Dear Friend,

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the Holy Spirit and the wonderful qualities that make Him the greatest Friend!

  • First, He is always with you because He lives inside you.
  • Second, He is brilliant. He knows everything!
  • Third, He has an amazing reputation of guiding you into truth and leading you away from lies or deception that would bring harm to you.
  • Fourth, the Holy Spirit is such a powerful Friend because He is the greatest Teacher in all the earth. He is always right, and never harsh or rude. He makes His point but never puts you down.
  • Fifth, His power and ability to comfort you is beyond any loving spouse, friend, food, entertainment, drug, or possession. His comfort is so miraculous. Even if you think, Oh no, this is an awful situation. I just don’t know if I can bear it. Or you may feel as if you have fallen into a deep hole and cannot get out. But then, in a moment when that hole that seems so deep and you don’t know the way out, suddenly, the Holy Spirit comes with His overwhelming presence and shows Himself to you as the Great Comforter. He lifts you up and out of that dark and seemingly never-ending place.

Can you see why I said that the Holy Spirit is your greatest Friend?

Today I want to talk about another phenomenal aspect about the Holy Spirit. It’s found in Psalm 139: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.”  The Holy Spirit is a Great Searcher of your heart. Why is He searching? To tell you all the bad things about yourself? Some people actually think that. But, no, He is searching because He loves you so very, very much.

Let me explain. My husband loves history. He is searching all the time to learn more about people and things in ancient history. For example, he looks intently at rocks and studies ruins that have existed for centuries. Why does he do it? Because he really loves it.

bookmark2Sometimes I watch talent shows and search the stage or television screen to find various singers. I am completely fascinated with how each voice is so unique. I love to think about how the body supports and projects these amazing sounds. Why do I search? Because I really love everything about the voice.

So, why is the Holy Spirit searching over you? The answer is because He loves you. He sees your born-again spirit and that is where He lives. And He wants to show you more about how much God loves you and what Jesus did for you on the Cross. He may want to show you how Jesus walked you through so many difficult situations. And it’s because of His presence in you that you can push through difficulties in life again and again. He is always searching to show us the deep things of God.

David said in Psalm 139:1, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.” Somehow David knew that God had searched him. And David shared this revelation with his son, Solomon, in First Chronicles 28:9: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

David’s song continued in Psalm 139:2, which says, “…You understand my thought afar off.” Even before David could conclude his thoughts, God knew them. David was not born again — God did not live inside David’s human spirit. But God was searching. So what about us? How does the Holy Spirit help those of us who are born again, with the Great Searcher, the Holy Spirit, living inside us?

Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Look how the Holy Spirit wants to help us when we don’t know how to pray! He prays through us. He is such a helper!

But also look at verse 27: “ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” We see Him as the Great Searcher. Is He searching to see how bad we are? No. The Holy Spirit is searching for how He can get the will of God to us, and to help us when we don’t know how to help ourselves. He is making an investigative search of how to get the help to us that we need.

First Corinthians 2:10 confirms, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” We see the Great Searcher wants to reveal the deep things of God. Oh, what treasures could He want to reveal to your spirit! Maybe it’s the matchless, unfathomable love He has for you. Maybe He wants to reveal how you can forgive your offender. Maybe He wants to reveal to you how you will be with Him forever!

I don’t know all the deep things of God that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you, but I do know this — the Holy Spirit is searching inside you right now to reveal more of the love of God and the mercy of our Lord Jesus. You might ask, “Does He reveal our sins to us?” Yes, He does — not to condemn us, but to bring conviction that shows us the way out. He will show you the Scripture and the way of escape.

My friend, this letter contains just a tiny bit of information about this wonderful Third Person of the Godhead — the Holy Spirit — who lives in you. I hope you found encouragement and just what you needed to hear. Please let me know how we can pray for you. And oh, how I love hearing your response! Just call us at 1-800-742-5593 or send us an email at prayer@renner.org. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Thank you for this time together.

Moving forward together,


Denise Renner