Intimacy with the Holy Spirit
Welcome to the Holy Spirit Untethered. My name is Amber Beals, and it is my job and my mission to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me, to help demystify who he is, what his role is, and to deeply encourage you to seek a relationship with him. Alright. Let's get started.
Amber Beels:Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Holy Spirit Untethered podcast. My name is Amber, and I just wanted to take some time and ask how are you doing? I take one from Dan's book from What's Up Church podcast. He always pauses and says, how are you doing today?
Amber Beels:And then he pauses. That's lovely. And that's what Dan says, and it's pretty funny. But, anyway, I do hope that you are having a great day, a great week, a great season of your life. And I truly, truly hope that that is true in your life.
Amber Beels:And you are coming here to this podcast to gain some wisdom about the holy spirit, and I am here partnered with him to hopefully give that to you. So today, I wanted to touch on a subject that is more of a overall of, like, who the Holy Spirit is. And it's funny because when I record these episodes, like, I'm recording them because of something in my life. Like, something in my life is happening, and the holy spirit is speaking to me in that area of my life at that point in my life, and so then I share it. So a lot of the stuff that I share is relevant to me at the time that I record it, and I just wanna share it with you guys.
Amber Beels:And it's almost like an audio journal, but focused around the holy spirit and trying to bring light to him and what he does and his role in our lives and how important he is. Like, super important. And that's kinda what I wanted to talk about today is the importance of having the Holy Spirit in your life and making time for him and why us having an intimate relationship with him is so important for our relationship with the Lord just in general. Like, we need to have that intimacy with the Holy Spirit in order to grow with the Lord. Like, you can't have one without the other.
Amber Beels:You can't. And so I have some scriptures and stuff. We're gonna dive deep into what that looks like and how we can try to be more intentional in that. But before we dive into that, let's go ahead and pray. So if you can and it's safe to do so, go ahead and pray with me.
Amber Beels:Dear heavenly father, I just thank you for this day. I thank you for this opportunity to have this podcast, Lord. I just pray a blessing over every single person that is listening to this podcast, whether it's right when it comes out or years down the line, Lord. I just pray a blessing over them. Holy Spirit, you are the same yesterday, today, and you will be the same tomorrow, Lord.
Amber Beels:And I just thank you for that faithfulness, for that just consistency that we can rely on, Lord, that all this content, even though it's relevant to me in this time in my life, it is relevant to everyone at at any time. This is evergreen. You are Lord. You are everlasting, and you never change, Lord. And I thank you for that.
Amber Beels:I thank you for just being that rock and that solid foundation that we can stand on, Lord. So Holy Spirit, I pray that you would speak through me today. I pray that my words would fall away and that your words would come through, and I just pray that you would just allow this message to enter our hearts and prepare our hearts for this message, including my heart, Lord. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amber Beels:Alright. So the importance of the Holy Spirit. Now last night, I was woken up by the Holy Spirit at four in the morning, which if you've been listening to this podcast for a little while, he used to wake me up between two and three in the morning a lot of the time and be like, okay. Let's spend some time together. I got some stuff to say.
Amber Beels:And so I would come out into the living room, play some worship music, pray in the spirit, and then he would just download all this information, all these revelations, these words for me at that point in my life. And it's a great, great time and season of my life. It hasn't been happening recently in the last few months since I've been pregnant. And I think the Lord is just giving me grace to get some sleep because, you know, pregnancy is kind of energy sucking. So he's been gracious to me in that area of my life, at least in this season while I am with Aviva right now.
Amber Beels:So that is the name of my daughter. Anyway, he woke me up last night around four, so a little later than normal. And he's like, alright. We gotta talk. And I'm like, okay.
Amber Beels:Okay. So I got up. I went to the living room, did my thing, and, you know, he he gave me really, really good nuggets of wisdom and things that I really needed to hear, especially for this season in my life. And he made me realize how important it is to be intentional and how important it is to seek these times together with him. Like, he's always wanting to spend time with us.
Amber Beels:He's a jealous god. Right? He says that in his scripture. He's a jealous god. He wants to spend time with his kids because he loves us.
Amber Beels:Right? And he doesn't sleep. So he's just kinda like, come on. Let's spend some time together. And, you know, I I'm pretty I'm pretty good at having a routine in the morning, like, you know, reading my bible, doing my devotional, doing my gratitude journal.
Amber Beels:Like, I'm pretty good about that. I do it probably four to five times a week. So I'm I'm pretty consistent with that. But the Lord really put it in my heart and was like, those things are great, and I look forward to those things. Like, me, Amber, looks forward to those things, and I think the Lord does too.
Amber Beels:But he wants a deeper connection with us. Like, yes, us diving into his scripture, definitely a connection with him. But for me, I read one chapter a day. Like, I'm not trying to do the whole bible on a year thing. Like, I am just here to receive from him, and I'm not doing that at a fast pace.
Amber Beels:I'm doing that at a slower pace so that I can understand and really be able to dive into his word and who he is and his character and all the things. So I'm not doing it as, like, a race or trying to get through the Bible. But the Lord did put it on my heart and say, I want more. I want to dive more with you. I wanna go deeper with you.
Amber Beels:And that requires a little bit more time than the hour in the morning that I normally spend with him. And so when he woke me up last night, or I should say early this morning, he was like, I miss this. And deep in my soul, I was like, yeah. I miss this too because it's different. It's a different kind of connection when you're praying in the spirit, when you are intentionally, like, shutting out all the things, shutting out the phone other than just playing worship music and just singing and just really being in the moment and seeking his face, it's very, very different from, like, the normal routine of waking up in the morning and spending time with the Lord.
Amber Beels:It hits different. And so he craves that with us. The reason for us to do that, to intentionally make time outside of our routine to spend time with the Lord, is not just because he wants us to. Like, it's not because it's not just because out of obedience that we should be doing that. It's because it helps edify us in our relationship with him, and it also helps us be better saints to grow the kingdom and for us to be better witnesses to him.
Amber Beels:And so I wanna dive into some scripture because there are a lot of people that I know, unfortunately, that either don't believe in the Trinity or they have a hard time really looking at scripture within context. Like, they just look at scripture for what it is face value, and they're like, okay. Well, women can't preach. Done. Like, you know, type thing.
Amber Beels:That's what it says. That's what the scripture says. And so they kinda take it for face value. And if you truly have the holy spirit with you to, like, help teach you and bring scripture to life, you can take things out of context so easily. Or if you don't even believe that the holy spirit is a thing, which to me, that's a hard one because I know some people were were they just weren't taught that, like, that the trinity was a thing.
Amber Beels:But if you truly dive into scripture and you look through it with an open mind, you'll see the holy spirit was there from the beginning. Like, the holy spirit hovered over the waters, like, in Genesis. Like, he was there. He's the one that slung the stars into the sky. He's the mighty power of God.
Amber Beels:He's the one that's everywhere. And I think some people don't that doesn't click for them. They weren't taught that. And so I think people can become close minded when they're taught a certain way, and then they don't look at scripture again with an open mind to realize that God had a different agenda. He he is father, son, and holy spirit.
Amber Beels:He is three in one. And I know that can be hard to understand. And, yes, Jesus is the one that died for us. He's the one that was sent and did all the things, but he couldn't do it without his father. He couldn't do it without the holy spirit.
Amber Beels:They're three in one. Again, hard to understand. I don't think that we're supposed to completely understand it, but we are supposed to believe it because the Bible says it. And if we believe the Bible is a hundred percent correct a % of the time, then we need to believe it and just have faith to know that God knows what he's talking about when he says he's three in one. Right?
Amber Beels:And so I wanna start in John. John chapter 14 verse 26. Now this is Jesus talking to his disciples, and he's saying that he's going to send the Holy Spirit. Like, he can't stay because if he stayed, then he couldn't send the Holy Spirit. And so this is verse 26.
Amber Beels:It says, but the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. And that's just verse 26. So he's a teacher. The Holy Spirit is a teacher. He will teach you all things and bring to you remembrance all the things that I have said to you.
Amber Beels:So Jesus, when he was here on this Earth, he only did three years of ministry. But in those three years, he spoke a lot. He had a lot of wisdom, and he had a lot of things to teach and kind of unravel the things that all the beliefs that the Israelites had, you know, all the Hebrews had at the time and kinda be like, no. You you missed the point. It's all about me.
Amber Beels:Like, I'm the one that came. I I'm fulfilling the law. You're gonna be saved by grace. Like, that was his message. He was the good news.
Amber Beels:But he said a lot of things in his ministry, and we have it written down in the New Testament. But a lot of the times, like, we're very forgetful. I don't know about you, but me, I can be very forgetful about, like, oh, yeah. He did say that. We need a lot of reminding.
Amber Beels:And the Holy Spirit and God and Jesus knew that. Like, he knew that we were going to need a lot of reminding when it came to his word and his wisdom and what he did here on Earth and what our purpose is here now in 2025 on Earth. Right? And so that's why the father is going to send the helper, the holy spirit. So, again, the holy spirit has many, many names because the holy spirit has so many different roles and jobs and functions.
Amber Beels:Like, he is God. He does a lot of things, and he's very powerful and mighty. And yet he's also very gentle and sensitive and emotional and full of wisdom. Like, he is wisdom. Like, in Proverbs, he's referenced as lady of wisdom because he he is wisdom.
Amber Beels:Anyway, so this is in John again. He will teach you all the things and bring to your remembrance all the things I have said to you. So there's that. And then if we head over to Acts, Acts chapter one verse eight. Now this is Jesus again.
Amber Beels:This is after he has been risen, and he is talking to the disciples about the Holy Spirit again before he goes up into heaven, before he ascends. And so he says I'm gonna back up a little bit. So verse seven, it says, and he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority. Verse eight. But you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Amber Beels:I love this verse, and I've had some someone speak this verse over Eric and I that you shall receive power and the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. You shall be witnesses to me. You shall receive power. Now he told them to wait in Jerusalem.
Amber Beels:He said, don't leave yet. Don't start your ministry yet until you receive the Holy Spirit. And so they did. They waited. There was forget how many people there were in the upper room that waited for the Holy Spirit, but he gave them very specific instructions to wait.
Amber Beels:And so this was after he died and he resurrected. Like, he is in resurrected form at this point, and he's telling them to wait. And so if he's telling you to wait, then it must be important. Right? Especially if you're in ministry.
Amber Beels:Now it doesn't mean that the people who don't receive the Holy Spirit, which another way of saying that is receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, doesn't mean that you're not saved. You don't have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit in order to be saved. Just like you don't need water baptism to be saved, scripture's very clear. If you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and he is your savior, then you're saved. That is that is the bare minimum to being saved.
Amber Beels:And believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and he's your savior and you accept his gift of salvation, then you are saved. Doesn't say anything about water baptism. Doesn't mean that water baptism isn't important. It's very important. And a lot of disciples and the apostles, they ask, like, have you been water baptized?
Amber Beels:Because water baptism is more of a symbolic, like, witness to others that you have made this declaration. You have made this choice, and you're being open about it and being a witness to others by the water baptism. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is more about equipping you to do things in ministry that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Yes. You have the Holy Spirit in you.
Amber Beels:When you become saved, the Holy Spirit enters your heart and helps transform you into all the things. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when he gives you power to do some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, praying in the spirit, doing speaking in tongues, discernment of spirits, all the other all there's there's so many of them. Right? And there's the the gift of miracles, the gift of healing. Like, those only come when you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Amber Beels:So those are, like, the extra bonus to be able to do the work of the ministry and do the work of Jesus in his name with the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the purpose of that. And so that, again, sounds important to me. Right? He sounds really, really key.
Amber Beels:Jesus has mentioned the Holy Spirit multiple times and that he wants us to be able to have access to the Holy Spirit so that we can have the helper so that we can know Jesus on a different level because the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus. Like, the reason why he can bring remembrance of all the things he taught is because he was there. He they're three in one. Right? Again, hard to connect those dots, but he is Jesus.
Amber Beels:And so we but yet he's separate. And so we have to respect the fact that he is separate, but also that he is Jesus. He has the same knowledge, the same wisdom. He knows the will of the father. We can trust him.
Amber Beels:We can love him. He's here with us. We are subjecting him to everything that we go through because he's here. He's the one that does life with us. Right?
Amber Beels:So that's in Acts. The next scripture that I wanted to cover was in first Corinthians. So first Corinthians eight, and this is verse one and two. Actually, one two three. It says, now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we have all knowledge.
Amber Beels:Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. So I wanna highlight the line, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. I know a lot of people that know the Bible, like, the back of their hand.
Amber Beels:Like, they know scripture. They can quote it. They know exactly where it is. They super know it. Right?
Amber Beels:I think we all know somebody like that that just knows scripture in and out. Maybe they went to seminary school or maybe they just have a lot of times on their hand. Maybe they just love reading. Whatever it is, they know scripture. Now me, like, I've been reading it enough that I can paraphrase scripture, or I can be like, yeah.
Amber Beels:There's a scripture that says that. Do I know where it is? No. Like, I know it's probably in the New Testament or Old Testament. I know probably kind of where it is, but I don't know exactly where it is.
Amber Beels:And I I'm trying to gain knowledge in that area and try to be a little better about that so that I can reference it. But luckily, in April of twenty twenty five, we have Google. And so I can normally just type the verse or, like, parts of the verse, and then it'll tell me where it is, and then I'll go find it in the Bible. So thank the Lord for Google. But there are those people that just know scripture super well, but a lot of the times, they use scripture in a way that it's not meant to be used.
Amber Beels:It says knowledge puffs up. It makes you seem like you know it all, that you are higher than other people, that you know better, that you, you know, you've been around the block, you're a more seasoned Christian, whatever you wanna say. Like, that can be that dangerous line that you walk on if you know a lot of things, but you don't know the character of God. It says, but love edifies love. Now Paul, he loves love.
Amber Beels:Like, he talks a lot about love. And he, I believe, was super, super, super, super close to the Holy Spirit because he didn't get to walk with Jesus like a lot of the disciples. Like, he didn't walk with Jesus. He just started persecuting Christians after Jesus, you know, ascended back into heaven. And so when the Lord struck him on that road to Damascus, changed his name and said, why are you persecuting me?
Amber Beels:Like, Saul had became Paul, had a one eighty, became Paul, and got to be able to have this super, super deep intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit because he couldn't remember or go back to the times that he walked with Jesus. And I think a lot of the times, like, Peter and James, they had those limitations of, like, well, this is what Jesus did when I walked with him, when I followed him, when I was his disciple. Paul didn't have that. Paul only had connection to Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and so he had to really dive deep and and be super connected to the Holy Spirit in order to allow God to use him to build his kingdom. And that's why he was such a powerful apostle.
Amber Beels:And even Peter, again, I don't know where he said this, but he said, he's like, even I have troubles understanding what Paul says because I feel like Peter had that limitation sometimes of, like, yeah, he speaks way above what I know, you know, type thing because he has such a deep connection with the Holy Spirit that he's able to get these mysteries of the scripture revealed and be able to know the will of the Lord and really dive deep and just be able to be used as an effective vessel by the Holy Spirit. And so knowledge pops up, but love edifies. And that's connected to the next verse, which is in Ephesians. That's the last verse. Ephesians chapter six, and this is talking about the armor of God.
Amber Beels:And so I'm going to start in 17 and end in 18. So 17 says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So I wanna focus on the sword of the spirit. It says the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. It's literally saying that the word of God is a sword.
Amber Beels:It's the only weapon out of the whole armor of God. We got the shield. We got the shoes. We got the the helmet. We got the breastplate.
Amber Beels:We got, like, all these things, but the word of God is the sword. That is the only only weapon we're given in this armor of God. And so it's important. Right? And he says it's the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Amber Beels:So that tells me that you can use the word for good or you can use the word for not so good. Right? You can take the word out of context, and it can cut people down. And I think that's what Paul is saying in Corinthians, like, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Knowledge puffs up, and it can also hurt the kingdom of God if you use it incorrectly.
Amber Beels:And the only way to use the word correctly is if you have the sword of the spirit, meaning you have the holy spirit teaching you, like it said in John, what the Lord is actually saying. The the spirit is revealing to you the character of the Lord. He is the one that is revealing to you what it is that the Lord is actually saying in this. This scripture is holy spirit inspired. Like, yes, it was written by many authors, and it was written by men.
Amber Beels:However, it was God inspired, holy spirit inspired. And you could see that because it is so like, even though it has so many authors, it is still cohesive. It is still one text. And it was written over thousands of years, and yet it's still one text, and it relates to itself. And it is truly God inspired.
Amber Beels:And what I love about it too is that because it's holy spirit inspired, we can still see the personality of the author come through scripture. Like, whenever Paul writes, he's I said, he's constantly talking about love. And just his his journey about being for the Gentiles and all the things, and he he's just all about love, and he's very kind. And I love the way that he speaks. He's very humble.
Amber Beels:And James you go to James, and he is very, like, cutthroat. Right? He's very, like, to the point, and he says it like it is. And that's good too. Like, we see the personality of the authors come through the word, but it's still holy spirit inspired.
Amber Beels:This is still from the Lord. And so when you read it, the reason why the word is living is because of the holy spirit. Otherwise, this is just a book. This is just words on a page without the holy spirit. Words on a page that can cut people down, that can do a lot of harm, especially when it's taken out of context.
Amber Beels:But when you have the holy spirit, you're not gonna take things out of context. The holy spirit won't let you. Like, the holy spirit will will challenge you and be like, I want you to look at this again. Who was writing it? Who is speaking?
Amber Beels:Who is he speaking to? Look at the times. Like, do some research on this. Like, why would Paul say this in this area, but then say something that contradicts everything he just said in a different area? The Bible does not contradict itself.
Amber Beels:But if you look at it from out of context, it may seem like it does, and that can be dangerous, and people can use that as a weapon to say, although, the Bible contradicts itself, so therefore, it's not true, which is not true. Like, the Bible does not it never contradicts itself. You just have to look at it in context and see who he was talking to when he said those things. Whoever whoever it is. I mean, I talk a lot about Paul because he wrote most of the New Testament.
Amber Beels:But whoever the author is, you have to look at it holistically. Like, and Eric and I were talking about this the other day, I think last night, actually. We were talking about how these are especially in the New Testament, these are letters. Right? So Paul's writing to the Ephesians.
Amber Beels:He's he's writing to the Corinthians about certain things, and he's giving them knowledge. And so when he wrote letters, there's not gonna be verses. Like, we added those verses later on so that we could reference and find a specific line easier. So it had good intention of, you know, having verses and breaking down these letters by chapters and verses, but it also gave people more ammo to take things out of context because now you're just looking at a little verse. And I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of Paul's writings, he he does run on sentences.
Amber Beels:So one sentence could be, like, 10 verses. And so a lot of the times you can take things out of context because he wasn't done yet with his thought. So it's so important to be able to look at scripture in a holistic view. And the best way to do that is to do that with the Holy Spirit. And I don't know.
Amber Beels:Just this week, the Holy Spirit has really put it on me of, like, I want you to be intentional spending time with me. Like, I love the morning routine that you do, but I I want more. I wanna go deeper. And that only comes from being intentional with your time and, you know, setting time aside. And for me, personally, it's about praying in the spirit more.
Amber Beels:Like, I used to do it several times a week. Now I do it maybe once every couple weeks, and that makes me sad. I know that I have a lot going on. God God is gracious. I mean, he understands.
Amber Beels:He he sees my schedule. And so he knows that I have a lot going on, and it's not because I don't want to. It's just that, again, I have a lot coming going on, and I have a, you know, a little one on the way, and life happens. But even when life happens, there should be an intentionality on my part to, at least once a week, make time for it. I can make time for it.
Amber Beels:I spend a lot of time on social media. So I could cut some of that time out and spend it with the Lord. It doesn't have to be a full hour. I could pray in the spirit for, you know, fifteen, twenty minutes, and that would be enough to build my inner man, to be able to build me up and just really solidify that connection that I have with the Holy Spirit. And that's all he's looking for is he wants us to be able to seek his face.
Amber Beels:That's what he wants. He sees our heart. He sees our heart posture, and he wants us to be able to connect with him so that he can reveal these things to us so that he can be that helper, be that comforter, bring you peace, bring you comfort, you know, all the things. And, you know, a lot of a lot of this week, the Holy Spirit has allowed me to feel his feelings because the Holy Spirit is the sensitive member of the Trinity. He's the one that has a lot of emotions.
Amber Beels:In scripture, it says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Like, that's the unforgivable sin is not grieving him. Now in that context, they're talking about denying the Holy Spirit, but you can grieve the Holy Spirit just by, you know, listening to bad music, by saying cuss words, by, you know, doing things that are not pleasing to him that he knows you know better. Right? And it just grieves him to see you do those things because he loves you, and he knows that that's not the person he created you to be.
Amber Beels:It's not because he's legalistic. It's because he wants you to be more like Jesus. He wants you to be the holy person that you are because of Jesus. And his role is to transform us, to make us more like Jesus, to convict us in those areas in our life that we struggle. And the conviction is not to hurt us.
Amber Beels:It's to love on us and take away things that don't serve us anymore and to help us love people. I know there's certain people that really don't like people. Right? People are messy. People are prickly, and it can be hard to love people.
Amber Beels:I mentioned that in last week's episode how it can be hard to love people. But with God, with the Holy Spirit, all things are possible. All things are possible to be able to overcome our own emotions and make sure that they align with scripture, that they align with his word and his heart, that we can see people the way that he sees people. We can only do that if we seek intentional time with him and allow ourselves to be stripped away of our old tendencies, our old man, die to those things, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in those areas and develop the new man, the new person that's being developed in Christ, the new person that is more like Christ and that can serve and love God the way that he does and the way that he loves us. And so I hope that this message encourages you.
Amber Beels:I hope that this blesses you as well. This is just kind of what's been on my heart this week. I'm gonna try to get a guest for next week. If you haven't already, listen to the one with Ed. That was a couple of episodes ago.
Amber Beels:That was a really good episode. Just go ahead and listen to that. And, you know, if you have any suggestions or questions that you want me to cover, please feel free to email me. It's in the show notes, the email. So if you wanna email me with questions or whatever, I'm happy more than happy to address those questions.
Amber Beels:So and giving me suggestions. I also wanna give you guys a heads up that, I am due for my baby in June, end of June. So I'm still gonna be releasing episodes, but as soon as Aviva comes, then I'm gonna probably take a a little break because I wanna be raising my daughter and figuring out momhood and all the things. So I just want we're a couple months out, but I just want to prepare you guys for a break. So I'm trying to get to 52 episodes.
Amber Beels:That'll be, like, a full year, which I think is pretty cool, like, year of episodes. So I'm trying to get to there and then maybe take, like, a couple months off and then be back probably in fall. But I just wanna give you guys a heads up on that so you're not caught off guard. Alright, guys. I hope this message blesses you.
Amber Beels:I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you next week.
