Prompting of the Spirit

Next week is Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, so this week I want to talk to you about the Holy Spirit in preparation for next Sunday. So let’s start off with some verses from God’s word, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” ‭Romans‬ ‭8:1-11 

The Holy Spirit is often called by different names throughout the Bible, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper and He said it would be better for Him to go, so that the Helper could come (John 16:7). In this passage it talks about how we should keep our minds on the Spirit and listen to Him, rather than following the things of the flesh. See I believe that we all have the same Holy Spirit living inside of us, if we are Christians, but I think that we can have different levels of submission to Him, so He can move greater in some people than in others. Because some people feel that the Spirit is now limited in His power here on earth and He is not, He is just limited by our level of submission to the Spirit. God can and will still move in the same manner as He did in the days of Paul and the apostles, but we have become less in tune with the Spirit. So many Churches today very rarely mention the Holy Spirit. We need to pray that God would open our eyes to the presence of the Holy Spirit and His prompting in our lives. It will change lives and eternities. 

The Holy Spirit is God’s way to dwell in each and everyone of us everyday. He is able to be anywhere Christians are, the question is will we allow Him to move? Because if we are just going through the motions, He will not be able to move through us. We try to put the Holy Spirit in a boxed off part of our hearts and tell Him to stay there, except for on Sundays. We do not want our lives interrupted, when we truly need God’s interference, so that where God disrupts our lives we can see His light shine. This week I encourage you to pray for the Holy Spirit to show up in your life and allow you to see the power of God. Pray that we will be able to discern between the Holy Spirit and the flesh. Sometimes it takes slowing down and listening for God, because He will often use a small still voice. The Holy Spirit that we have is the same one that raised Jesus from the grave and one day It will raise us from the grave. We must learn to walk in step with the Spirit and not the flesh. I hope we will be in step with the Spirit, so closely that we resemble when Jesus said, I only do what I see the father doing, that we would say we only do what we feel the Spirit is prompting us to do. 

So this week pray and ask to see if you have put limits on how God can move in your life and if so to remove them. Also pray that we will be able to recognize the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives and be willing to do what He prompts us to do.