The Spirit-filled life is not a special,
deluxe edition of Christianity.
It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.
A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
It is God's will that you and I be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Period.
Paul says it this way,
"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:18, NIV
Am I filled by the Holy Spirit?
Are you filled by the Holy Spirit?
The Word of God tells us that the day you and I receive Jesus as Christ and Lord and King and Savior, we also receive the Holy Spirit as the indwelling presence of God in our hearts.
Before Christ, the Father spoke to His people through designated prophets. The words spoken, in time, stirred the hearts of the people, rendering them sensitive and responsive to the Spirit of God.
Such is that which occurred in David's heart when the Lord sent a special word to him.
For the director of music.
A psalm of David.
When the prophet Nathan came to him
after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.
"Have mercy on me, O God,
according to Your unfailing love;
according to Your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin."
Psalm 51:1-2, NIV
For the previous seventeen (17) days, I pondered the psalm heading and the first two verses of Psalm 51. Throughout these 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (June 8), I will prayerfully remain in this penitential psalm to glean nuggets of wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
Today, let me begin reflecting upon a new verse.
Verse 3 reads,
"For I know my transgressions
and my sin is always before me."
In the first two verses, the reader learns about the nature of David's plea (requesting mercy, washing, cleansing, a clean slate, etc.) to the Father. Verse 3 presents a new layer to the case the psalmist is building -- the weight of his motivation.
We see here that David is driven by a Spirit-led conviction to recant his wrongful actions. In contrast to a holy, merciful, loving, and compassionate God, David became convicted that he (a naturally poor wretched creature yet divinely enriched and empowered for greatness) was sadly on familiar terms with wrongdoing, misdemeanor, contravention, disobedience, offense, and crime. On top of that, the conviction of his indulgence constantly repeats and repeats itself like a broken record in front of him. Understandably, David was sick and tired of sinning so blatantly.
The beauty of God's grace in this verse points to the work of the Holy Spirit. He comes to inhabit the heart of each person who wants to follow Christ, to convict the believer of human sin, to convict the believer of the righteousness of Christ, to convict the believer of the judgment awaiting Satan and all who turn away from God or refuse to repent and believe.
Are you and I thus convicted?
Are you and I filled with the Spirit of the living God?
Are you and I poised to confess and recant our wrongful actions?
Are you and I heartened to revel in Christ's righteousness and see the beauty of confession?
I am the vase of God, He fills me to the brim;
He is the ocean deep, contained I am in Him.
Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)
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