The Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity, is acknowledged as a person in John 16:13. The Holy Spirit communicates, engages in fellowship, and has communion with us. The Spirit can experience grief, has a will, can be insulted, and intercedes on our behalf. Building a relationship with the Holy Spirit leads to personal transformation.

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” John 16:13

The Holy Spirit's role is to reveal the reality of Jesus in and through our lives. The Spirit empowers us, convicts us of sin, pours God's love into our hearts, and transforms us into God's image. Jesus confirmed the importance of the Holy Spirit's teaching, promising that the Helper would come to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Spirit of truth guides us into all truth, declares what is to come, and glorifies Jesus by revealing what belongs to Him.

“He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” John 16:14

We are all indwelt with the Holy Spirit at salvation, which means that all believers have the Holy Spirit. The filling (or baptizing) of the Holy Spirit is part of the varying degrees of maturity, empowerment, and relationship with God as part of one’s growth and renewal. Christians are also encouraged to be continually filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. In Ephesians 5:18, the verb “be filled” is in the present tense, meaning that we should be filled regularly and continually.

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18

The fruit of the Spirit refers to the character traits that result from the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life, while the gifts of the Spirit are special abilities given by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of serving others and building up the church. The fruit of the Spirit is about personal transformation, while the gifts of the Spirit are about empowering believers to minister to others. Both are essential to Christian life and reflect the work of the Holy Spirit in and through believers.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

The Holy Spirit disperses gifts individually as He wills so that we would mutually benefit one another as an expression of the Father’s love. However, since the Holy Spirit indwells all believers, we have the potential to be used by Him at any time with any gift!

We are also invited to pray for and “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:1), recognizing that all gifts are individually appointed by the Spirit for the purpose of building up the church.

All gifts are important, and there should be no elitism or comparison of our gifts with one another. We rely on the Lord and His community to mutually benefit one another, recognizing that no one possesses all the gifts.

“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:11