Thanks Skylove, you are beautiful too!
On Sunday, the assistant pastor (youth pastor) was praying over the children before children's church. He referred to the Holy Spirit as "It" several times. I made me shudder. I tried to find him after the service, to tell him the Holy Spirit was not an "it' but he was hiding.
The reason the Holy Spirit is not an "it" is because he is a "person." Therefore, we need to address him as such. We would never refer to Jesus or the Father as an "it" so we should not do this to the Holy Spirit.
As for me, the Holy Spirit guides me and comforts me and encourages me. I always think of what the word παράκλητον or Parklatos in Greek means! If you look at various translations, you will find many different words. Basically, that means it is really not directly translatable into English. The reason is because the word is so rich, and has so many connotations. In other words, we really can't define the Holy Spirit, although we certainly can see his work in our lives and in the church.
"16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα ᾖ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα," John 14:16 Greek
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" John 14:16 KJV
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,to be with you forever," John 14:16 ESV
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—" John 14:16
"If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth" John 14:16-17 The Message
