Filled with the Spirit
I spent some time with my good friend Harvey last night. He is my bluegrass jammin' partner. For hours we sat and played, laughed, and shared life. We sang and picked...singing the kind of music we both love: BLUEGRASS! I came home from his place last night just absolutely refreshed. And I know why:
Harvey was on fire last night. Not just his pickin', although that is amazing. He was on fire with the Holy Spirit. He (the Holy Spirit) is just the presence of God that lives in the life of the believer and allows us to act like Him! And when He is present in someone's life, you just know it. You can feel it. And His presence is contagious!
It also convicted me: Brett, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? If not, why not? Are you spending enough time with Jesus that He really rubs off on you? Sadly, the answer is NO. So Lord, today, help me to hang out with you. Help me to feel the warmth of your fire burning within me, and help me to share that fire with those around. Thank you for bluegrass, thank you for friends, and thank you for your Holy Spirit!!!!
4 comments:
Not to nitpick, but your post read...
"He (the Holy Spirit) is just the presence of God that lives in the life of the believer and allows us to act like Him!"
"Just" the presence of God?
First, based on your explanation, maybe it's more than "just" God's presence, if you meant "just" to mean "only" or "merely". Perhaps a better adverb is needed, or a rephrasing, like, "Hallelujah! He's God's presence!"
Second, and more importantly, the Holy Spirit isn't "just God's presence", he's the Lord God. Modalism runs rampant among some of our more liberal colleagues; don't inadvertently fall into that trap.
Now...feel free to chastise me for my arrogance or my presumptuousness. I "just" think that in the difficult climate of today's Church, we evangelicals need to be theologically precise. Forgive me.
(And, for others who may read this, Brett is a far, far better pastor than I am...it's just that I am far, far more obnoxious, which is really saying something!)
Thank you for sanctifying me.
Didn't mean it like that, brother. Sorry if I upset you or if I was out of line.
Keith,
Now, c'mon. If you're going to offend me, you're going to have to tell me in advance! I appreciate you and your input. My goal is to make our mysterious God as real to people as possible. The unfortunate side effect is that I sometimes water down theology. My hope is to make God more understandable so that people can love Him more and walk in deeper relationship. Then those deeper mysteries can be revealed. Right or wrong, that's where I come from. I don't dispute your theology and I always welcome your comments. I grow from you! Thanks, and stick around!
PS: I am a closet modalist!
PSS: I love to sing "I'll Fly Away"
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