:) Sir. Can you expound on that for us just a little?
It's a simple, but objectionable matter, I'm afraid. We pray too little for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ spoke a lot about this—we don't. The problem is that the Spirit is not divided.
If we expect Him to guide us, we must be ready to be guided wholly. We can't have the comfort and power without also being confronted with conviction.
We're generally looking for good news about our bad habits. We're thrilled when we find out that a health-compromising and/or addictive substance we like also has antioxidants. Never mind that we can get those same benefits from substances that do no harm.
This is just a physiological illustration—not a health lecture.
God is more willing than evil men are to give good gifts to His children. Since the Spirit is the agency by which we are to bear everlasting fruit, to receive consolation in every disappointment, power in every challenging situation, joy even in the midst of diverse troubles, and even wisdom to overcome the things we think, say, and do that lessen the quality of life in ourselves as well as others, why do we not plead long for the heavenly gift, speak of it, preach concerning it?
When I think of what little belief I, myself, actually exercise in the promises showered throughout His word, I am ashamed. Thank God for His inexpressible mercy!
God gives spiritual discernment to deal with those about us in direct proportion to our hunger and thirst for it. He is not impressed with our posturing and professions of faith. I am convinced that I, as a "Christian," mock God far more than those at whom I am so quick to point my finger.
My great-grandmother used to walk around talking to Jesus all day long, regardless of the company she kept. Many folks thought she was a bit "addled," but she could break away from it to engage fully with others and go right back to it without missing a beat. She never demonstrated any signs of mental illness, otherwise.
I don't expect that others should gage spirituality with an example like this, but I've always thought it was a shining example of someone determined to make the kind of time the Bible prescribes for prayer. She was never at a loss to handle anything gracefully.
I have, at various seasons of my life, had periods of time when I was especially close to God, and during those times, the things I tried to do for Him were marked with extraordinary success. But those seasons were also spent pleading with God to forgive and change me daily as if I'd never known forgiveness and change before, by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit; that I would keep Christ's face ever before me.
You know, the kind of devotion and consecration that makes people at church a little uncomfortable around you. You find yourself alone, or with different folks than usual sitting with you at potluck dinners.
John 4:23-24 —
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
:)
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