Focus: Ephesians 4:30-32 - KJV
30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Colossians 3:8-17
Those who dwell in the flesh cannot fulfil the wish of the Spirit. From the day a man surrenders his life to Jesus, he literally denounces the devil with the works of the flesh, and declares to hold on to Christ as Lord, Savior and one who directs his living moving forward. For this, the Lord seals him with the Holy Spirit to guide him through righteous living which is measured by love. But it is not the day a man gets sealed with the Holy Spirit that he begins to manifest the fruit. That is a process that he matures into, over time. However, it becomes a thing of grieving if as the Spirit is guiding us into dropping the works of the flesh, we remain adamant as if preferring the old man that we had shed. The Spirit is not able to condone a continual operation in the flesh for someone He is asked to seal. Hence, He is grieved and makes a separation from the supposed recipient.
How then do we avoid grieving the Holy Spirit? Everything that is of the flesh wars against the Spirit. Hence, we must be able to first identify the things of the flesh as against the fruit of the Spirit. For a believer, wherever there is a luring or enticement to do something and it appears a wrong thing to do, it is the Spirit in him that is guiding him away from the thing of the flesh and he ought to yield to the Spirit. Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with a man mating with a woman. But because the Lord frowns at such when it is between unmarried people, if the believer is enticed into doing same with a foreign body, the Spirit in him drags him back. Yielding to the dragging back is the way to keep the Holy Spirit in one’s temple.
The Lord wants us to yield perpetually to the Holy Spirit by avoiding anger, backbiting, unforgiveness and so on, which are the works of the flesh; He would rather we embrace and love one another doing things that promote peace and accord amongst the brethren. Not looking for how to ostracize or worse still, annihilate other members of the body. How do we explain a situation where a person professed being of Christ, grew with other members of the body while the leadership knew he had shortcomings but failed to call him to attention and order; when they then felt they had occasion to ditch him, they brought out numerous allegations to make him appear like a villain? That is enough a way to grieve the Holy Spirit for the Spirit is one of love and not destruction. He would have preferred the same be corrected in love and redirected to live in righteousness. We are to forgive one another as God forgave us and not accuse and condemn any.
SOLUTION: Avoid the works of the flesh which are the traits of the old man; but cling to love which is what the Holy Spirit is in you to bring you to. Never join the multitude to do evil in a search for correctness. Such grieves the Spirit and He may depart for it.
Please pray:
· Give thanks to God for dwelling in you by His Spirit (if you are born again. And if not, just give thanks that you now have an opportunity to become born again and to carry the Spirit of God in you)
· Pray God to forgive your adamance whenever the Holy Spirit leads you in a way and you are in another
· Ask the Spirit of God to please reside in you permanently that through Him, you may become a full-blown son of God, just like the Christ
· Ask for the outpouring of the grace that flows from carrying the Holy Spirit in your life from now on
· Ask for your daily bread for today
If you are blessed by this post, kindly share with your contacts, as well as others, that they may be blessed also. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly as you do so, in Jesus’ name.
Comments