Think. How do you feel when you see a “No Trespassing” sign? Not wanted! Stay out! Stay away! How do you feel when you see a welcome sign, a welcome mat. Wanted! Come on in! Make yourself at home!
Well, the Holy Spirit is looking for a “welcome Holy Spirit” sign on your heart, in your life.
For the Spirit to come in (difference-making) power...
... He must be un-resisted.
Now this is what un-believers, outsiders do when it comes to the work of Spirit.
In Acts 7, one of Jesus’ followers named Stephen is on trial for his life. The religious leaders in Jerusalem wanted to stop him from pointing people to Jesus. In his own defense, Stephen was sharing the history of how God had worked through the Jewish people to prepare them for the coming of Jesus. He recognized that his prosecutors had been resisting the work of God’s Spirit.
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Acts 7:51 (ESV)
He’s saying, “The Holy Spirit has been working to convince you that Jesus is the Messiah and that you should be His follower. But you are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit. And that is what is keeping you from following Jesus.”
People are still resisting the work of the Holy Spirit today.
The Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8-11).
The Holy Spirit awakens (Ephesians 2:1-10).
The Holy Spirit gives life (John 3:6).
Maybe you’ve known for awhile now that there’s something missing in your life. And lately, there’s been a tug on your heart and you’ve been thinking, “This is true. This is right. I should give my heart to Jesus” but you’ve been resisting. Maybe someone has given you a booklet or a book about Jesus or a Bible and you’ve been drawn to open it and read it but you’ve been resisting. Maybe someone gave you a CD or a link on the web and you’ve been drawn to check it out but you’ve been resisting. Could it be that you aren’t really resisting your friend. You’re really resisting the work of the Holy Spirit to bring your to repentance and faith in Jesus.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Forgive me for resisting You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted...
... He must be un-grieved.
These next two points are what believers, what insiders do when it comes to the work of the Spirit.
For the believer, the Holy Spirit reveals (I Corinthians 2:10), indwells, fills, empowers, guides, and teaches. And often we grieve Him as He does His work in our lives.
The Spirit is a Person. Only a person can have the emotion of grief.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)
Think about what makes you sad. Parents know what this is. Parents often say, “I love you, but that makes me sad.” Imagine the Spirit of God saying the same thing to you.
In the Bible, one of the images of the Holy Spirit is a dove. It doesn’t take much to scare a dove away. Now, we can never fully and finally scare away the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with the Spirit of God. But His influence and power can be limited in our lives. His influence and power can “fly away” when we grieve the Spirit.
In Ephesians 4, we see that we can grieve the Spirit by lying (4:25), by being sinfully angry (4:26-27), by stealing (4:28), by using unwholesome words (4:29), by being bitter and unforgiving (4:32), and by being sexually immoral (5:3-5).
Some of us have been grieving and grieving and grieving the Spirit a lot lately. Maybe you’ve been watching those flickering images on the internet that feed your lust. Maybe you won’t forgive the hurt. Maybe you are using cutting, sarcastic words. Maybe you’ve been displaying outbursts of anger. And you wonder what something is missing in your life? You’ve been grieving the Holy Spirit of God.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Spirit, forgive me for grieving You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted, un-grieved…
Well, the Holy Spirit is looking for a “welcome Holy Spirit” sign on your heart, in your life.
For the Spirit to come in (difference-making) power...
... He must be un-resisted.
Now this is what un-believers, outsiders do when it comes to the work of Spirit.
In Acts 7, one of Jesus’ followers named Stephen is on trial for his life. The religious leaders in Jerusalem wanted to stop him from pointing people to Jesus. In his own defense, Stephen was sharing the history of how God had worked through the Jewish people to prepare them for the coming of Jesus. He recognized that his prosecutors had been resisting the work of God’s Spirit.
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Acts 7:51 (ESV)
He’s saying, “The Holy Spirit has been working to convince you that Jesus is the Messiah and that you should be His follower. But you are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit. And that is what is keeping you from following Jesus.”
People are still resisting the work of the Holy Spirit today.
The Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8-11).
The Holy Spirit awakens (Ephesians 2:1-10).
The Holy Spirit gives life (John 3:6).
Maybe you’ve known for awhile now that there’s something missing in your life. And lately, there’s been a tug on your heart and you’ve been thinking, “This is true. This is right. I should give my heart to Jesus” but you’ve been resisting. Maybe someone has given you a booklet or a book about Jesus or a Bible and you’ve been drawn to open it and read it but you’ve been resisting. Maybe someone gave you a CD or a link on the web and you’ve been drawn to check it out but you’ve been resisting. Could it be that you aren’t really resisting your friend. You’re really resisting the work of the Holy Spirit to bring your to repentance and faith in Jesus.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Forgive me for resisting You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted...
... He must be un-grieved.
These next two points are what believers, what insiders do when it comes to the work of the Spirit.
For the believer, the Holy Spirit reveals (I Corinthians 2:10), indwells, fills, empowers, guides, and teaches. And often we grieve Him as He does His work in our lives.
The Spirit is a Person. Only a person can have the emotion of grief.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 (ESV)
Think about what makes you sad. Parents know what this is. Parents often say, “I love you, but that makes me sad.” Imagine the Spirit of God saying the same thing to you.
In the Bible, one of the images of the Holy Spirit is a dove. It doesn’t take much to scare a dove away. Now, we can never fully and finally scare away the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with the Spirit of God. But His influence and power can be limited in our lives. His influence and power can “fly away” when we grieve the Spirit.
In Ephesians 4, we see that we can grieve the Spirit by lying (4:25), by being sinfully angry (4:26-27), by stealing (4:28), by using unwholesome words (4:29), by being bitter and unforgiving (4:32), and by being sexually immoral (5:3-5).
Some of us have been grieving and grieving and grieving the Spirit a lot lately. Maybe you’ve been watching those flickering images on the internet that feed your lust. Maybe you won’t forgive the hurt. Maybe you are using cutting, sarcastic words. Maybe you’ve been displaying outbursts of anger. And you wonder what something is missing in your life? You’ve been grieving the Holy Spirit of God.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Spirit, forgive me for grieving You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted, un-grieved…
Thanks for posting the four winds prayer. Your ministry has widened because I just sent it to a young man in India who has been asking for something like this and rejecting everything I send him. Can't wait to see how he responds. In any event, it is another opportunity to share the truth of Christ with him!
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