How do I Deal with a Fear of the Holy Spirit?

Question: How do I deal with a fear of the Holy Spirit? Whenever the subject of the Holy Spirit comes up, I feel an involuntary surge of fear. I don't know why.

Answer: The enemy does attack at various times and in various ways. This is exactly the time that we need the Holy Spirit to protect our hearts and minds, and to lead us through the temptations and frustrations put before us.

There is no reason to fear the Holy Spirit; He is God, and He is good. In fact, the presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a validation of our salvation. The Apostle Paul explained that the Spirit is the One who seals our salvation in preparation for, “the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30 NKJV).

A great passage to examine is 1 John 4. In the context of this letter, the Apostle John is writing about loving other people; however, he weaves the gospel of grace into the discussion, and further details the importance of the Holy Spirit.

John begins this section by encouraging believers to “test the spirits” in order to determine if they are from God or not (v. 1). He then explains that believers will be able to know if they are listening to the Holy Spirit or from spirits of the Antichrist based on acknowledgement (or lack thereof) of the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ (vv. 2-3). The Apostle then goes on to write, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (v. 10). Progressing further in the discussion of what loving God and others confirms, John writes, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He is us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (v. 13). Near the end of this section John sums up his thoughts with the following words: “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us” (vv. 17-19).

The Holy Spirit is for us, not against us. He is our Helper given by the Father (John 14:26; 15:26). And unlike the spirits of the Antichrist, the Holy Spirit wants to bring us closer and to abide more in God, rather than flee from Him. Jesus is coming back. God has prepared us for this, and for our lives until that time, by giving us of His Spirit so that we could abide in Him, love Him, and love others. As the Apostle John wrote, by loving God and letting the Spirit work in us, we can be bold in the face of opposition, and stand confident before the Lord. We can do this not because of our own merit or goodness, but because the Spirit gives us confidence and guides our lives. Of course, we only have the Holy Spirit in us because God first loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins; thus, opening up the floodgates of Heaven for those who would come to have faith in Jesus Christ.