The Secret!

For several Sunday nights it’s been my privilege to gather with several people for “Foundations.”  We talk about the basics of being a Jesus follower. Last night, as we wrapped up, one of the participants remarked, “This is deep!”  In a way, she is right.  We were talking about the open secret of the Christian life, living in the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit.  

When Christ enters our lives, we are given the Spirit who makes us aware of spiritual matters in new ways.  Some people ‘grow on’ and flourish in godliness, their experience marked with the evidence of the Spirit’s life- "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)  It’s a wonderful life!  "All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." (2 Corinthians 3:18, The Message)

Others come to Christ and settle into a kind of stalemate with old ways and habits.  Their Christianity is a walk of guilt, a path of regret, characterized more by fear than love. Dallas Willard terms this the “Gospel of sin management.”  Those who live in this way know what is best for them, but they pine for the old ways.  They are too afraid of God’s judgment to return to serving themselves, but too reluctant to let go of Self to become filled with God’s Spirit.  The ‘fruit’ of their spiritual life is meager.  The Scripture describes this kind of Christian as “carnal,” that is, oriented toward Self, not the Spirit. Lamenting the immaturity of this experience, Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth:  “I could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, NKJV)

Which kind of experience is more characteristic of your walk with God? 
A growing beauty of Jesus and intimacy with God; or a constant struggle, poor prayer life, and yearning for the old ways?

The open secret is that God, the Holy Spirit, will fill those who desire Him. When we are ‘fed up’ with defeat, finished with just trying to manage to keep our sinfulness under control, we are ready to receive the fullness of God.  Here is what Jesus promises: "You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. " (Matthew 5:6, The Message)  When you have redoubled your efforts to do good and found only greater frustration with yourself, when you have tried so hard to prove to God that you’re good enough to enjoy His blessing and only deepened your awareness of your failure; there is an answer- the Spirit-filled Life!

The Spirit is a gift, not a reward. He comes to those who accept Him on His terms.  In faith, we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit.”  Like those first disciples, we wait with open hearts, ready to receive Him. And, something starts to change inside of us.  Old things lose their attraction. God finds us, surprises us with joy.  Yes, choices have to be made.  With this growing awareness of the Spirit, there is a parallel awareness of our sin and a new readiness to just let it go.  A new love replaces the old one.  The key word is ‘intimacy.’  God comes near. 

With a child-like faith, a readiness to accept all that God has planned for you, pray for the coming of the Spirit. Here’s a word from the Word that describes the life He gives.

“This is what God the LORD says— he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:4-9, NIV)

___________

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart.

Wean it from earth, thro' all its pulses move.

Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,

And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?

All Thine, own soul, heart, and strength, and mind.

I see Thy cross, there teach my heart to cling.

O let me seek Thee and O let me find.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh.

Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.

To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,

Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,

One holy passion filling all my frame!

The baptism of the heav'n descended Dove,

My heart an altar and Thy love the flame!

Spirit Of God Descend Upon My Heart (Morecambe)

Frederick Cook Atkinson | George Croly

© Words: Public Domain