Light at the End of the Tunnel by Ericka Clay - HTML preview
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Holy Spirit, Come
I've been having this niggling feeling that something ain't right when it comes to Western Christianity.
Hence, all of the blog posts I recently published.
My husband recently taught the Not a Fan series on RightNow Media during our Sunday Bible study (a book that I absolutely love), and it's hit me how often we play "fan" to Jesus but don't actually follow Him.
Why is that?
Well, I came across an article that hit the issue right on the head.
In this country (and especially the American South), we tend to experience church as a weekly one-off event, characterized by intellectual learning and church programming rather than a truly vulnerable reliance on God for our every breath.
This is spiritually detrimental because living for Jesus is a moment-by-moment experience. It's being in constant communion with the Holy Spirit.
So, what does this mean?
“...and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Spirit is part of the trinity, and God gives us His Spirit as our perpetual helper. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, which is evident in the fruit it produces.
"Cool, cool, cool. But seriously, Ericka. What in the heck does any of this mean?"
This means that when we submit to Jesus on a soul level, forever agreeing to be His slave and His slave only (goodbye living by the world's standards), God gives us His actual Spirit...like inside our bodies, you guys. And this Spirit walks with us as we continue to die to our fleshly, worldly whims, and become more in tune with our loving Father.
So now for the "how."
We connect with God's Spirit by reading Scripture, spending quiet moments with God (like we would a close friend), and asking Him to convict us of the areas in our lives we have not quite given over to Him—things like our need to control people or situations, our addictions or harmful habits, our desire for things like money and power instead of a heart of contentment in whatever situation we find ourselves, etc.
This is the way of peace, the peace Jesus gives, not the "peace" the world gives.
And sometimes, I think we get it wrong because we try so hard to "get it right."
But there's no "getting" anything for us here. There is only receiving the love and forgiveness of a righteous Father who continues to refine us like gold in the fire.