Jesus said in Matthew 12:32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Why would Jesus say such a thing? The answer is simple. The Pharisees had accused Jesus of being empowered by Beelzebub (Satan) not by the Holy Spirit. They had hardened their hearts against the Holy Spirit completely and against His drawing them to Christ and toward their salvation.

It is the Holy Spirit that moves a person to understand their sinful nature and to desire to be in a right relationship with the Father. It is the Holy Spirit that directs us and gives us power.   That power looks like faith, prophesy, healing, miracles and much more, and it is the Holy Spirit that administers them to us.

Furthermore, if you want to go deeper with God, you must fully understand the role that the Holy Spirit plays in your life. Understand that He is a person and one of the Trinity.

Without the Holy Spirit, we will tend to use our rational minds and look at what we are good at or like to do when it comes to serving God. While God will use natural talents, it is here that we could be working with our own strength, with our own efforts for temporary success. But when we function with the power of the Holy Spirit, where He gives us the resources and strength to achieve His goals, then there is eternal success. And it is here that we give God the glory, not ourselves.

God has a plan for your life and it is the Holy Spirit that reveals it to you, for it says in

1 Corinthians 2: 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

The Spirit knows everything. He knows you and the plans He has for you and He desires for you to know Him.

So how do you get to this place?  For some of you, it starts with just asking the Holy Spirit to give you a desire to know Him and His plans.

For others it may just being able to block out the noisy world and learn how to be still and listen. For it says in Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

Whatever it is and wherever you are at, I would encourage you to make it your goal this year, to move from knowing about the Holy Spirit to really knowing Him.