Believe and Speak--{Holy Spirit} Who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.

 

John 15:26 

Exodus 31:2-5

Luke 11:13

John 14:16-17, 26

John 16:7, 12-14

John 20:22

Acts 1:8

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Galatians 4:4-6

Philippians 1:19

Titus 3:4-6

2 Peter 1:21

2 Corinthians 4:13

In the first 3 passages we read in John, Jesus is in the Upper Room with His disciples.  He has washed the disciples' feet, called out His betrayer, given them a new commandment, foretold Peter's denial. He is going over all He has taught them, because He knows He will soon be leaving them.  He promises the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will proceed from the Father, through the Son.  The Holy Spirit will live in believers, which will be foolishness to unbelievers.  Jesus appears to these same disciples in John 20,  and He breathes the Holy Spirit on them which, like Acts 1:8, is a foreshadowing of Pentecost. The thoughts of God are known and revealed by His Spirit.  In the Old Testament, the Spirit could enter and leave a person, as we see in Exodus 31:2-5, Numbers 27:18, and 1 Samuel 16:14.  (Bonus reading 😍);  yet, it was the Holy Spirit, not their own thoughts,  that carried along the prophets to speak the word of the Lord.  And now, under the New Promise written and underwritten by all three Persons of the Trinity, we have been saved by the goodness and kindness of God, made a new creation by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was poured on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.  😭

We could get tripped up so badly over what we DO NOT understand about the Trinity, including the Holy Spirit.  The question of whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from God alone, or from God the Father and God the Son, even caused a huge church split in the 1000's.   We cannot fit a divine God into a human template, even though we really WANT to so we can wrap our brains around it! But the question doesn't necessarily NEED to be answered.  We can focus on what we Do Know about the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit that creates us recreates us.  The same Spirit that spoke through the Prophets, speaks through us by the effect He has on us-- His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control become ours by His power. "Who is like the LORD our God? (Psalm 113:5)  There is none like you, O LORD, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (1 Chronicles 17:20) Studying the Holy Spirit is an invitation to wonder, and to worship.  Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, we also believe, and so we also speak.