Session 15 – Desiring More of God #1.
As children of God, our triune Creator can speak to us anytime. We have to stay connected to hear Him. Doing your exercises for a few moments daily is not enough. You need to develop a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit. All forms of hearing are important. If you only hearken to God when you do these exercises or read your Bible, what happens the rest of the time? You are a Saint 24/7. You have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit 24/7. Jesus was both man and God 24/7. You can do this. You were made in His image. Go to Him often, times without number, daily. You think of it as practicing your course exercises but actually it is using this ‘Mystery’ to draw closer to Him, as often as possible. We need to always stay aligned with the Holy Spirit. What we do between meals and crawling into bed late at night matters a lot. If a person starts his day praying and meditating on the word of God, sending love to every thought, and after doing that he left thinking his fellowship continues when he returns to his secret place, then that person might become a victim of the devil if he is not allowing himself to be led by the Holy Spirit every moment. Our fellowship with God should be consistent (Read John 15:4). Continuous fellowship with God helps to keep us aligned and enable us to bear good fruit (do the will of God). Don’t you love it when you’re reading the Bible and a verse just jumps out to you? That is one way God speaks to us! Yesterday I started reading through the short but often challenging 1 John and throughout the day I kept coming back to this verse: “I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God lives in you and you have overcome the evil one.” (That was 1 John 2:14) Jesus, the Word, by His death, burial and resurrection, has already overcome the Evil One (Satan). As God’s children we, too, have overcome the Evil One because we are under Jesus’ authority and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But sometimes it’s easy to let the lies of the enemy slip in—and to believe them. We find that our minds get stressed, perplexed, confused, short tempered, and depressed most common when we aren’t continually grounding ourselves in Jesus; when we aren’t remaining in Him. What does it mean to “Remain”? In John 15:4-5 Jesus says, “Remain (live, abide, stay) in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” The Greek word for “remain” in this verse is “meno” and translates “to remain, abide, stay, and wait.” Just like the branch that stays connected to the healthy vine will bear grapes, in order to thrive and bear spiritual fruit we must remain closely connected to Jesus, the Vine, receiving the nutrients of His life-giving Holy Spirit. This is how we must fellowship with Him. We must remain in Him. When a flower is cut from the rest of the plant, and no longer is being nourished by the roots, after a period of time it dies. Placing it in a vase of water only extends the inevitable. Separation from God is death. By continuing to live daily under your own power and not including God, the Holy Spirit to lead, advise, assist, and abide with you every moment, 24/7, is deciding to live separate from God. If you live with someone, parents, children, a mate, or roommate, how many timed during your day, when they are not around, do you think about them and their needs? If the relationship is close then you probably think about them a lot, you may even stop to talk or text them one or more times a day. It should even be more than that with God. So, how do we remain in Jesus while trying to hold down a job, raise a family, deal with health, finances, mental stability, spiritual issues, personal problems, stress, and well, basically, live in this ungodly world? The answer is simple to say but sometimes a challenge to do: we must be intentional! Our very existence, our physical, emotional and spiritual health depends on our remaining connected to God through the Holy Spirit. This is the biggest part of the ‘mystery’. Over the remaining sessions we will be asking the Holy Spirit to show us ways, and continue to remind us how to remain always ready to hearken to God and share that fact with others. (It is vital that you read 2 Timothy 4:2, 1 Peter 3:15, 1 Peter 2:1-15, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Acts 1:8, Luke 12:40, Matthew 24:42) Exercise 15 – By now you must realize that you need to begin every contact with the Holy Spirit with love, because He is love! Then, when you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit ask Him one of the following questions or one of your own that is similar. Father, in Jesus name, please send the Holy Spirit to remind me to abide, so I can listen to and obey you, often. Father, in Jesus name, please have the Holy Spirit inject His presence daily so I may hearken unto you. Father, in Jesus name, please have the Holy Spirit remind me throughout each and every day to remain in you. Again we stress... Don’t try to hear words. You may not hear, see, or feel anything at this time, or you may. If you do, be sure to verify and test the answer with the Bible. Be aware that you have just asked God to have the Holy Spirit interject thoughts, images, feelings, messages from various people and things that will remind you to pray, thank God, bless thoughts, or witness to people. No matter how you are reminded, you must act upon the information, no excuses! (Read James 1:22) Thank the Holy Spirit, hearkening unto the Lord.
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Michael & Judy Peck Archives
February 2020
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