"That you may really come to practically know, and experience for yourselves the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, and that you may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself! - Ephesians 3: 19 (Amplified Version)
Jesus promised that He would make His home within us (John 14:16,20,23). He does this through His Holy Spirit. The Spirit moves into our newly, Born Again spirit at the moment of Justification and He starts cleaning up our act. He purposefully enters us - body, soul and spirit - with the objective of making a conquest of our life through the process of Sanctification. This process of Sanctification means, “to become holy.”
The Holy Spirit establishes His authority, and at the same time He begins conquering for the Lord all of the unconsecrated areas in our lives. The idea of the Holy Spirit invading our being stimulates my imagination. The definition of “invading” refers to the incursion of an army with the intention of winning. I love the concept that the Spirit intends to vigilantly continue to defeat every ungodly area of our mind, will and emotions as we relinquish control to Him.
Without surrendering to the Spirit’s invasion, we never mature in our spiritual walk. We remain carnally minded and live in spiritual vacillation, like a yoyo on a string. We read the Bible, pray and fellowship with Believers only until something else comes along that takes our attention away from spiritual things. We walk on the edge of the wider road of worldly pursuits and partake in every activity that happens to entice us away from walking the straight and narrow road with the Lord.
If we are not able to grasp and understand the depth of God's love for us, then we may also resist His work in our lives. If we walk in the flesh, then the Spirit of God is not in us. If we do not have the Spirit, then we are not Born Again, and we do not belong to God. Once the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in us, then the Spirit will also give life to our mortal bodies. (Romans 8: 9-10) With the Spirit of God living within us, we flourish in the Spirit instead of subsisting in the flesh.
Another consequence of not relinquishing total control of our lives to the Spirit is a lack of the fullness of God in our lives. Due to past experiences, we may harbor fear and believe that God is untrustworthy. This happens because we are experientially unaware of the depths of His great love for us. God's love is so powerful and immense, that Paul prays in Ephesians 3:16-19, that we will at least begin to grasp with understanding the expanse of God's boundless love for us.
It is only by living through repeated trials in our life that we come to trust God to fight for us and to bring us through these conflicts as victors. We experience the depth of God’s love as He works out all things in our life, even the negative things, for our good. Then, the issues, which used to cause us worry, irritation and anger, or which previously catapulted us into a deep depression, no longer bother us like they used to. If we are truly Born Again, then God loves us enough to bring discipline into our lives (Hebrews 12:6).
When God blinded Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), He brought Saul to the saving knowledge of His love for him. Often our rebellious lives involve years of frustration and possibly some physical and emotional pain, until we come into oneness with God’s Spirit. This is when we know without a doubt that we are loved deeply by an all-seeing, trustworthy God who has a perfect plan for our life. God sees the big picture and He meets all of our needs according to His glorious riches. His plans are to prosper us and not to harm us. They give us hope in a blessed future. (Jeremiah 29:11).
After we give God permission to take over the territory between our ears, He aggressively spreads throughout our entire being, eliminating our pre-existing carnal nature and desires, and replacing all of our harmful thought processes with Godly ones. He fills us with His Spirit throughout all of our being, and the fullness of God gives us the richest measure of His presence within us (Ephesians 3:16-19).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, any experiences in our lives that are not viewed through the microscope of Your incredible love for us, may cause our faith to crumble. Then we will fail to bear the kind of fruit that You desire. The fruit of Your Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Help us to surrender to Your will and to give Your Spirit full reign in our lives. Thought for the Day:
The Spirit daily works in our lives to replace our carnal attitudes with Godly attributes.
