Fellowship with the Holy Spirit: What it is & How to do it

What does it mean to fellowship with Holy Spirit?

To fellowship with the Holy Spirit means to talk to the Holy Spirit in secret prayer, as well as throughout our day. It means to thank Him for things, ask Him questions, ask Him for guidance and help in a specific area. It means listening to His voice, growing in the understanding of the scriptures, and obeying His guidance.

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that we are not only called into fellowship with the Father (John 1:3-7) and with the Son (1 Corinthians 1:9), but also with the Holy Spirit.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

Both of these passages of scripture place fellowship with the Holy Spirit in high regard.

For instance, Paul places this fellowship among the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus. This means that just as foundational as God’s love and Jesus’ grace are so too fellowship with the Holy Spirit is foundational.

The grace of Jesus and the love of God are the beginning and the end of the Christian life, we will never outgrow those two truths. Similarly, we will never outgrow fellowshipping with Holy Spirit because that is the means by which we do grow.

The latter verses confirm these truths as well.

Paul says, that just as sure as there is encouragement in Christ, comfort in love, fellowship with Holy Spirit, and affection and mercy, so too we as the body of Christ should be like-minded in our conduct, with the same goal.

Paul places the “fellowship of the Spirit” on the same level as encouragement in Christ and comfort of love.

In other words, you can’t have the Spirit without also having the availability to commune with the Spirit.

Similarly, you can’t have Christ without also having the availability to receive encouragement from Him, and you can’t have love without also having the ability to receive comfort from love.

How to fellowship with Holy Spirit (4 Keys)

Be aware of His presence

The Holy Spirit is with us at all times. In fact, Holy Spirit is the presence of God upon the earth, for He is God being present.

Jesus promised us that He would never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5). This is only possible through the agency of Holy Spirit, because we know that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven right now (Acts 1:9-10, Acts 2:33).

This is why Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

This verse reveals that Holy Spirit is with us and He is in us, but not only that; He will never leave us, for He will abide with us forever. How amazing!

We have God’s Spirit dwelling inside of us at all times. He is with you right now, if you are a believer. And just like we mentioned before, you can’t have the Spirit without also having the availability to speak with Him. Philippians 2 reveals that this is impossible.

If He is with us then we can speak with Him, and Him with us. We only need to develop our faith in this area and grow in the consciences of His indwelling.

Engage with Him as you read the Word

The Bible is the Holy Spirit’s textbook, and He is the author. Every word He inspired and breathed upon. There is not one jot or tittle that He did not guide the writers to write.

So since we have Him always with us, it would be silly to desire to grow in the knowledge of the Word without asking Him for understanding, guidance, and clarity.

Holy Spirit is meant to guide us into all truth (John 16:13), and we know that the word of God is truth (John 17:17).

So let’s allow Holy Spirit to teach us by engaging with Him as we read.

Let’s talk to Him before, during, and after we read. If we become curious about something, let’s ask Him a question. When He reveals something to us, let’s thank Him. Then let’s continue reading again.

This is what it means to engage with Him as we read the Word, and it is incredibly beneficial to our walk with God.

Pray in the Spirit

Speaking in tongues is praying in the Spirit and it is a key to being aware of His presence and receiving revelation from Him.

“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)

Notice how Paul uses praying in tongues interchangeably with praying with the Spirit. That is becasue they are the same thing.

Now many will say, “ya but Paul said in these verses that speaking in tongues is praying with his spirit (lowercase s), but prayig in the Spirit (uppercase S) is different.”

Well said, but the Bible also reveals that our spirit and His Spirit are one so it makes no difference if sometimes Paul says, “I pray with my spirit” and other times he says, “I pray with the Spirit” for they are both true at the same time.

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17)

Therefore, speaking in tongues is the same as praying in the Spirit.

And the more we pray in the Spirit, the more we become aware of Him within us for the Bible says that we receive edification (1 Corinthians 14:4).

In addition to this, the Bible tells us that tongues are mysteries spoken directly to God (1 Corinthians 14:2), that when tongues are divinly interpreted they are equivalent to prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:5), and that we should pray and ask God for interpretation as we speak in tongues so that our minds can receive edification as well (1 Corinthinas 14:13).

This means that if we speak in tongues and ask God for the interpretaton as we speak then we will be receiving divine revelation on the mysteries of God. How powerful!

So not only wil we be cooperating with Holy Spirit to commune with God in the Spirit, but we will also be hearing the Holy Spirit reveal divine truths to us.

Talk to Him throughout the day

We all have moments in our day where we do activities that don’t rquire much brain power. Things like; sweeping, taking out the trash, dishes, mowing the lawn, driving, etc.

We can use these activitites to talk to Holy Spirit and fellowship with God.

Similarly, we also have moments where our mind wanders from the truths of God’s Word and into things that are carnal and ungodly. The best way to correct these wandering thoughts is to use them as springbard to commune with Holy Spirit.

For instance, let’s say you had a passing thought of worry and fear. You can say something like, “Holy Spirit I so appreciate that I don’t need to be fearful and full of worry anymore for You are not a Spirit of fear but a Spirt of power and love and a sound mind. Thank you for this sound mind surrounding me at all times and enabling me to live above the desires of the flesh.”

Or say you have a thought of doubt. You can say something like, “Holy Spirit I know that doubt is not a Godly thing for the Father is a God of faith and He is only delighted by faith. So right now I release faith and I thank You that You are with me enabling me to increase in faith every day. Grow Your word in me so that faith becomes as natural as breathing. I love you Holy Spirit.”

Every opportunity to decieve or disable your walk with God can be flipped into a time of communion with Him. Simply thank Holy Spirit for the opposite and ask Him to enable God’s Word in your life.

Benefits of consistent fellowship with the Holy Spirit

Each one of these benefits are benefits of walking in the Spirit, and since having intimacy with the Holy Spirit would cause us to walk in the Spirit, these benefits are important to take note of. There are a total of 26 benefits that I noticed from studying the scriptures, read the full list by clicking the title of the article: 26 Benefits of Walking in the Spirit (+ Consequences).

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it assisted you in your walk with God.

God bless all of you!