What one thing should kids know about the Holy Spirit?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to learn about the Holy Spirit. No doubt the gifts of the Holy Spirit were intriguing to me as a teenager and as the Bible tells us to, I eagerly desired spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1) which only enhanced my love of the gift-giver: God.

For many years I was blissfully unaware of any controversy about the teaching of the Holy Spirit within the church and embraced many a Bible study about the nature, the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit.

The One Thing about the Holy Spirit

The one aspect of the Holy Spirit that has most impacted my writing, is the presence of the Holy Spirit with us whether we are aware of it or not.

God was and is and will be forever. He is the Alpha, the Omega, the Ancient of Days, our very present help in times of trouble. Even if someone does not believe in God, God still exists. Even when we are unaware of God’s presence and work upon the earth, His Spirit has been hovering and present since before the dawn of creation and His Spirit is there in Revelation, compelling us to “Come” to the Father. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God long before any of us were ever born, let alone aware of Him.

Why Rü?

This one aspect of the Holy Spirit is what compelled me to name the narrator of God for Kids app ‘Rü’. (Which in turn led to the name of the umbrella charity which is now home of God for Kids app - Ruach Resources.)

Rü is there from the very beginning, long before a child figures out who Rü represents.

Rü is short for ‘ruach’ which is the Hebrew word for breath of God or Spirit. It is the word used in Genesis to describe the Spirit of God.

Why put the two dots (called an umlaut) over the ü?

It’s not phonetic – the dots aren’t supposed to change the pronunciation – it just looks interesting!

Rü is not an English word and it looks a bit odd in English. With the two dots, it looks more like a word on purpose. It also makes a really nice illustration - the ü has become the smiley face of Rü!

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the name ‘Holy Spirit’ is used synonymously with Spirit of God. It is through Jesus that we learn most of what we know about the Holy Spirit.

When I was writing the Holy Spirit Adventure, I made a tally of the words associated with the Holy Spirit, in order to help me choose which 7 aspects to include in the Holy Spirit Adventure.

I was surprised to notice that there is still a lot of mystery around the Holy Spirit as the third person in the Trinity. Do we even have a name for Him? God has many names (Father, El Shaddai, El Roi, Elohim, El Raffa etc.), as does Jesus (Immanuel, Prince of Peace, Christ, Messiah, King of Kings etc.) but the Holy Spirit is described with metaphors like wind, fire, oil, dove - and verbs.

Holy Spirit on the Move

We mostly know the Holy Spirit by his actions. The majority of the words associated with the Holy Spirit are verbs. We know more about the work of the Holy Spirit than anything else about Him.

The verbs most associated with the Holy Spirit are to do with moving. Yes, the Holy Spirit rests on people but if you pay attention to the scriptures, He rests because he always seems to be on the move – the spirit came, the spirit went, the spirit goes, the spirit says “Come!” (e.g. 1 Samuel 10:6, 1 Kings 18:12, Matthew 3:16, John 3:8, Revelation 22:17).

Holy Spirit Speaks

Surprisingly, one of the other most common verbs associated with the Holy Spirit in the scriptures is ‘speaks’. So (as controversial as it is for some Christians) , Holy Spirit Speaks had to be one of the 7 devotions in God for Kids app. It is by the Holy Spirit that we can be assured, deep down, we are children of God (Romans 8:16).

Holy Spirit Verbs

In addition, it’s by the Holy Spirit that we receive and experience the love, joy and peace of God (Romans 5:5 & 15:13), it’s by the Holy Spirit that we are comforted and know God’s presence (John 14:16), it’s by the Holy Spirit that we are convicted of sin and awakened to the truth of Jesus Christ (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of the promises of God (2 Corinthians 1:22 & 5:5), the giver of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), our guide (John 16:13); He helps us when we feel weak (Romans 8:26), transforms us into the likeness of Christ  (1 Corinthians 6:11) and empowers us to share the gospel with others and invite them to know God (Acts 1:8), He is the one who helped the apostles remember Jesus’s words so they could write them down for us and the one who brings those words to our minds, at the just the right time, when we need to remember them most (John 14:26).  

So what is the one thing kids should know about the Holy Spirit?

He is the tangible, everyday, supernatural experience of the eternal, Creator God. He is the one who makes us feel loved, comforted and empowered. If Jesus is the light of the world, the Holy Spirit is the warmth we feel from that light - and we feel it in dozens of different ways, as I just described.

Revealing the Holy Spirit

In the God for Kids app, you can play through about 75% of the app before you realise that Rü represents the Holy Spirit. And hopefully once you do, you can see how this character is the one who has been teaching, guiding and helping us to understand the scriptures all along. That’s his role.

Wearing Rü Badges

Badges made by Sticker Mule. https://www.stickermule.com/uk/custom-buttons

In 2022, I designed these Rü badges with my humble representation of the Holy Spirit. They are to remind us that the Holy Spirit is with us, wherever we go. If we believe in Jesus, we have His presence in us. Many people have told me how they look back on their lives before they were Christians and they can see the Holy Spirit was at work in their lives, long before they were ever aware. There He was, pointing us to Jesus, leading us to the Father, inviting us into an everlasting relationship with God.

My daughter’s wear their badges on their pencil case and their school bag. I wear mine on my coat lapel. Where might you wear yours?

These Rü Badges were printed and assembled by Sticker Mule to an impressively high standard.

You can purchase them for your kids from our online shop.