The Holy Spirit has always existed — even at the foundations of the world “the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). There are many examples in Biblical history of God pouring out His Spirit, but mankind either misses it, or in their carnal nature twists it to fulfill their own selfish desires. Even today the church continues to miss and twist the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. We do what we want and call it the Spirit. We manipulate the Spirit to make ourselves what we want to be rather than what God wants us to be. Yet we are called to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3) — mortifying our flesh and checking our own hearts to make sure we are not missing or twisting God’s Word to fulfill our own selfish desires.