SUCCESS THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST

Knowing the Person Who Makes You Succeed

Introduction: The Secret of True Success

There is a success that the world offers and a success that God ordains. The world’s success is built on talent, connections, strategy, and relentless human effort. God’s success is built on something entirely different: a relationship with a Person who knows every path, every obstacle, every hidden treasure, and every door — and who has committed Himself to leading you through all of it. That Person is the Holy Ghost. And until you know Him — not just as a doctrine or a religious experience, but as a living, active, personal presence in your life — you will never walk in the fullness of what God has prepared for you.

This is not a message about techniques for achievement. It is a message about a relationship. The Holy Spirit is the doer of God’s work. When God speaks, the Holy Spirit executes. When God purposes, the Holy Spirit performs. And He has been given to every believer for this very reason: to lead them, to teach them, to empower them, and to make them fruitful in every dimension of life.

Part One: Who Is the Holy Spirit? The Creator and Craftsman

Before we can understand what the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer, we must understand who He is. He is not an impersonal force, not a mysterious influence, not merely the atmosphere of a worship service. He is a Person — co-equal with the Father and with the Son, possessing every attribute of the Godhead. And He has been involved in the work of God from the very beginning.

Job, in the midst of his suffering, made a declaration that unveils one of the deepest realities of the Holy Spirit’s nature:

Job 33:4  The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

The Holy Spirit is the maker. He is the One who formed you and brought you into being. And long before He worked in creation, the Spirit of Wisdom — who is the Holy Spirit in His role as divine craftsman — was already at work beside the Father, rejoicing in His presence and in the world He was making:

Proverbs 8:30  Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.

This is the One who now dwells in you. The craftsman who rejoiced over creation now lives in your spirit. The same Holy Spirit who hovered over the formless void in the beginning and brought forth a world of beauty and order at the spoken word of God — He is at work in your life:

Genesis 1:1–3  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

When God spoke, the Holy Spirit moved. When the Word went forth, the Spirit executed it. This is the pattern of all divine activity: the Father purposes, the Word declares, and the Spirit performs. And the Word of God who was present at creation is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself:

John 1:1–3, 14  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

He who was rich became poor for our sakes. He who was the Word of God through whom all things were made entered human flesh, walked among us, and ultimately faced death — not as its victim, but as its conqueror. The risen Christ declared of Himself:

Revelation 1:17–18  Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

And the writer of Hebrews explains what that victory means for those who believe in Him:

Hebrews 2:14–15  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

This is the backdrop against which the ministry of the Holy Spirit operates. The victory has been won. The enemy has been disarmed. And now the Holy Spirit has been sent to bring the fullness of that victory into the daily experience of every child of God.

Part Two: The Holy Spirit Leads You Into Success and Substance

The Holy Spirit is not indifferent to your material, practical, and professional life. He is not confined to spiritual experiences alone. He is the Spirit of wisdom, and wisdom is intensely practical. He declared through the book of Proverbs, speaking as the wisdom of God:

Proverbs 8:20–21  I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

He leads in the way of righteousness — and the result is inheritance of substance and filled treasuries. This is not the prosperity gospel in a shallow sense. This is the promise of the Spirit of God to those who walk with Him: He will cause those who love Him to inherit. Inheritance is not something you earn by performance — it is something you receive by relationship and position. The Holy Spirit is committed to seeing you prosper.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God gave one of the most extraordinary promises of divine guidance in all of Scripture. Addressing even Cyrus, a pagan king, God declared what He is willing to do for those He calls:

Isaiah 45:1–3  Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him… I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Hidden riches of secret places. Treasures of darkness. These are resources that no natural intelligence can locate and no human strategy can unlock. Only the Holy Spirit knows where they are. And He will reveal them to those who listen to Him. He does not merely lead us through life — He leads us into the fullness of what God has prepared for us. Isaiah says it plainly:

Isaiah 48:17  Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

He teaches you to profit. He leads you by the right way. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the practical affairs of life. And it is available to every believer who will learn to recognise His voice and follow His leading.

Part Three: The Comforter Who Stays — God’s Promise of His Presence

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus made a promise to His disciples that has been the anchor of the church ever since. He knew they would be devastated by what was about to happen, and He made sure they understood that they were not about to be abandoned:

John 14:15–18  If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

The Holy Spirit is the Comforter — the one called alongside to help. He is not a temporary visitor who comes and goes with the atmosphere of a prayer meeting. He has been sent to abide forever. He dwells in the believer permanently. And in that permanent indwelling, He brings the presence of both the Father and the Son. When Jesus said “I will come to you,” He was not speaking only of His Second Coming — He was declaring that in the person of the Holy Spirit, He would remain with His people always.

The Holy Spirit is also deeply personal in His care. The prophet Isaiah recorded a testimony of just how intimately God enters into the struggles of His people through His Spirit:

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

In all their affliction, He was afflicted. The Holy Spirit is not a distant observer of your pain. He is touched with the feeling of your infirmities. He enters into what you are going through with a compassion that exceeds anything a human friend can offer. He becomes, in a sense, as human as you need Him to be, while remaining fully God. This is the Comforter who has been given to you. Do not ignore Him. Do not treat Him as a background presence. He is your closest companion, your wisest counsellor, and your most faithful guide.

Part Four: Speaking in Tongues — The Spirit’s Language of Power

One of the most powerful provisions of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to the believer is the gift of speaking in tongues — and yet it is one of the most misunderstood and underutilised. The Apostle Paul was one of the most fruitful, productive, and influential ministers in the history of the church. He planted churches across the known world, wrote more than half the New Testament, and moved in extraordinary power. And he revealed one of the secrets of his effectiveness:

1 Corinthians 14:18  I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.

More than all of them. Paul did not downplay the gift of tongues — he practised it abundantly. And Paul himself had declared the extraordinary scope of tongues-speech:

1 Corinthians 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

There are tongues of men and tongues of angels. When you pray in the Spirit, you are sometimes operating in a language that transcends human vocabulary entirely. You are communicating at a level that the human mind cannot reach — directly, spirit to Spirit, with God Himself. And in that communication, things happen that no amount of carefully reasoned prayer can produce.

When you pray in tongues, you pray beyond the limits of your own understanding. You pray prayers that are perfectly formed by the Holy Spirit, addressing situations and needs that you may not even be consciously aware of. You operate in a realm where principalities and powers cannot intercept or counter your prayer, because the language is known only to God. And as you pray in the Spirit regularly, your spirit becomes increasingly tuned to the frequency of the Holy Spirit’s voice. You grow more sensitive. You hear more clearly. You discern more accurately. Tongues is not a side-dish of the Spirit-filled life — it is a primary means of building up your spirit and staying aligned with God’s purposes.

Part Five: The Intercession of the Spirit — Praying the Prayers That Change Everything

There are moments in prayer when words run out. When the burden is so great and the situation so complex that the human mind simply does not know what to ask. In those moments, the Holy Spirit does not leave you stranded. He steps in:

Romans 8:26–27  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Groanings which cannot be uttered. There are times when the Holy Spirit moves through you in prayer with a depth of intercession that bypasses language entirely — deep sighs, wordless cries, a weight in the spirit that you cannot explain but cannot ignore. These are not emotional disturbances. They are the Holy Spirit praying through you according to the perfect will of God, about matters of eternal consequence. Do not quench these moments. Do not dismiss them as mere feeling. They are some of the most powerful prayers that will ever pass through your spirit.

The Holy Spirit prays according to the will of God — which means that when He intercedes through you, the outcome is guaranteed. You may never know in this life what crisis was averted, what life was saved, what situation was turned around, by those groanings in your prayer time. But heaven knows. And the Spirit of God who is interceding knows exactly what He is doing.

Part Six: Grace, Love, and Communion — The Three Gifts of God

The Apostle Paul closed his second letter to the Corinthian church with a benediction that has been spoken at the end of Christian gatherings for two thousand years — and it deserves to be understood, not merely repeated:

2 Corinthians 13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

Three gifts. Three dimensions of the one God’s provision for the believer. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is favour that operates beyond merit, qualification, personality, or knowledge. It covers your mistakes. It opens doors that your resume cannot open. It protects you from consequences you rightly deserved. In grace, you can never truly lose, because even your setbacks are covered by One who is making all things work together for good.

The love of God is the foundation beneath everything. It is not a sentimental affection. It is the same love that sent the Son into the world, that endured the cross, that conquered death. Perfect love casts out fear — and it is that perfect, tested, proven love of God that gives the believer a confidence that no circumstance can shake. David declared of his experience of that love:

Psalm 27:1  The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

And the communion of the Holy Ghost — the fellowship, the partnership, the shared life with the Holy Spirit. This is the dimension that so many believers miss entirely. They receive the grace and they sing of the love, but they neglect the communion. They live with the Holy Spirit as a silent guest in a house where they make all the decisions, consult all the wrong advisors, and then wonder why their lives feel disconnected from the promises of God. Communion requires engagement. It requires listening, responding, following. The Holy Spirit is ready. The question is whether we will come into genuine fellowship with Him.

Conclusion: Listen to Him, and You Will Succeed

Success through the Holy Ghost is not a slogan — it is a reality available to every believer who will take the Holy Spirit seriously as a person. He is the craftsman who made you. He is the Spirit of wisdom who delights in leading you into inheritance and substance. He is the Comforter who stays forever, who enters into your afflictions with you, who knows exactly what you need before you even know it yourself. He is the One through whom you pray prayers that change history. And He has committed Himself to making you successful in the things of God.

David summarised the relationship in its simplest form:

Psalm 23:1  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

I shall not want. Not “I hope I will not want.” Not “If things go well, I will not want.” A settled declaration: I shall not want, because my Shepherd is the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes that Shepherd’s care tangible and operational in your daily life. He is the one who leads you beside still waters, restores your soul, and guides you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Recognise Him. Honour Him. Talk to Him. Listen when He speaks — and He does speak, to your spirit, not always through thunder and drama, but in a still, recognisable voice that is unmistakably His. Follow His leading, even when it does not make natural sense. And watch what the Spirit of God does with a life that is fully yielded to His guidance. This is the path of success that no textbook can teach and no strategy can replicate. This is success through the Holy Ghost.