It has been a while since I last wrote, I needed to spend time with the Lord and allow Holy Spirit to “refill my cup.” An empty cup cannot pour anything out, and as a vessel for the Lord, who has been called to be a scribe there are times when I need to allow Holy Spirit to do a work in me so that I can in turn share with you. And there is a lot I’ve learned in this short time that I want to share with you.
If you think about it, this makes sense, the Bible has many examples of Jesus after spending time ministering to the crowds going out on His own to spend quiet time with God the Father. If Jesus is to be our example (and He is) than we need to do the same. One thing that I have become ever aware of is the fact that we need to have sensitive spirits that can discern what it is that Holy Spirit is saying to us. I don’t know if you feel the same (and I hope you do) but I can’t do ANYTHING without the Father. I NEED Him. Holy Spirit is my sustenance that gets me through this life. Even though the world’s line of thought is to live separate from having a relationship with God, I cannot function without Him. I know if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, made Him Lord over your life than that part deep in the center of you, knows what I’m talking about. I WANT MORE of Him. I WANT to hear what He is saying to me, what He wants me to do. How I can live and love Him and show Him that love through this life I have given over to the One who gave His life for me. And the only way to do that is to pray that God will give me ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart to receive ALL that God wants to tell me. Honestly, that IS the fullness of joy. There is NO greater joy than to know that to the best of your ability (and with the help of Holy Spirit) there is NO greater joy than walking in the center of God’s will. If you don’t know what that is for your life – ASK HIM. God is not “trying to hide” what purpose He has created you to fulfill, it is His absolute pleasure to reveal His will to you, but you have to be at a point where you are sitting forward in your chair attentively listening to what Holy Spirit wants to reveal and say to you, and honestly, it is NOT easy sometimes to quiet ourselves in a world that is filled with an amazing amount of noise and distractions. But we have to get to the place where we can shut it out and ask God to help us to hear what Holy Spirit would say to us. For me, Holy Spirit has always spoken in a soft quiet voice. I have to listen hard to hear Him because I’m a talker. 🙂 Listening is something that I have to constantly position myself to do. You may be asking:
“Kelly, how do I hear from Holy Spirit?”
I don’t want to put Holy Spirit in a box with my answer to you, but here is how Holy Spirit has spoken to me. It can be different for you, because He knows you intimately and the way you need to receive from Him may be different from the way I receive from Him. Now you will probably laugh at this, but often, Holy Spirit has spoken to me while I’m in the shower. Why? Because I am alone, there are no distractions, I’m in a physically vulnerable place where I am totally naked before the Lord – physically, emotionally, spiritually. I’m at a place where I can receive because my thoughts are turned towards God. Maybe that is (no matter where you are) the place where we need to be in order to hear from Holy Spirit:
ANY PLACE WHERE YOUR THOUGHTS ARE ABLE TO TURN TO GOD.
Holy Spirit often speaks to me when I’m in my car in the morning, alone listening to praise and worship music. Singing along with the music (I listen to Air1 which is a people funded Christian radio station, I highly recommend it if you can get it on the airways near you. I will list it in my favorite links so that you can find it). I like to start my day with worship, my ride into the hospital I work at is long and it gives me time alone in the first fruits of my day to worship the Lord and pray before I begin my day. Holy Spirit often speaks to me in the quiet of my car. Now that has been my experience, my day is busy, I juggle a lot of balls in the air and as my day progresses my attention turns to my responsibilities, but ALWAYS in the back of my mind first and foremost is my biggest priority – which is that the life I live, I live for and in Christ. He is the One that I am accountable to, beyond my boss, beyond my husband (the head of my household), beyond my children, beyond ANYTHING that my day involves – at the end of the day how I conducted myself should show (even imperfectly) that I am accountable to how I respond and act in any situation before the Father. For you it may be different. In the case of my husband, He is a Harley motorcycle rider, his quiet time (when he is able to take it) is in the riding of His bike. Is in nature. That is the place where he feels closer to God. You see, each person’s experience with God is personal. Because your relationship with Him is on a one-to-one basis. People think that the only place they can be close to God is church, and that’s okay – but it’s not true. The Bible says that the people ARE the church. We are the body of Christ. We go to church to fellowship, to worship and if you have a good pastor who is fulfilling His calling in Christ – to learn. And yes, we SHOULD feel close to God when we gather together with other believers. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 says the following:
“There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts. Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body. The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy. You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.” “
So as the body of Christ, we come together. I believe Heaven will be a beautiful place of all races, all of us basking in the love of a God who more than anything else created us with the desire for us to know Him. To be in a personal relationship with Him – EACH one of us. And there is one thing that I have learned most of all in the 35 years I have come to accept Him as my Savior, make Him Lord over my life – and that is that you CANNOT out love God. As much as I love Him, and I do with my whole heart, He shows me a greater love EVERY day of my very imperfect life. I don’t have to “measure up” because it is HIS grace, HIS forgiveness, HIS mercy, HIS love that enables me to live and move and have my being in Him. Remember, it is NOT about “being a good person” the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6:
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Listen, we CANNOT earn Heaven. We NEVER could! The Old Testament was filled with laws that we could never measure up to! That is why God decided to leave the glories of Heaven and be born of the virgin Mary, walk in human form – Jesus, the second member of the Trinity was born to meet us RIGHT here where we are at! Hey – it doesn’t get ANY more personal than that! He lived a sinless life, took the sins of the world upon Himself (your sins AND mine) and died a death He did NOT deserve to die on the cross. Why? Because He became the sacrificial lamb to reunite us with God the Father (the first member of the Trinity) and when Jesus descended to Heaven, after rising from the dead, DEFEATING sin and death by His death on the cross, He sent Holy Spirit (the third member of the Trinity) to be our Teacher, Comforter and Guide, THAT is the kind of God that desires to be in a very personal relationship with you. If you need to learn more about the Trinity, I have written it on my home page, which you can find by clicking on the pink link below, scroll down to the description of the Trinity at the bottom of the page:
Even right now Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, is interceding on YOUR behalf! He is our High Priest. He knows what it is like to live in this world, to walk through life. He knows your struggles, your desires, your hurts and pains, your disappointments, what you think about, what you desire, He knows EVERYTHING about you, and He desires to be there for you. Making time for Him is the most important thing you can do. It is how you grow in Him. It is how you become victorious (through Him) over EVERY situation that this life presents to you. Remember – we have a common enemy, the devil who does NOT want you to grow in your walk with Jesus. He does not want you to deepen your relationship with God the Father or learn to diligently listen to Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will continue to try and keep you distracted, we have to determine to make our time with God a priority, to talk with God in prayer, to read our Word (the Bible), to spend time alone with God and to also fellowship with other believers because we ARE many members but one in the body of Christ and truly as the Bible says in Proverbs 27:17:
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Holy Spirit will put in place other believers who He will use to help YOU grow and who in turn He will use YOU to help THEM grow. He did not call us to be little islands. God often works through people and we have to be careful and have sensitive spirits to know WHO those people are and allow Him to do so (all the while remembering that we are all imperfect people who are ALL still works in progress). To keep our eyes focused on the Lord and allow Him to speak to us and minister to us in ways we are willing to receive, first and foremost keeping our eyes focused on Him.
I pray that these words minister to you as you read them, that Holy Spirit speaks whatever words of instruction He uses to draw you into the ultimate goal, a close, personal relationship with God. The lover of your soul, who loves you more than ANYONE ever will.
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