John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
Greetings all!! It has surely been a long time since I have updated this blog. Hope you haven’t forgotten about your boi.. know you… yes YOU (whoever is reading this) is in my prayers.
Honestly, I have been in a difficult spot as of late… a difficult but necessary place. God is giving me a glimpse of just how much of “His” work and my attempts to obey “His” will are being done in “my” own strength… it is quite saddening really.
Have you ever been in that place where you are serving the Lord… I mean sincerely desiring to please Him… but you are drained by trying to accomplish this on your own? Where your attempts to love others, to witness the gospel, and even to seek God through fasting and prayer seem wholly inadequate?
Maybe I am speaking only to myself… but this dry season can seem unbearable at times. I am sick of the roller coaster of spiritual highs and lows… and I know this is not what God intended for His children.
So why is it that our intimacy with God seems to ebb and flow? Sin, doubt, fear, pride/self-reliance, etc.? All of these things definitely lead to our disrupted intimacy with God… but I think behind it all we do not truly understand/comprehend and are not completely awed at the fact that God dwells in us.
In John 16:7, Jesus speaking to His disciples, tells them of His going away… that is His soon coming death and resurrection… and He gives them the astonishing revelation that it is to their benefit/advantage that He goes away because as He departs He will send the Holy Spirit/Helper to them.
Let us put ourselves in the disciples shoes for a moment… just imagine having Jesus with you… witnessing His miraculous works first-hand, having his direct guidance and instruction. The Son of God walking with us, face to face, and teaching us in His ways… what could be better than that?!
The answer as Jesus presented it is the Holy Spirit dwelling not just with us… but since Pentecost we know have the Him dwelling in us. Reflect on that for a moment… the God of the universe… the very God who created the sun, moon, and stars, and made you from the dust… is actually dwelling inside of you!! He is not some mystical force but the Helper (parakletos – literally one who comes along side of) is the very sovereign God Himself.
I feel that although we know this theologically… we fail to live out this truth practically. I wonder what would happen if at every waking moment you and I reflected on the reality of God dwelling in us. Wouldn’t that reality totally shake our lives and the lives of those around us? It should!! If we truly walked out this reality than our lives would totally confound other people because they would have no rationally explanation for how we live our lives… apart from the fact that it “has to be God!”
I love this quote from Francis Chan (Forgotten God)
“I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power. I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him to come through. That if He doesn’t come through, I am screwed.”
Am I or you… are we willing to put it all on the line for God?! To literally risk everything and be made uncomfortable so that the Comforter can truly show Himself strong in our lives? Without this willingness to risk it all then our lives will show an absence of the Spirit’s power and our lives will be explainable to men.
In this season I believe God is taking me to a new place of hope… that is literally an expectancy. I am being challenged to believe Him to change the lives of those around me and do this miraculous through me to draw men to Jesus that they may glorify the Father. My prayer is for that same hope to be in you. May God ignite the fire in us!
Holy Spirit, magnify Yourself in our hearts. May the reality of Your presence totally overwhelm and saturate our thoughts. Bring us to a greater dependency upon You. Take us to places and situations where we have no choice but to cry out to You for help and may You be our Helper in those times. Strip us of anything that takes our attention and focus off of You, break our self-reliance, destroy our doubt, and obliterate any fear of man in our hearts that seeks to exalt itself over the fear of God. Holy Spirit may we reverence You completely in our daily lives. Magnify Yourself through us so that men would see that we have been with Jesus and glorify our Father. I ask all of this in Jesus name, Amen.
Diary of a Redeemed Sinner 