When I was pastoring a church in Canada, one of the members came to me, asking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He said that he had heard a lot of teaching about the Trinity, explanations about God the Father and God the Son (Jesus Christ), but very little about the Holy Spirit. When the subject of the Holy Spirit came up, the teaching was vague and very limited. As a result, he didn't understand what the Holy Spirit did. He knew that the Holy Spirit was part of the Trinity and was more or less God, but what did the Holy Spirit do? He didn't have the slightest idea.
The purpose of this book is not to write a thesis on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I want it to be a practical book explaining the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives in such a way that He is no longer seen as a mysterious or mystical "force" and becomes known as a person (God) acting in and guiding our lives in a way that we can understand. The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. We all (at least the born-again believer in Christ should) know that God the Father is seated on His throne in Heaven and controls everything that happens in the universe. We know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem of Judea, grew up, walked on this earth, and died on the cross of Calvary in our place for our sins, and today is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. Today He is our advocate before the Father. And, the Holy Spirit? Today I believe that the ignorance about the Holy Spirit is partially the fault of us, as pastors, who have not taught what we know to be our responsibility: teaching what the Bible says about the ministries of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
