At some point in our lives, most of us have experienced what it’s like to be “odd- man out.”  It happens among friends, as well as strangers.  It can even happen when as few as three people get together.   All it takes is for a group to engage in conversation and leave one person out in the cold.  He’s invisible.  Odd-man out. 

   It’s not that this invisible person is not as important as the others.  It’s just that some are more dominant, more assertive, better known to the others.  Our odd-man out simply has not been established as far as the group is concerned.

    In the past, many of us who grew up in the church were reluctant to give the third Person of the Trinity–the Holy Spirit–equal position relative to the Father and the Son.   We spoke easily of God the Father and conversed with Him in prayer.  We were equally comfortable with God the Son.  However, when it came to God the Holy Spirit we referred to Him as an “it” and left Him out of the conversation. 

   This probably happened because we received far less teaching back then about who the Holy Spirit was and what He did.  And because we didn’t know Him as well, we couldn’t see Him as important as the Father and the Son.  This is strange, because both Jesus and the New Testament writers spoke of Him often.

    Over and over in the Bible, we read that Jesus was led by the Spirit, that He was filled with the Spirit, that He was given power by the Spirit.  The works that He did while walking on earth were a manifestation of that power.   Yes, Jesus was God but He gave up His “God-rights” and functioned on earth as a man.  Filled with the Holy Spirit, but a man nonetheless. 

   In addition, Jesus gives a lengthy discourse in the scriptures on the Spirit and His function in the world.  He tells the disciples to wait on the Holy Spirit–so that they can be filled with Him,  just as He was.  And it’s not until the Holy Spirit comes on  the day of Pentecost that believers are finally empowered to spread the Gospel into all the world.

    The Bible instructs believers today to walk in the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit and to use the gifts of the Spirit to build up the body of Christ.   That same Spirit who dwelt in Jesus during His days upon the earth is the Spirit who dwells in us today.

    How can  a believer come to know the Holy Spirit as equal to the Father and the Son?  Through prayer.  We must ask the Father to fill us with more of the Spirit.  In Luke we read:  “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”  So ask for the Spirit and the Father will give you more of Him. 

   When the Holy Spirit is no longer “odd-man out” in the Holy Trinity, you will begin to realize what He can accomplish through you.