Spirit of God, we worship you,
    you fill our hearts with praise.
You lift our feelings and our thoughts,
    and give us joyful days.
You make us sure that we are Christ's,
    and teach us what is true.
Spirit of God, we bless you now
    that we are one with you.

Spirit of Christ, we worship you,
    we give to you our love:
you give us Jesus' character
    and strength, O Holy Dove.
You mould our lives on Him, that we
    might show that He's our friend.
Spirit of Christ, we bless you now:
    you're with us to the end.

Spirit of Truth, we worship you,
    we welcome you within:
you are the one who prompts the heart,
    convicting us of sin.
Presence of Jesus, messenger,
    you show us all you hear,
Spirit of Truth, we bless you now,
    we feel your presence near.

Spirit of Power, we worship you,
    as Counsellor and Guide:
You are the one who fills our lives
    with gifts we must not hide.
You work within us, changing us,
    transforming us today.
Spirit of Power, we bless you now,
    we welcome you to stay.

Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2006.

In the week after Pentecost Sunday 2006, my wife came back from a Pudsey Church cell-group and said the notes for the "worship" section of the meeting had suggested that the group should worship the Holy Spirit for who he is and what he has done. So why weren't there any well-known hymns or songs which did this? There were songs which asked the Holy Spirit to do things, and there were songs which worshipped the Holy Spirit along with the Father and the Son, but none for the Holy Spirit himself.

So I saw this as a challenge, and turned to John chapters 14 and 16. The Holy Spirit's ministry is to direct us to the Father and the Son: he is self-effacing in that way, but surely it’s not wrong to give him worship and praise in the awareness of who he is and what he does for us in our lives.

There are several songs about the Holy Spirit which use traditional Scottish melodies - "Spirit of God, unseen as the wind" (tune: Skye Boat Song), and "Spirit of Holiness, wisdom and faithfulness" (tune: Blow the Wind Southerly) - and I was trying to capture this type of feeling in the tune for this hymn. (The tune is on our web site.)

John Hartley