We as Christians need to be more concerned about how the things we say and do affect our relationship with the Holy Spirit than how they affect other people. The Holy Spirit is easily grieved and yet we treat Him with so much disrespect and disloyalty at times that its hard to imagine why He continues to stick with us! It’s easy to forget that the Holy Spirit is an invited friend, not a third wheel!
We are teaching our daughter that when she invites friends over for play dates that she needs to let them decide what they want to play. They are the guests and that is a courtesy we expect her to extend. I may be teaching my 7 year old this etiquette but I forget all to easily to extend this same courtesy to the Holy Spirit. One of the things God gave us was free will, that means the Holy Spirit will only ever be an invited guest while we walk this earth. He will never force Himself upon us but He does want to be in our lives and even when we grieve Him He doesn’t go far away, but He does “lift” His anointing from us and waits for us to return to Him. My heart hurts to think how often I drive Him away with a harsh tone to my daughter, or a grumbling spirit with my husband, not to mention any other behaviors that make me unapproachable by Him. The Holy Spirit is, after all, God and therefore cannot engage or be near sin. Once we have received the Holy Spirit He doesn’t leave us, but we lose out on intimate fellowship when we push Him away with the things we say and do.
We need to get serious right now, as Christians saved by grace we receive the Holy Spirit to help us and guide us. Although we may be sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, that does not mean we get to live how we want. If you are engaged in lifestyle sin; sexual immorality (premarital sex, homosexual sex, pornography, adultery, etc), stealing, lying, swearing, drunkenness, drugs, idolatry, etc. then the anointing of the Holy Spirit will lift from you and you will not continue to hear Him clearly or to grow in the ways you otherwise would. You cannot have an active, growing relationship with God while living in sin, the sin will drive a wedge between you and God. Its kind of like your favorite radio station, as you get further and further out of range you will lose reception and won’t hear the music clearly, but as you draw closer to the source the songs become clear! The clarity of our interactions with the Holy Spirit is affected by how near or far to Him we are walking. Just like your radio station, even if you can’t hear it, it is still there, it didn’t disappear, its just out of range! Want to hear clearly, get as close as you can to the source! Choosing to live for Christ means to die to the sins that try to captivate us, you can’t have it both ways. I love how my pastor put it Sunday when he was giving a message on fellowship with the Holy Spirit, “If we want to fellowship with the Holy Spirit we need to do the things that He likes to do, much like Esther, who to catch the eye of the King adorned herself in things that he liked.” The Holy Spirit is an invited guest so don’t make Him feel like an outsider in your life!
A study I am doing “Holy Fire” discusses the description of the Holy Spirit as a dove as a meaningful illustration. Doves are easily startled and will not stay where they do not feel safe. The Bible warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, the word grieve doesn’t just speak of mourning a loss but can also mean to hurt ones feelings. Another great piece of advice “Find out what grieves the Holy Spirit and don’t do that.” ~R.T. Kendall
Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit was given to us, when Jesus returned to Heaven, to help us and guide us. The Holy Spirit is God and often we don’t give the Holy Spirit the reverence He is due. What kind of movies and TV shows are you watching? I hear so many Christians say they watch Game of Thrones and I am floored by this, the pornographic sex scenes alone should be enough to convict. Yes, I admit I started this series until I was convicted, as with most TV series that I haven’t made it through. The truth is that there are very few acceptable shows and movies left for Christians to watch and yet many continue watching them and then wonder why their spiritual life is not prospering! The Holy Spirit cannot stay close when we are doing things that are contrary to the morality of our faith! Just the other day my heart was heavily convicted about a show we were watching. It really didn’t seem too bad, but the swearing increased with each episode. I became more and more uneasy with the show and then Ryan and I got into a little bit of an argument over something and I swore at him! I don’t swear, I gave up swearing along with other very un-Christ like behaviors when I returned to the Lord, so for me to swear at him in a small argument broke my heart to the core. I realized that exposing myself to this language had allowed it to begin to absorb. We have not watched the show since, and I am committed to continuous interaction with the Holy Spirit, which means that I can’t be doing or around things that He isn’t willing to do or be around.
We need to ask ourselves how He would feel about ALL of our behaviors! The Holy Spirit is not a tag along! He wants to link arms with us and walk side by side with us, but we need to be sure we are headed where He is willing to go! If I were to rightly picture the Holy Spirit as a physical person by my side for even just one full day I have a feeling my day might look different. If that person could also read my thoughts and I was fully exposed to that person in every way I would most certainly be on my best behavior. The song you are singing along with right now, would you sing it to your child? Better yet would you want your child singing it, in church? No? Then turn it off! We can’t party at the bar on a Saturday night and hope to somehow be changed Sunday morning in church, I know, I tried that for almost a decade! We have to choose to change, to set ourselves apart from the ways of the world to be usable and sensitive to the things God has for us. We have forgotten that to be a Christian is to live as Christ, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a long way to go! I need to structure my day around the things God would want me to be doing and not so much about what Karen wants.
I love that my pastor spoke about this, about the relationship with the Holy Spirit. I tell you what, if you are not attending a truth speaking, Bible preaching, spiritual housekeeping, growing, worshiping church you are robbing yourself! Church shouldn’t be a place we go to for a pat on the back and a nice cheery message! It should be a place we go to grow, a place where we are available to learn, to be corrected, to desire change, and to be pushed forward to serve. I am thankful that I have a Pastor who is more concerned with grieving the Holy Spirit and less concerned with being popular! He is leading his flock well. Many pastors today are sadly leading their flock astray with feel good messages and not speaking the truth in these socially changing times. Sin is still sin even if everyone else says it is OK. Morality is not based on popular opinion or changing times, but on the very word of God, the foundation of truth laid out from the very beginning. The Bible is the unchanging word of God and it is relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.
Galatians 5:24
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
I have chosen to follow Jesus, which means my desires need to be laid at the cross. Its a choice to choose the desires of God over my personal desires. This life, the life of a Christian is no longer mine, it is surrendered to God. I choose to live by the Spirit, which means that I need to walk by the Spirit. That means I make a conscious effort to include the Holy Spirit in my whole day, and let Him lead me. I commit to being more concerned with honoring the Holy Spirit then worrying about hurting my neighbors feelings, when truth needs to be spoken. I have invited the Holy Spirit into my life which means He is a valued guest and I will honor His presence so that He will choose to continue to walk with me! Christianity isn’t just church on Sunday, it is a lifestyle, it is the way you conduct yourself when others aren’t looking as well as in public. It is a genuine choice to follow Jesus and forsake all else. We don’t see that much anymore, I know that I fall short daily! People want the assurance of salvation but they don’t want to do the dying. They want Christ to take their sins, but they want to keep their lifestyles. We can’t have it both ways. We must choose to love God more than our lives!
Luke 10:27
And he answered, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
When we love someone with all of our heart we do everything we can not to hurt them. When we love someone with all of our soul it means that we love them truly and deeply, not just on the surface, but literally live for them. When we love someone with all of our strength it means that all of our effort goes into loving them, nothing is spared for self. When we love someone with all of our mind it means that our thoughts, and the pattern of how we think is directed towards them. WOW, I know I don’t love God as I am commanded to, I think of myself way too much to live up to this. The Holy Spirit helps us draw nearer to this level of love, but we can only continue on this journey if we become like minded with the Spirit. How many of us hunger for growth that just doesn’t seem to come, or breakthrough that seems just beyond reach. I wonder if we truly give the Holy Spirit His rightful place of worship and relationship in our lives if we won’t see the very walls of Jericho fall before us! God wants to do big things in our lives, He is simply waiting on us, and I am ready to try to be more available and conscience of the desires of the Holy Spirit! I want to see mountains move!
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