There is much confusion in the church today about the Holy Spirit.  I don’t want to make denominational stands at this point.  It can be divisive and it seems people love to argue about this and demand their way is right.  Let’s not get lost in an argument, seek God with all of your heart, read your Bibles, look at the Scriptures about the Holy Spirit (I John 2:27), and let the Holy Spirit teach you. 

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The power of the Holy Spirit is always with us. When we ask Christ into our lives He comes in us, and when we ask to be filled and want all of Him, then the Spirit comes upon us with power.

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In step 4, I introduced you to the Holy Spirit.  Please read Charles Stanley’s book, The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life. I love the directness and simplicity of Stanley’s book. 

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We can ask many times a day to be filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit.  The Bible uses words like quenching the Spirit and grieving the Spirit.  Those things dry us up and then we need to be refilled.

We are commanded to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Bible uses the terms grieving and quenching to describe how we lose that filling.  I pray very often to be filled with the Spirit.  I ask for God to reveal all sins and how I have grieved or quenched the Spirit by my life and my thoughts.

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It is awesome to ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.  My studying on this concept shows that being filled is a continual thing.  It is like filling a glass of water and then some of the water is used up, dried up or whatever.  To refill our glass, requires us to ask for a “refilling. We must keep on asking and asking and asking for His refilling.  When I am dry and don’t feel the power or presence of God, I repent of sins, known and unknown, and beg God to fill me with more of Him.  I ask to have more of Him and less of me.

 

Jesus is described as living water.  Grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit are, to make it real simple, sins.

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Quenching the Spirit is like turning off the nozzle because the Holy Spirit is also described as living water.  We can turn off the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives by ignoring God or walking away from Him.

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When you are crying over personal losses, this is not the grieving of the Holy Spirit the Bible is talking about. In Matthew we are told that blessed are those who mourn.  We must mourn for our sins and be sorry that we committed them.  We grieve the Holy Spirit when our sins don’t bother us. The Holy Spirit is a consuming fire and sin is like throwing dirt on the fire, it puts it out; that's grieving the Spirit.

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However, grief over personal loss is not sin. Mourning for a loss is not sin. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our helper, and our teacher.  Just this last week God has been showing me the importance of the word “Holy”.  I have known that it meant to be separate, but it is so much bigger than that.  We are to worship God for the splendor of His holiness.  Just try and grasp the words splendor and majesty or even beauty.  I don't think they come close to explaining how incredibly awesome God's holiness is. Now when we are filled with the HOLY Spirit it is so much more than just a comforter or just a helper or just a teacher.  It is the most splendid, beautiful, majestic, incredible comforter, teacher or helper we can imagine.  We are actually filled with the very glory of God.

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Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now all glory to God, who is able THROUGH HIS MIGHTY POWER AT WORK WITHIN US, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  We must believe this awesome verse. God’s mighty power is within his girls and He is able to accomplish great things in each of us.  We must let Him work within us!

 

It may seem like the more of the Holy Spirit you ask for, the crueler Satan becomes.  And the answer is yes, my dear, Satan is mad and is fighting hard to keep you from receiving all that God has for you.  He is screaming at you so loudly and trying to pull every thing he can to get you to quit!  Don't quit!  Don't give up!  There is a huge spiritual war going on for you, and Jesus has won.  I know that the screaming and fit throwing that satan is doing seems like he is winning.  But he isn't.  He is a liar and a deceiver.  He has lost the battle for you.  You have come over to Jesus and satan will never have you.   Romans 8, tells us that nothing, not even the devil, can separate us from the love of God.

Satan may seem to be at work and in overdrive in your life at this time.  You may be seeking the Holy Spirit and see the enemy come at you with a vengeance. You may command the devil in the name of Jesus to flee and he comes from another angle. If you are sensing these things then let me say, you have good insight into the workings of the devil!

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I know that Romans 8:28 is true.  It says that all things work together for good for those who love God for those who are called according to his purpose."  Even though you can't see it, your Heavenly Father is working for you right now, all the time.  He is working all of these wrong things out that have gone on in your life, and the Bible says He is working them out for good.

God is going to take care of you.
Just go with your gut.  God is guiding you.
 
With God’s love,  Judy