UNDER THE INFLUENCE


If you're not living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, you're missing out on what a relationship with God is really all about. When your life is filled with the presence of God, it makes a difference in how you live. You become under the influence of God's Holy Spirit it affects everything about you. It affects your decisions. It affects your outlook. It affects your perspective. It affects your desires. It even affects your emotions.

The Holy Spirit is God. He is the third person of the Trinity. Just as the Father is God, just as Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Does that mean we worship three Gods? No. We worship one God, who exists eternally in three persons — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Understand that the Holy Spirit is a “he”, not an “it.” The Holy Spirit is not an inanimate Star Wars type of force. The Holy Spirit is personal. He loves. He cares. He knows. He can be grieved. He can even be prayed to. Your relationship with the Holy Spirit is personal.

Your relationship with the Holy Spirit is intended to be an all-consuming relationship. It is not occasional or temporary or compartmental. The Spirit is intended to reach every part of your life. John the Baptist used the phrase, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8). The word baptize means immerse. It means to dip one thing into another, or to saturate. This means that God wants the Holy Spirit to have all of you. Living a Spirit-filled life does not apply only to Sunday morning or only to the parts of your life that you have labeled religious. It applies to whole enchilada — your work, your marriage, your family, your friendship, your free time, your hobbies, your conversation, your habits, your attitudes — everything about you. God's will that all of you, every aspect of your life, is to be immersed with the Holy Spirit's presence and the Holy Spirit's influence.

When you're saved, you receive the Holy Spirit — he comes to dwell inside you. “He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). And you receive, at that moment, all of the Holy Spirit there is to receive. So, being filled with the Holy Spirit, it's not a question of you getting more of God, it's a question of God getting more of you.

When you're under the influence of the Holy Spirit, you do God-ordained deeds that you might not have had the energy to do before. You say God-inspired words that you might not have had the wisdom to say before. You'll take a God-glorifying stand that you might not have had the courage to take before. When you live your life under the influence of the Holy Spirit, your life not only becomes better, it becomes more effective and more productive and more meaningful — in every aspect.

If you want your life to be better than it has ever been — and by that, I mean more effective, more meaningful, more powerful, walking closer to God and becoming more like Jesus than you ever imagined — if this is what you want for your life, then allow yourself to be immersed in the Holy Spirit.

Comments

  1. DiwakarApril 16, 2018 at 11:29 PM

    Hello Pastor. I am also a Pastor from Mumbai, India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am also blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you and about you being the Pastor. I am blessed and enriched by your blog post on "Under the Influence". I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 40 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We would love to have your young people come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. God's richest blessings on you, your family and ministry also wishing you and your family a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the year l2018. God willing if I happen to visit United States in the near future, It would be my privileged to stop by your place and meet you and know you personally.

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