Hi Friends,
I am still processing what the Lord was doing in our midst this past Sunday. When the pastors and I felt led to end our worship gathering with an offer to pray for people to be freshly filled with the Holy Spirit, we didn’t expect to have almost a third of the church respond. It was hard to hold back tears as person after person just kept coming forward. Praise God for His kindness, grace, and mercy that so sweetly draws us to Himself.
When God moves in mighty ways, we need to be sensitive to what He is doing and continue to consider how He is calling us to respond. Here are a few thoughts about how to continue to see the Spirit’s presence in your life.
- Keep on pursuing.
The beautiful thing about being filled with the Spirit is that it is not a one-and-done thing, but God calls us to keep on being filled (Ephesians 5:18). And so when we have tasted and seen the sweetness of the Lord, that experience is meant to both satisfy us and make hungry for more. So, continue to cultivate what God is doing in your life by continuing to seek the filling of the Spirit. God has not left us without a guide for how to do that. He tells us in his word that the Spirit fills us as we read his word, pray, sing praise, and worship together. So keep giving yourselves to those spiritual disciplines so your heart remains freshly engaged with the Lord.
- Come clean.
Secret sin will choke out our spiritual lives as it leaves us shackled in shame. It is powerful to step forward and truly put your faith in the gospel by believing that the power of Jesus can forgive you, even those parts of you that you’ve always been too scared to acknowledge. So, if there is anything you haven’t come clean about, then before the week ends, find a godly brother or sister, or reach out to a pastor and share the burden you are carrying. Maybe there isn’t a “big” sin that you feel convicted about, but you know that overall, there is spiritual lethargy in your life. Acknowledge that, talk to others about it, and let them pray for you. We have nothing to lose in opening up and allowing the Spirit to minister the gospel to our hearts.
- Create space.
Whether it is busy lives, busy minds, or busy hearts, if we want to be filled with the Spirit, we need to give Him space to fill us. It takes time to read God’s word unhurriedly. It takes time to pray. It takes time to turn on some praise music and worship. It takes time to prioritize being at the worship gathering on the Lord’s Day. Time does not magically pop into our schedules. If you want more time to pursue the Spirit, you will need to take it. So maybe there are things you need to let go of, reduce, or change about how your life is structured. How can you create more space in your schedule, mind, and heart for the Spirit to fill you?
I love you, Christ Church. May God continue to satisfy you. And then may He make you hungry for more.
In Christ,
Pastor Jeff