He’s Not the Junior Partner

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (1 John 5:7-8)

There is a mistake running through much of Christian thinking that needs correction. Many believers, even Spirit-filled believers who know better doctrinally, hold a practical view of the Holy Spirit that treats Him as something less than the Father and the Son. They give Him a lesser place, a secondary role. They think of Him almost as a helper who assists the real power rather than as God Himself in full operation. John wrote that” “the three, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, bear record in heaven; and these three are one.” 

They are not three partners with different levels of authority or a hierarchy where the Father is at the top and the Spirit is somewhere further down the chain. They are One. What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Ghost is. The Holy Ghost is not the junior partner and never has been. People will pray to the Father all day long. They'll call on the name of Jesus without a second thought. But the Holy Ghost? That's where the distance shows up. And that distance costs them. It costs them access to the very guidance, power, and revelation that He has been sent specifically to provide.

If the Holy Spirit is not the junior partner, then who is? We are. The believer is the junior partner in this relationship. We are the ones with limited knowledge, limited sight, limited understanding. We are the ones who see in part and know in part. This is the Holy Spirit’s dispensation. This is His time on the earth. The Father sent Him, Jesus promised Him, and now He is here doing exactly what He was sent to do. He is present, He is active, and He is God in full operation on the earth right now. The question is not whether He is available. The question is whether you are treating Him with the honor and the attention that God deserves.

Practical Application

Give the Holy Spirit His rightful place and not as an afterthought or as a last resort when everything else has failed. Treat Him as God, present with you, working in you, and ready to lead you into everything the Father has prepared.

Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14