Don't be weak. Don't be wimpy.

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/26d74705/dont-be-weak-dont-be-wimpy-holy-spirit-who-or-what-no14

When I was younger, I hated stopping to put gas in my car. Irrational, maybe. It did not matter if I was driving my parents' car or my car, all of them ran out of gas! Most of the time I had a little money to put gas in the car... so that wasn't my problem. When I think about it now, it was that I had to interrupt wherever I was going or whatever I wanted to do more than 'wasting my time' getting gas.

As a result, especially when I was young, I ran out of gas numerous times.  My dad would get so mad at me because he would say, ‘that is so foolish--it is unnecessary and for a girl your age, running out of gas is dangerous!’  

Why am I drilling down on the point?  

Just as your vehicle requires gasoline (or a charge or something!), actually, it is designed to require fuel, so too your heart and soul require fuel of another sort. Our spiritual lives are meant to be fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is the 14th installment on the Holy Spirit; I believe there will be a couple more and then we will return to the book of James. 'Welcome, new friends! If any of you want to read the previous writings on this all-important subject of the Holy Spirit, click the aqua tab, "Past Morning Briefings" at the top.

Jesus made an outlandish statement to the disciples the night he told them he would be leaving them: it is for your good that I am going away.

Stop! Don't read right past what Jesus told his disciples the night before he was crucified, though of course, they did not know just how quickly Jesus was to go away. Their minds must have been reeling at the very thought that their Lord, their rabbi and mentor--why, their best friend in the whole world--was going to leave them! And 'for their good'? No way. How could that possibly be?

**When you are reading Scripture, especially the gospels, step into the story--imagine having a seat at that Thursday night Passover meal when Jesus was saying these things. Flickering torches, shadows on faces, several familiar dishes on the low table before them. Yet, this was a night like none before, and certainly like none after.

Jesus continues,

Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.¹ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.²

Here is what Jesus was saying would happen:

When you decide to follow Him as your leader, believing he is indeed the Son of God who died for you, choose to surrender yourself to him, repent of your sins, then the Holy Spirit is given to you as your forever gift from God--this may be best understood as an indwelling.  

‘Okay, okay, that’s so good!’ my friend said, smiling at me. ‘I gotta say, that is the best news ever… Jesus + a free gift?  The Holy Spirit in me--to comfort, bring peace, bring the hope of God to my heart and mind, lead, guide . . . all that?’

‘Yes, yes, that it,’ I smiled in return, so thankful she was beginning to get it.

‘But then, do I have to do something else--I mean, you said something the other day about ‘keeping on being filled--what in the world does that mean?’  

The Christ follower is given the Holy Spirit as a gift-- an indwelling-- but what's the deal about having to be refilled?  There is a difference.  Here's a great explanation:

 >This indwelling occurs when we first believe. It does not occur twenty years later

 but rather when you are born again as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3.

 Rom. 5:5- , 2 Tim. 2:4-

 >The indwelling of the Holy Spirit occurs one time. It is once for all. When Jesus

 Christ comes into your life as your Lord and Savior, His Spirit takes up permanent

 residence in you.

 >The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is for all believers, but simply claiming to be Christian does not make us one.3 Matt. 7:21

To have an active, vital relationship with God--that is, a daily thing ~ we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Go back to your first car; for me, it was a red Pontiac Firebird. Putting gas in the car when I first got it was a given, but I had to keep gasoline in it to keep it running down the highway.

For you and I to maintain our faith, hope, strength

and power in the Lord, we have to ask God to refill us,

and then get intentional ourselves. 

FACT: daily life sucks the awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives right out of us, as do weighty trials that cause us to fear or worry, things that tempt us to go our own way instead of God’s way. And too much intake of the world's offerings and too little of God, too much Fox or CNN or social media, and not enough time saying ‘I give you me today! Come, Lord Jesus.'

Some of you are brand new to Morning Briefings, and even to faith in Jesus Christ - how do you fill your tank or your spiritual self each day?

Take 15 minutes to start each day with intention.

Sit down for a Set Apart time with God

>Scripture Meditation: Choose a Scripture verse or verses, ask God to help you understand, apply - such as John 14.27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

>PRAYER: I write my prayers in a little journal, ordering them like this--

Adoration: "Our Father who art in Heaven . . . hallowed be Thy name".

Appreciate God in your own words. You could pray from the psalms, such as Psalm 103

Confession: "Forgive me of my sins, Lord." Name them-- those compromises, choices to go your own way, not God's; receive God's forgiveness, then ask him to refill you with his Spirit.

Asking: Pray for others’ needs, specifically.

Pray for yourself; be sure to ask God for wisdom, favor, blessing (this is biblical)

Thanks-giving: I thank you, God, for __________ , ___________,

Listening: “Speak to me, Lord. I’m listening . . .”

Give God some quiet in which to speak. Be still. Write down what, if anything, you sense he is telling you, perhaps from the scripture you just read.

There you have it. Following Jesus you have the gift of the Holy Spirit within you . . . and to stay full of him, you gotta desire Him, pull close to him, look up and say FILL ME UP, Lord! You gotta choose him daily, Friend.

Years ago I met a young man who came to California from South Africa, with a heart to worship God with all of who he is, and then, his purpose was to bring others along with him. Gary Rea - man of God. I think when the Lord thinks of him, He smiles and probably says, 'There's my son...he is a man after my own heart.'

Listen to this song by Gary:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZhD9PBwsDA&list=PL9A984A2C84A49F84

Let’s endeavor to keep our tanks full of the Holy Spirit!

Christine

Holy Spirit: who or what? no.14

^{1 - John 16.7}

^{2 - John 14.17}

^{3 - from a great article called What is the Difference between the Indwelling of the Spirit and Being Filled by the Spirit? Kerry Skinner, 6.15.21, https://thinklifechange.com}