"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). Unless the Holy Spirit bear witness to us of Jesus as our LORD, our redeemer and the Son of God we will never see Jesus as anything more than a good teacher. We are dependant upon the Holy Spirit to see Jesus as our savior and to confess him as our savior. Afterwards we are still dependent upon the Holy Spirit to witness to us the glorious beauty of Christ and the majesty of God the Father. Our veiled eyes are ever darkened to the glorious light shining from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. Just as sanctification is a process of continuing growth in holiness, so the work of the Holy Spirit continues not just in our sanctification but in witnessing to us the glory of Jesus. Just as the Holy Spirit illumines our minds to the word of truth (1 Cor 1:10) and quickens our hearts to believe on the Lord Jesus (Eph 2:1-5), so also the Spirit illumines our minds to the wonder, the majesty, the beauty, the glories and the joys of our sweet precious Jesus.
Therefore let us all recognize that absences of these revelations in our lives about the nature of Christ are evidence of the Spirit’s inactivity in our hearts, minds and souls (Psa 84:11). Once we recognize the Spirit is inactive in our hearts we must throw ourselves at the mercy seat of heaven and beg for the Spirit’s return. The Spirit’s return will be predicated upon repentance from sin, either known or unknown, that has caused God the Father to withdraw the Holy Spirit from us.
Even this recognition that we are no longer in fellowship with the Father as we have been is a working of the Spirit so that we can be restored in our fellowship. Once we recognize that our awareness of the Spirit’s absence is a work of the Spirit itself, we can confidently and with assurance throw ourselves at the mercy seat of heaven, because the working of the Spirit to make us aware of His absence is the evidence God desires to have us come to him and be restored in fellowship with him. Knowing all this, when we recognize the Spirit is inactive in our lives, let us not hesitate one second to run to the Cross and ask that God lay our sins before us so we can confess them and repent of them. While we are running to the Cross, let us also do so with the confident assurance that God desires that we be reconciled to him and the Holy Spirit restored to us fully again.
2 comments:
Brian, Bob Menges here...really enjoy hearing how you guys are doing at Southern and reading your blog/meditations. In reference to "Some of the Work of the Holy Spirit". Are you inferring that God removes His Holy Spirit figuratively from us? I would submit to you that The Holy Spirit is given as a permanent seal in the regenerated believer (Eph 4:30). Can you elaborate when you have some time. Blessings to you and your family brother.
Bob
Bob,
Great to hear from you. I am not intimating that the Holy Spirit is taken from us, however, clearly Paul tells us we can grieve the Holy Spirit in Eph 4:30. In fact the entire context of 4:17-5:2 is not conitnuing in sin but living under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. In most of my blog I refer to us being aware of the Holy Spirit's lack of witnessing to us. This is key to what I mean. Yes the Spirit is always with us, but we may experience the lack of His witnessing to us because of the coldness fo our hearts and unrepentant sin. Just as sin can result in diminished fellowip with God the Father, likewise sin can diminish the Holy Spirit's witnessing to us and revealing to us the glory of CHrist and the increasing of our joy in Him.
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