All Christians have a relationship with Holy Spirit but not all Christians have intimacy with Him. There is a difference between a relationship and intimacy. You have a relationship with friends and family but you should only be intimate with your spouse. Relationship with Holy Spirit comes through salvation. However, intimacy only comes through surrender of our life to Holy Spirit.

Relationship with Holy Spirit comes through salvation. Intimacy with Holy Spirit comes through surrender. Share on X

In order to walk in the Holy Spirit, we must talk with the Holy Spirit. In order to get to know someone intimately we need to spend time with them and have conversations with them. When you are dating someone to get to know them better you do not just spend 5 minutes or if you are really good an hour a day with them telling them your problems and what you want them to do for you without letting them talk and then say, “Good time together, see ya tomorrow.” However, that is how we treat Holy Spirit a lot of times. If we treated a date like we treat Holy Spirit, we would never see a second date but yet we act like it is perfectly fine to treat Holy Spirit, who is God, like that. Is it any wonder why we are not getting deeper in our walk with Holy Spirit when we are not willing to put in the time and effort.

In order to walk in the Holy Spirit, we must talk with the Holy Spirit. Share on X

1 Samuel chapter 11 talks about the first victory King Saul had. It shows how bold Saul was when he had the anointing of Holy Spirit on him. An Israelite city was under attack and sent word to the other Israelite cities asking for help. Saul was filled with Holy Spirit and cut his ox into pieces and said any Israelite that did not fight with him would have their oxen cut up. The fear of God, not the fear of Saul fell on the people and they all turned out to fight with one accord.  

1. You will attack the enemy instead of agreeing with the enemy! 

Under the anointing of Holy Spirit, Saul did not make a covenant with the enemy; without the anointing he agreed to terms of Goliath. When Saul started out as king, he did not rely on himself but relied totally on Holy Spirit. This can be seen when they went to make Saul king and they had to search for him and found him hiding among the bags. Because of this Saul knew that he was not “all that” and looked to God instead of himself or others for his help. But as time went on Saul got prideful and started relying on himself and thought more of what others thought and said of him instead of what God thought and said of him. Because of this, Saul lost his anointing. When Saul lost his anointing, instead of being fearless and attacking the enemy, he became a coward and instead of fighting the enemy he started agreeing with the enemy. Don’t make agreements with the devil, you were anointed to attack! 

Whatever you agree with you empower! Share on X

When you agree with something you are saying that you believe it and whatever you believe will end up directing the course of your life. I am not talking about the things that you say verbally you believe but the true beliefs you hold in your heart and mind. If you believe someone is better than you, you will act in accordance to those beliefs, whether they are true or not does not matter, but because you believe it you will act as if it were solid truth. Don’t identify yourself with the pain, past, sin or sickness you are feeling! You are in Christ. You are made new, forgiven, righteous and healed in Christ, so live like it!! That is the devil’s pain, past, sin and sickness, don’t take ownership of it!!

2. You will be courageous instead of coward.

With Holy Spirit, boldness was released into Saul; without the anointing, Saul was balanced, cautious and played it safe. People who lead balanced lives do not change history or make big impacts in the world around them. It is the people who step out and take risks and are bold who are remembered and who impact the world. Intimacy with Holy Spirit leads to risk – risk leads to reward.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

Intimacy is the key to boldness. Boldness is the key to miracles. Someone who leads a balanced calculated life will not dream of stepping out and praying for someone to be healed, but someone who has the boldness that Holy Spirit gives will step out and pray for healing. Or a boldness to walk on water. Or a boldness to sacrifice. If you don’t step out and take a risk then there is no chance for success. Stop playing it safe, step out and live in the faith zone.

Intimacy is the key to boldness. Boldness is the key to miracles. Share on X

3. You will serve people instead of fearing them. 

When Holy Spirit came upon Saul, fear of God came upon people. When Holy Spirit left Saul, fear of people came upon Saul. When Saul had the Holy Spirit, he did not fear what man thought or said about him because he was focused on God. But when Saul took his focus off God, he became concerned and then ruled by what others thought of him. When we seek to please people, we will disobey God. When we obey God we will serve people and not try and please people. God did not ask us to please people, but to serve them. There is a big difference. Jesus did not live to please people but to please His Father. Jesus did not die on the cross out of love for people but out of desire to please His Father. If we are not controlled by the fear of God then the fear of people will rule us. Your approval needs to come from God not man. People will do crazy things, don’t serve them or you will get burned. People make mistakes, but God does not. If people are the reason you love them, your love will diminish, if God is the reason that you love people, your love will grow. If you are pleasing people you are insecure and you are using them to build your self-esteem. The moment you start pleasing people you will become imprisoned by their opinions. 

4. You will fight alongside of authority instead of always being frustrated with them. 

When Holy Spirit came upon Saul he went to war with Samuel; without the Holy Spirit, him and Samuel had constant frictions. You can’t walk in anointing and fight authority. Holy Spirit will always create a humble heart within you, never a prideful heart. If when authority says something there is this‚ rising up inside of you, you have a bit of the devil in you and you are dealing with rebellion. Pride and rebellion are what got satan kicked out of heaven. We are to team up with authority instead of fighting against them. God says to honor and obey all authority placed over us. Even if authority is not honorable, you are to still honor them, because you are an honorable person. If you don’t honor the authority, it does not say anything bad about the authority but something bad about you. Honor Holy Spirit by honoring the authority placed over you even if you do not agree with them. 

You can't walk in anointing and fight authority. Share on X

5. You will have mercy on your foes instead of attacking your friends.

When Holy Spirit was with Saul he spared his enemies; when Spirit of God left, he sought to kill his friends. After Saul’s first victory the people went to Samuel and wanted to put the men to death who murmured against Saul at the beginning. Saul overhears them and says do not hurt them. When Holy Spirit left Saul, Saul sought to kill David a man who would give his life for Saul.

Only the Holy Spirit helps you to NOT REACT to people but PAUSE AND RESPOND to God. Share on X

Without Holy Spirit you will become suspicious of people and think they are out to get you and you will become defensive against everything that happens. With Holy Spirit you will put out fires, without Holy Spirit you will create fires. Whatever is in you will come out when people “bump into you.” When you have Holy Spirit you will not blame the person who “bumped you” but will deal with your anger that came out. Without Holy Spirit you will blame the person and not deal with your anger. With Holy Spirit you will focus on your part of the problem, even if it is only 1%, instead of blaming it all on the other person.

6. You will be mission minded, instead of ambition driven.

When Holy Spirit came upon Saul, he wanted to save the city. When the Holy Spirit left Saul he wanted to only save his title. Without Holy Spirit you will be obsessed with titles, positions and ranks. With Holy Spirit you care about your calling, purpose and mission. Without Holy Spirit people are always inwardly focused, needy, feeling entitled, easily offended, overly suspicious, extremely jealous, living for the applause of man, will die from the slightest criticism and blaming others. With Holy Spirit people heal the sick, cast out devils, saving the lost, impact the world and don’t care about what people say about them. Sheep never bark at dogs, if you are barking back, you are not being a sheep. We are not here to protect our reputation, we live for God’s approval not mans. Stop listening to what men are saying and start fulfilling your God given purpose.

What are some benefits of intimacy with the Holy Spirit you have seen in your life?

---

This blog was written by Vladimir Savchuk.

Pastor Vlad is the lead pastor of Hungry Generation Church, an author of “Break Free” and “Single, Ready to Mingle” and a founder of free online school “Vlad’s School.” To download free e-books, sermon series, small group study guides go to vladimirsavchuk.com