Matthew 3: 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: and the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon him:

This passage from Matthew, which describes the experience that Jesus had at His baptism, shows us that the Holy Spirit can be likened to a dove. There are many such pictures or allegories in Scripture, with different objects or symbols being used often to illustrate spiritual truths.

For example, the work of the Holy Spirit can at times be likened to oil, water, fire, wind and other natural elements. These all help us to understand better the nature or work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is full of such pictures, and often Old Testament passages can only be fully understood using these pictures.

Many Old Testament events and circumstances are known as Types or Shadows, used to illustrate subjects that are taught more clearly in the New Testament. The dove also falls into this category, but the dove carries more significance than some of the other symbols used for the Holy Spirit.

Objects such as oil, water, fire etc are substances that illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But the Dove is something more concrete and is more a picture of the Holy Spirit as a complete entity, having personality and influence in our lives.

The Holy Spirit came down on Jesus as a dove right at the beginning of His ministry. It was only after this experience that He was able to go out and do His life’s work. And He could perform no miracles until that took place.

So the descent of the dove on Jesus was a picture of what we now call The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. With Jesus it was far more than that, but for now I would like use the dove as a picture of everything that the Holy Spirit does to enable us to carry out a ministry or calling.

The Nature of the Dove

The dove is a gentle creature that is easily frightened away, and only comes when all is quiet and settled. So it is a picture of the nature of the Holy Spirit that was given to us. He represents Jesus to us as the Comforter and makes us into the same image as Christ.

As the dove is gentle and easily frightened away, so the Holy Spirit never imposes Himself on us, and if we do not encourage His presence, He is easily driven away. So we need to learn to woo Him and invite Him to work with us in our ministry.

To help understand the connection between the dove and ministries, we can take each part of the dove and use it as a picture of different aspects of ministry. These are purely for illustrative purposes and we should never try to build a doctrine on pictures or allegories.

The Head of the Dove

The head of the dove is the part that controls the dove, just as our heads controls us via the brain that lies inside the head. So the head of the dove is a picture of the main ministries in the Body of Christ.

These are the ministries of the Apostle and Prophet, which are considered the foundational ministries in the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone]

These two main ministries can be illustrated by the two eyes that are in the head of the dove. And just as the eyes of the dove are used to guide it and show it where to go, so these two ministries are the main leadership ministries, giving direction to the whole Church.

The Feet of the Dove

Whilst the head and eyes of the dove are essential when it is in flight and gives it direction when it is active, the feet also play a major part in the life of the dove. Without them the dove cannot land and stand in its place.

The feet can therefore be considered as picturing two things. Firstly, they picture the role of the Scriptures in the life of the believer. And just as there are two feet, and both are important, so the two feet can represent the two main parts of the Bible - the Old and New Testaments.

From a ministry point of view, the feet also represent the Teaching Ministry, which is essential for getting believers grounded in the Word so that they can make full use of the Scriptures.

The Wings of the Dove

The dove has two wings, and just as both wings are important for the dove to fly effectively, so the wings picture two essential elements in our function as a believer in carrying out ministry.

Each wing contains feathers, which enable the bird to take advantage of the power of wind and thermal currents in the air. Without feathers the wings would be useless.

What do the wings picture in our spiritual life, and what activity of the Holy Spirit do they illustrate? They picture two essentials to both living and working effectively using the help of the Holy Spirit.

The two wings picture The Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. And interestingly, there are exactly nine of each of these mentioned in Scripture. So they could be considered as nine feathers on each wing.

These give the bird flight and enable it to go out and do what it was created to do. And just as the Holy Spirit is also sometimes pictured as wind, so the wind of the Holy Spirit causes the bird to soar into the sky.

The Tail of the Dove

The dove, like all flying creatures, needs a way to steer itself while it is in flight. This enables it to head for a specific destination and not simply fly off directionless.

The Scriptures show that God has given five gift ministries to the Church to guide and lead it in the right direction. These are what we call the Fivefold Ministry since there are five of them in all.

They are the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Imagine that the tail of the dove is made up of five feathers, each of them representing one of the Fivefold Ministry.

And so you can see that the dove is a very good picture of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives to enable us to not only live the spiritual life, but to help in the work that we are required to do as believers.

Such work or activity in the life of the believer is known as ministry and may include a specific calling or direction from God.

A Look At The Ministry of Every Believer

Each part of the dove opens the way for a more detailed study of the various aspects of ministry for a believer. This includes the most basic functions of ministry as well as the more advanced functions of those called to higher leadership.

The rest of this book is devoted to showing you how the parts of the dove function in helping us to be effective for the Lord and do awesome things for Him using His power.

To study the dove fully would take several books, as there is much detail that can be studied where each part of the dove is concerned. This book is only the first in such a study, and will only cover the functions of the wings of the dove.

These functions are available to all believers, so it does not matter what level you are at spiritually. And it does not matter how mature you are in the Lord and in the knowledge of His Word. The wings of the dove enable every believer to experience the power of God, both in their personal lives, and in the work they choose to do for the Lord.

So we will start by explaining the various kinds of ministry and explain what the call of God is in the life of a believer. And then we will take each wing of the dove and consider the functions of that wing in some detail.

You will learn all about the Gifts of the Spirit first, and understand what they are, how they function and how you can experience them in your life and ministry.

Then we will look at the Fruits of the Spirit and understand both their effects in our lives and how they can help us to be efficient in living for the Lord and in doing the ministry that you desire to do.

Before you can do any of these, you need to understand the dove and you need to build these things into your spiritual life. So we have entitled this study,
Building The Dove.

Get ready then to identify what you are lacking and what you desire and by the end of this book, you will have begun to build some of the most important parts of the dove in your life.

Things to Do

You are reading this book because you want to learn how to minister more effectively and fulfil the call of God on your life.

Before getting into the principles taught in this book, it is a good idea for you to begin by identifying where you are right now and what you believe concerning your ministry.

So I want you to write down the answers to these questions and set your answers aside until you have completed the book. Then come back and see how your views have changed, and what you now know.

1. Do you feel that the Lord has a ministry for you to carry out?

2. What kind of ministry do you think you should be doing?

3. What kind of ministry activity do you really desire to do, or have you not thought about that yet?

4. Write down what you believe or think you know about a ministry calling. How would you describe such a calling?

5. Are you able at this point to guess what your ministry calling is?