I
would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. Many years ago He came into my life and totally rocked
my world. He is that friend that
makes you feel larger than life. You know the kind that when you are with him
it seems that you have no need of anyone else. He is that person who constantly
pours wisdom into your life and is able to correct you without wounding
you. His words are like a healing
balm soothing the soul. The fruit
of joy, peace and love are byproducts of our relationship. Yes, He is the beloved Holy Spirit.
Several
weeks ago I was sitting in my living room and our family was having a
conversation about the importance of the Holy Spirit and His infilling. As I was listening I asked this
question, do you make an effort to commune with the Holy Spirit on a daily
basis? I know we all pray and have relationship with the Triune God but I mean
do you intentionally pray in the Spirit? The answers varied some said not as
much as I use too, or no I don’t but I should. The consensus was we should have a relationship with the
Holy Spirit and like every relationship it should be cultivated.
After
the conversation I started to go down memory lane and pondered on the day the
Holy Spirit filled me to overflow. I was bound, weak and troubled and in an
instance I was free, joyful and walking in a power I had never experienced
before. My spirit man was alive my
prayer life excelled and walking in HIM was just easier than it had been
before.
Before
you start running to conclusions and say she is one of those tongue talking women I want you to know I am
not necessarily talking about praying in tongues. We need to get out of our
minds the baptism of the Holy Spirit equals tongues that is just an all to common misunderstanding. However, I will tell you I believe in the gift of tongues and I
believe it is for today and I believe it’s for everyone.
The
questions that I had to ask myself as I pondered on the day of my infilling
were these:
1. If the filling of the Holy
Spirit is a gift from the Father then why not receive it. (Luke 11: 11-13Which
of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a -snake
instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a
scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
2. If it’s a specific event as
scripture is clear in telling us then I need to experience it. (See Act 19 1-7, and that is just one
of many)
3.
If being filled with the
Holy Spirit thrusts us into relationship with Him then I must continue it.
This
third point is what I want to emphasize if the infilling of the Spirit thrusts us into relationship with Him
then we must nurture it until we see Him face to face.
If
you, like myself and some of the members of my family may have in one sense or
the other neglected the relationship I want to encourage you to reignite the
flame. Or if you are reading this
blog and you have no idea what I am talking about and need a life changing
experience then ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill you.
Let’s
pray and stand on the truth of the WORD of God,
“Fill
me know afresh. Lord, wake up in me that which has grown faint. Revive my being
with your refreshing power. In Jesus Name.”
I
leave you with these beautiful words from CH Sprugeon :
Common,
too common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit. This is folly and
ingratitude. He deserves well at our hands, for he is good, supremely good. As
God, he is good essentially. He shares in the threefold ascription of Holy,
holy, holy, which ascends to the Triune Jehovah. Unmixed purity and truth, and
grace is he. He is good benevolently,
tenderly bearing with our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills;
quickening us from our death in sin, and then training us for the skies as a
loving nurse fosters her child. How generous, forgiving, and tender is this
patient Spirit of God. He is good
operatively. All his works are good in the most eminent degree: he suggests
good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good
promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to good results. There is no
spiritual good in all the world of which he is not the author and sustainer,
and heaven itself will owe the perfect character of its redeemed inhabitants to
his work. He is good officially;
whether as Comforter, Instructor, Guide, Sanctifier, Quickener, or Intercessor,
he fulfils his office well, and each work is fraught with the highest good to
the church of God. They who yield to his influences become good, they who obey
his impulses do good, they who live under his power receive good. Let us then
act towards so good a person according to the dictates of gratitude. Let us
revere his person, and adore him as God over all, blessed for ever; let us own
his power, and our need of him by waiting upon him in all our holy enterprises;
let us hourly seek his aid, and never grieve him; and let us speak to his
praise whenever occasion occurs. The church will never prosper until more
reverently it believes in the Holy Ghost. He is so good and kind, that it is
sad indeed that he should be grieved by slights and negligences. [1]
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