“I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
~ Ephesians 3:16-21 (NIV)
His Spirit.
Oh His Spirit.
It moves us to love.
To have faith.
To leave our earthly flesh and move in a way that is heavenly.
Beyond ourselves.
Beyond our own thoughts.
Our own ambitions.
Our own goals.
Our own feelings.
This year, I was asked to do some really hard things.
Hand trembling,
heart throbbing,
knee shaking things.
Things that were beyond my feelings,
that were beyond my pride + my right for justice.
When we ask the Spirit to lead us,
we are inviting him to shake things up.
We are putting faith in something far greater than ourselves
and believing that God knows best.
It’s scary.
Better yet,
it’s downright frightening.
But what I have learned this past year is that it is worth it!
It is so worth it!
There is healing that happens when we let the Spirit lead us.
There is restoration,
forgiveness,
freedom,
real JOY.
The Lord wants to fill us with His fullness,
His goodness.
But if we are blocking the Spirit,
if we are stopping Him from entering deep down,
in our most inner being,
we are putting a road block on our growth.
We are stunting our growth in Him and with each other.
It is scary,
it will be uncomfortable,
fear will creep up,
but God’s plans are so much better than ours.
His ways far surpass our earthly ways.
His love is far more abundant than any love we can find here in this world.
“So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are : Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us – an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!.”
~ Romans 8:12-17 (The Message)
Have you given the Spirit free reign?
Is there something the Spirit is asking of you that you are afraid to do?
If yes, can you give that fear to the Lord and trust Him in faith that He knows better than we do and believe that He is here to bring life + freedom?
I urge you to listen to this worship song, read the lyrics, and when you are ready, cry it out to the Lord “Spirit lead me” and see where God wants to take you from here! He has things for you to do and places for you to go if you are willing to follow His lead!