. There was a decision made, we would never be left alone. And we’re going to look a little bit closer at him right now. He is with us forever. So this is a thought, no matter where, no matter when, or whatever circumstances we are in, the Holy Spirit is present.

Heather Greer: 12:47

I love that thought, Linda. Because I think often, at least in my own life, I tend to look at helper and go, like, if I’m moving a bookshelf, and it’s too heavy, I go get a helper and we move and then the helper leaves. And that’s not what helper is here. That’s not who our helper is. He doesn’t just come in for the heavy lifting. And then leave us alone.

Linda Goldfarb: 13:16

Oh, that’s so good. Now, he can be a heavy lift or helper.

Heather Greer: 13:21

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Linda Goldfarb: 13:23

But the point, and thank you for reiterating that with me, Heather. The point is, he is always present. If we are a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is with us. He doesn’t go on vacation. He doesn’t leave us. He doesn’t say “you know what, go on about your day. I’m going to stay here. If you need me. Just come back and talk to me.” Kind of like what you were referencing there, Heather. In all of our circumstances, he is present, for those who love God, who believe in Jesus Christ, who follow Christ, he is ever present. And here’s another thing for us to remember. We have a responsibility to the Holy Spirit. Ah, what does that mean? What does that look like? Well, Heather, our responsibility is to really understand that he is present with us. Our responsibility is to know that whatever we look at, whatever we listen to, wherever we go, remember he’s with us. I touched on this a little bit last time. He doesn’t leave where I’m at. I’m choosing to take him with me. I’m choosing to put before him, whatever I’m exposing myself to, whatever words I’m choosing to use with my spouse, with my children with my employees, with my staff, whatever words I’m choosing to mumble under my breath, he hears him. He’s right there with me. There can be a great comfort, because he’s also called our comforter, there can be a great comfort in knowing the Holy Spirit is present. There can also be conviction. And conviction is not a punishment. Conviction is an opening of our spirit for us to say, “Father, I forgot, I need to know you so intimately that I’m always aware you are with me wherever I am.” And when we grow in our intimacy, Heather, that is when our awareness grows. That is when we will stop in a moment, in an instant and say, “Oh, Father, forgive me for what I just said, Forgive my actions,” and be in earnest, right? We’re not just saying, “Oh, I said that. Okay. Sorry, God, I said that, you know, dah, dah, dah.” We must be in earnest and say, “Oh, I just, I can’t believe I just said, when I said, I can’t believe I just saw what I saw.” And the Holy Spirit is there to say, “I’m here. I’m with you. I know. You’re going to make it.” And he becomes that comfort again, as we go with our conviction, and repent. And we say, please forgive us. We’re sorry. Intimacy with God comes with maturity, our spiritual maturity, growing, wanting to know God more intimately wanting to have that deeper relationship. Again, conviction is never a punishment. It’s an opportunity for us to grow closer with the Holy Spirit, to grow closer. So who is the Holy Spirit? He is the helper, the comforter, who is with us forever. Now, why do we have the Holy Spirit, we read in John 14, verse 26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, and of course, this is Jesus Christ who is speaking, whom the Father will send in the name of Jesus. So understanding that the helper is the Spirit of Christ, the one who is with us here, God is sending to us, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance, all that I have said to you. We are His followers. We are the ones that are going into his word, reading His word, reading truth, we are now following what he is teaching us. And for us to know. We have the Holy Spirit, He will continue to teach us all things, and bring to our remembrance, everything that Christ has said to us, in that, we are equipped beyond our own understanding. When we read in Scripture, that there is a peace that passes all understanding, that peace comes to us from the Holy Spirit in us, who can reassure us of everything Jesus has said, everything Jesus walked out in his life, every action, every interaction, everything that occurred, occurred for a purpose. And now we have access via the Holy Spirit. And having access, we can do things that we cannot do apart from Jesus. He’s teaching us, he’s bringing to our remembrance… Without the helper without the Holy Spirit, we do not have intimacy with him. And the only way that we do have the Holy Spirit is by accepting, receiving, Jesus Christ as our Savior. So why do we have the Holy Spirit? Because he’s going to teach us all things. And I truly believe all things goes beyond any human education. This is where I stand. The Holy Spirit can teach us what we cannot learn in school. The Holy Spirit teaches us what we cannot learn in an extended education. He teaches us everything we need to know, to walk out our lives, as his sons and daughters. Ultimately, for believers in Jesus Christ, we live for him. Everything we do is for him. He equips us, He gives us, He teaches us, He provides for us. And the world will say at times, and I have had to deal with this, with the Holy Spirit’s mercy and grace, Heather; you are only someone if you only have value, if you have a degree, you have a this, you have a this, you have reached this level of education, you are a person of importance here. If we go back and we look at the disciples, and we look at the followers of Christ, you know, there was a lot of people in levels of higher learning who followed Christ. But Christ didn’t say, you’re the only ones who can get me. What he said was, my arms are open wide, I’m receiving everyone. As you follow, listen, as you listen, heed what I say. And oh, by the way, as I ascend and go to the right hand of God, the Father, I’m not leaving you alone, I have someone who’s going to help continue holding your hand and walking with you, in every aspect of your life. Lean into him. I’ve said it before, get skinny with the Spirit, lean into him. Don’t stay fat in the flesh. Fat in the flesh means I’m doing what I want to do using my agenda. Using my own thinking, I have got to be able to say, You know what, it’s not about me. It’s less about me and more about God. And Holy Spirit, help me grab that, help me grab that. So that’s why we have him. Then the question, what does the Holy Spirit do? Woohoo, we touched a little bit on that. But we have more scripture to back it up. That’s what I love about God’s word, Heather. It doesn’t stop in one place. God’s word says oh, by the way, I’m going to tell you this again. And I’m going to show you this again. Because his word supports his word, truth supports truth. Here’s the next scripture reference. We’re going to John 16, verse 13. “When the Spirit of truth,” this is capital S, “when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” God doesn’t put words in there that have no meaning. Every word has a meaning. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all the truth. “for He will not speak on His own authority.” We need to grab that, the Holy Spirit just doesn’t one day go. You know what I think I think I’m going to separate myself from God, the Father, God, the Son, and I’m just going to kind of do my own thing. So today dada, dada, dada, dada, dah. They are in constant community. This is the Holy Trinity. What one knows, they all know. He does not say to us something that would be apart from God the Father, the Holy Spirit will not speak into us something that is not the truth that Christ spoke. There is unity, there is level ground. And that level of truth is always backed up by Scripture. Always. He guides us into all the truth we need to know. He will not speak on His own authority. But whatever He hears, He will speak and they hear God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, hear in unity. And then here’s one more portion of this that is so amazing. I just love it. “And he will declare to you the things that are to come.” Now Heather, I’m just going to say, this what the Spirit is leading me to say right now, it doesn’t mean that everyone is a prophet. It doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to all go on the corner and say, “you know next week this is going to happen. Next week, this is going to be this.” Because I believe that puts us out of unity with the Holy Spirit. What I do trust is that God is a God who sees around the corner.

Heather Greer: 25:13

Amen.

Linda Goldfarb: 25:14

God is the God who already knows what’s happening in our path. We still have choice. We’re gonna go into this more in the next episode. But God sees around the corner, and the Holy Spirit has that cautionary pause. Heather, have you ever been in a situation where you like something happens? You want to react? You just want to go? Oh, oh, no, he didn’t? Oh, no, right. Okay.

Heather Greer: 25:48

Yeah, no, not me, ever. (laughter)

Linda Goldfarb: 25:53

This is something we all do. We all have those moments when we go, “oh!” It’s that knee jerk moment. It’s that moment, I want to react to that child who is doing XYZ. I want to just react to this situation, react to this situation. We’ll do some of our episodes on personalities too, because God created us that way. But I digress. I’ll stay where I am. That was a little short rabbit trail. It’s another reason Heather’s here, she’ll always bring me back into…

Heather Greer: 26:22

Stay in your lane. (ha, ha, ha)

Linda Goldfarb: 26:25

Stay in my lane. Yes, and it’s understanding that if I am leaning into the Holy Spirit, if I am sensitive to him, he is going to say, “you need to hold your, hold your words. Don’t speak that out. Don’t use that tone. You need to step back. You’re upset, step away. Step away.” The Holy Spirit will be cautionary. He will also affirm, confirm, speak with joy. Speak with love, speak with patience, kindness, all the fruit of the Spirit. Because that’s who he is. He will not condemn, he will not harm. He will not push down our heads. He always lifts our faces to himself.

Heather Greer: 27:26

That’s reassuring.

Linda Goldfarb: 27:27

It is right. I mean, for me, I’m a mom, I know that you’re a mama, Heather. And those moments when I would speak to my children, and you could see them just, they would just tuck away. They’d bend their head down, pull back and I’d think, oh my goodness, what did I just say? And I’d have to go and I’d have to squat down and look at them and lift up their face. And you know, now sometimes they probably did something that if we want to use the word deserved, or I like to say they earned a little bit of discipline there. But it doesn’t mean that we beat them up. The Holy Spirit will never beat us up. What he will say is, I’m giving you a caution. Are you listening to me? Or are you running with what the world wants you to do? And this happens in all areas of our life. Heather. For someone who is a speaker, someone who’s a writer, someone who is in business, and we want to make that next business deal, someone who’s wanting to sell their home or buy a home, we want to get that, oh, that house right there? Oh, it’s everything that I dreamed of. If we have not stopped, stepped back and said, “Holy Spirit, show me what I do not see. Show me what I’m not getting. I’m feeling really excited about this. I don’t want to step into something’ rush into something that isn’t preceded by a pause, by a breath, that I take with you.” And he will always give us that. If we ask he will always give that to us. It’s when we just rush in that he goes you know, I had something to tell you and you weren’t listening.

That brings us to the last question for today. If I know who the Holy Spirit is, and if I know why we have the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit does, how do I connect with the Holy Spirit? 1 Corinthians 6: 29:23

19 “Or do you not know that your body,” God is speaking to me. Heather, he’s speaking to you. Listener, he’s speaking into you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, “do you not know that your body is a temple,” a temple, singular, you’re not the temple. You are not the only place, the Holy Spirit resides as a collective. We all are temples where the Holy Spirit resides. And it’s not just a part of the Holy Spirit. It is the wholeness, the totality of the Holy Spirit is in us. And you may say, how can he do that? Okay, simple answer, He is God. And we are not, He is God. We need to know… “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, you are not your own.” It all comes back to we have the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t arrive on his own. Jesus Christ asked Father God, will you send? And he said, yes. The Holy Spirit resides in us. You are not your own. Our bodies are temples where the Holy Spirit resides, sent from God, and we are not our own. In other words, we belong. We are part of the family of God. How do we connect with the Holy Spirit? We speak directly to him. We pray. We talk to him as we’re going about our day. He’s not inside us with his fingers in his spiritual ears going lah-lah, lah-lah, lah-lah. He is not too busy helping someone else like our earthly parents could be. He is not focusing on something more important. We are the most important entities that God has created.

He designed us for relationship with Himself. He designed us to walk with Him in a collaborative situation. We go back to Adam and Eve before the fall, they walked with God, they listened to God, God listened to them. They had that community, that intimacy. Jesus Christ provided that intimacy factor, the Holy Spirit is the person of God in us, who says, I’m listening. You can find Scripture (Romans 8:26) that says there are moments when we are so distraught when we are hurting, when we are aching, when we are debilitated. And we say, God, are you even there? I don’t even know what to say, I’m hurting so bad. I’ve suffered such a loss. And my heart is broken, and we weep, and we cry. And Scripture says the Holy Spirit knows all of that. And he translates your moaning into what Father is going to work with. And it’s the same way in reverse. God the Father, Jesus Christ, speaks with the Holy Spirit. They all speak in community. And the Holy Spirit says, This is what God is saying to you right now. That’s why Heather, you can be studying scripture. And there’s a certain passage you’ve gone to, and you feel, wow, this is my take away from this. And someone else is reading the passage and they go, wow, this is my take away from this. Now these are not polar opposite take away, folks. I believe, God’s word is black and white. Truth is truth. But because of how intimately God knows us, he knows Heather is at a place where this is what’s going to relate to Heather based on truth. I’m at a place where he knows this is what’s going to relate to Linda based on truth. So my friend, you are at a place, as you are reading the Word of God, you’re committing yourself to that relationship, you’re taking that responsibility. You’re saying, I want to know more. So you are being responsible. You are being obedient to Your call, as the son or daughter of the Most High God, you’re spending time in his word personally. Don’t just listen to this episode don’t listen to Staying Real about faith and family and think, Oh, well, that’s all I need. If I just listen to Linda every week, I’m good to go. Because that’s not true. Heather, I’m fallible.

Heather Greer: 35:34

Aren’t we all? Okay, I’m so glad, I almost thought you were gonna give me an amen on that. (laughter) My children would, amen. Mom that is so true. As humans, we are fallible. God is not. And how he speaks into us, what he speaks into us, is what we need to walk with and walk in, we do not need a mediator. We don’t need someone else interpreting God’s word for us. Because God desires an intimate relationship with each of us. Well, it just like you were saying, a second ago, you talked about how the Holy Spirit may say one thing to me and one thing to you both in line with the truth of Scripture, right? He’s done that to me with the same scripture. You know, I read it, and he shows me something. And then, a year later, two years later, wherever in the future, he knows what I need from that exact same Scripture is something I don’t want to say different, because it doesn’t discount what he showed me before. It doesn’t make what he showed me before not real and true, because he only shows us the truth. But deeper, you know, a different angle, a different side of the exact same truth that I need to hear at that moment. And it’s amazing how he does that, not just for each of us individually, in what he shows different people, but even in ourselves, he goes the distance and and takes us deeper.

Linda Goldfarb: 37:21

Amen. Amen. And that’s why it’s exciting to be in God’s Word on a daily basis, folks, that’s what makes it so fun. You know how you can read a book, someone else’s written, and you read that book, you know where it started, you know what happened in middle, you know how it ends, and you go back and read it again. And it’s still the same. So you already know, in God’s word, though, his word does not change. His word changes us. And by being in his word constantly, as we mature spiritually, as we grow chronologically, as we enter into relationships, as we consider businesses, as we consider every aspect of our life, every aspect. Father, should I wear this or wear this? You know, it’s the moments when we say, you know, oh, that’s a silly Linda. Linda, you’re being silly. No, I’m not. There are people out there that pay really big bucks, so that that person tells us how we should be for this, and this and this and this. And we haven’t even asked Father God first. How do you want me to represent you, Lord? Now if he says, I want you to be the best you can be, and this and this, and this, oh, by the way, there’s someone who’s going to come into your life and you’re asking, and you’re saying, Father, I need to know. And then, all of a sudden, right, no coincidence. But there’s someone that comes into your life and you know that they’re a brother or sister in Christ. And then they say something that sparks a curiosity you ask them, Well, what is it exactly that you mean by that? Oh, well, this is my ministry. This is what I do. This is where Father has me active and you say, Oh, that’s exactly what I was asking him about. Because the Spirit knows us intimately. We’re gonna get into this in the next episode. If we have the Holy Spirit in us, no other spirit. Little s. principality or demon can possess us? What? Demons? What? Yeah, next time. Heather, it’s yours now.

Heather Greer: 39:55

We want to invite all of you to join in this conversation. Let us know what you thought of this episode? Let us know the questions you have. Let us know if something hit you or the Holy Spirit opened up something to you. We want to hear those things. We want to celebrate those with you. We want to search out those answers with you. And you can do that by visiting stayingrealwithlinda.com. And leave your comments and questions there.

Linda Goldfarb: 40:28

We always like for you to stay real with us. Absolutely, absolutely. So looking at what we have talked about today, knowing that when we discover the Holy Spirit is our helper, he is here to teach us all things and to bring all things to our remembrance. The way he does that is He guides us into all truth. He speaks not of his own authority, he speaks with the totality of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He declares the things that are going to come. And we connect with him by being in prayer, by speaking directly to him, by opening ourselves up, by getting skinny with the Spirit. In other words, listen, breathe, listen, don’t react, choose to respond via the Holy Spirit in us when we do that. When we do that, our day will be in alignment with his path. As you head out, consider if you would, is there one thing that has been laying really heavy on your heart? Is it an action you’re considering? Is it words that you had with someone? Is that a relationship? One thing that really has been holding you in a holding pattern for a better phrase you want release from? Please stop what you’re doing right now, when you’re finished with this episode. Take a moment, just a moment and ask the Holy Spirit. Speak to the Holy Spirit. Name him, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. Bring to my remembrance. What I have learned in your word that will support where I’m supposed to go. Bring to my remembrance, clarity of the direction that you will have me take, bring to my remembrance everything that I need in order to walk the path that you have set before me. I trust you. I love you. I am yours. And in that, he will guide your steps. He will guide your steps. Heather, I’m so glad you are here with us today. Thank you so much for coming alongside me each and every week. Good to have you here.

Heather Greer: 43:05

It’s good to be here. I enjoy these conversations.

Linda Goldfarb: 43:09

I like it that their conversations. It’s good, kind of relaxing. And I pray for all of you that you are relaxed in who God has created you to be that you are comforted by the Holy Spirit. I ask that Yahweh bless you and keep you in all you do. Until the next time that we’re here. This is Linda Goldfarb staying real about faith and family