The Holy Spirit, faith, power, fruit, works
I've been reading Thessalonians for a new Bible study group that I have begun to attend. Faith and the Holy Spirit are two themes that have caught me as I have worked my way through. (I'll address the latter and we'll see if I get to the former in this particular post.)
One of my, not exactly pet peeves, but frustrations is when I read or hear talk of the fruits of the Spirit as though they are things that we are working on, that we produce, that we need to do. This is foolish, misleading, arrogant, and not Biblically accurate. There is a reason we get frustrated when we try to work them out in our own lives.. We are very aware of our lack but I wonder how well we are aware of His sufficiency? This reality - that they are His fruits - is not one often discussed or, if it is, it is done in language that is so dry and academic that one despairs of their reality. Love (agape), Joy (chara), Peace (Shalom), and the others - they are not the fruits of Lynne McConnell. She was never expected to grow them herself. She was never expected to produce them. They are very intentionally called the fruits or works or evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit. They are the outward manifestations of the inward reality of His indwelling. They are not plastic fruits that we attach to ourselves, but the natural outflow of the internal Presence.
We miss this so easily. We live in a performance-driven culture and think that, if we just try hard enough, long enough, we will get the results we want (aka These fruits will be evident in our lives). What I am learning is that my growth depends on my submitting to the Holy Spirit and Him working the growth out in me. He makes me worthy of my calling. He called and chose me to begin with! He enables me to live a life that pleases Him.
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13
". . .On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." 1 Cor. 15:10
He accompanies the proclamation of the gospel with life and faith-giving power. He convicts. He changes. He redeems. He loves other people through me.
As I was working my way through these concepts, I realized, was reminded, that I am conversing about/with, not an idea, but a Person. My studying and ruminating is a conversation with a Person. Whoa. He is right here.
I grew up, went to school in, an environment that treated the Holy Spirit as an academic subject to studied, if He was mentioned at all. Communion and conversation with Him were something outside the boundaries of what was acceptable. Seemingly, evidence of His presence was too subjective for the classroom. Cold, hard, sterile facts were to be preferred to the warm, beating-heart relationship. You were taught to keep Him in a box, on the page, and yet the words 'relationship' and 'person-hood' were defended until one was blue in the face. It was a doctrinal hill worth dying on, but without the comfort of the presence of the One being defended. There was no warmth, only frustration, because you were told that salvation started a relationship but the relationship treated the One who saves as a textbook item. The verbage was there without the reality. You were taught to check items off a list and to call it 'relationship.' You were taught to do, even when you didn't feel the presence, because this God is pleased with obedience. You need to keep Him happy with you. You were hungry for Him, but He was just out of reach.
This has become a source of frustration for me (if you can't tell). I feel as though I'm just now waking up to the reality of a relationship with the Trinity. I can't, to a degree fault my professors and former pastors, because you cannot share fire unless you too have been lit. I want to be very careful here. The relationship with God is personal and tailored to every individual. It looks different for every individual. I've gotten frustrated because the relationship with the Lord that I have, I don't see in the lives of as many others as I would like to. I've held myself up as the standard and gotten discouraged when others haven't met it. God forgive me. I wonder for how many a relationship with God is only an academic pursuit and one is taught to be satisfied with that?
As my sensitivity to the Spirit grows, He enables me to identify His presence in the lives of others. There is a sweet fellowship to be shared when He is present, active, and working in and through them. There is a freedom, joy, and life that is evident in how they talk about Him and the other members of the Trinity. They have spent and do spend time with Him (not an idea), and seeing Him in the lives of others makes me more hungry for His presence in mine.
I grieve when He is kept out of the conversation. I grieve when He is held back from involvement in the lives of those He loves because 'it has to look a certain way to be legitimate.' We are so quick to build fences, out of fear, many times, that we don't open the gate to Him. Why are we afraid that He will violate His revealed revelation if He shows up? Why are we afraid that He will lead a believer to do something contrary to His will? Why do we unnecessarily complicate things when it comes to God when we see things so much more simply in our daily relationships? Why do we hold Him at arms' length, keep Him on the other side of the door, fence, wall? Why don't we trust Him?
If we have been taught by Him, we will walk in His way - 1 John. We will have fellowship with Him. If we are taught to merely look, think, and act as if He's just black ink on a page, a dictator who is ready to punish, Someone who can only be trusted so far, it's no wonder there is no warmth and life in what we may call the relationship. Let Him in and begin the conversation! He's ready to talk.
One of my, not exactly pet peeves, but frustrations is when I read or hear talk of the fruits of the Spirit as though they are things that we are working on, that we produce, that we need to do. This is foolish, misleading, arrogant, and not Biblically accurate. There is a reason we get frustrated when we try to work them out in our own lives.. We are very aware of our lack but I wonder how well we are aware of His sufficiency? This reality - that they are His fruits - is not one often discussed or, if it is, it is done in language that is so dry and academic that one despairs of their reality. Love (agape), Joy (chara), Peace (Shalom), and the others - they are not the fruits of Lynne McConnell. She was never expected to grow them herself. She was never expected to produce them. They are very intentionally called the fruits or works or evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit. They are the outward manifestations of the inward reality of His indwelling. They are not plastic fruits that we attach to ourselves, but the natural outflow of the internal Presence.
We miss this so easily. We live in a performance-driven culture and think that, if we just try hard enough, long enough, we will get the results we want (aka These fruits will be evident in our lives). What I am learning is that my growth depends on my submitting to the Holy Spirit and Him working the growth out in me. He makes me worthy of my calling. He called and chose me to begin with! He enables me to live a life that pleases Him.
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13
". . .On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." 1 Cor. 15:10
He accompanies the proclamation of the gospel with life and faith-giving power. He convicts. He changes. He redeems. He loves other people through me.
As I was working my way through these concepts, I realized, was reminded, that I am conversing about/with, not an idea, but a Person. My studying and ruminating is a conversation with a Person. Whoa. He is right here.
I grew up, went to school in, an environment that treated the Holy Spirit as an academic subject to studied, if He was mentioned at all. Communion and conversation with Him were something outside the boundaries of what was acceptable. Seemingly, evidence of His presence was too subjective for the classroom. Cold, hard, sterile facts were to be preferred to the warm, beating-heart relationship. You were taught to keep Him in a box, on the page, and yet the words 'relationship' and 'person-hood' were defended until one was blue in the face. It was a doctrinal hill worth dying on, but without the comfort of the presence of the One being defended. There was no warmth, only frustration, because you were told that salvation started a relationship but the relationship treated the One who saves as a textbook item. The verbage was there without the reality. You were taught to check items off a list and to call it 'relationship.' You were taught to do, even when you didn't feel the presence, because this God is pleased with obedience. You need to keep Him happy with you. You were hungry for Him, but He was just out of reach.
This has become a source of frustration for me (if you can't tell). I feel as though I'm just now waking up to the reality of a relationship with the Trinity. I can't, to a degree fault my professors and former pastors, because you cannot share fire unless you too have been lit. I want to be very careful here. The relationship with God is personal and tailored to every individual. It looks different for every individual. I've gotten frustrated because the relationship with the Lord that I have, I don't see in the lives of as many others as I would like to. I've held myself up as the standard and gotten discouraged when others haven't met it. God forgive me. I wonder for how many a relationship with God is only an academic pursuit and one is taught to be satisfied with that?
As my sensitivity to the Spirit grows, He enables me to identify His presence in the lives of others. There is a sweet fellowship to be shared when He is present, active, and working in and through them. There is a freedom, joy, and life that is evident in how they talk about Him and the other members of the Trinity. They have spent and do spend time with Him (not an idea), and seeing Him in the lives of others makes me more hungry for His presence in mine.
I grieve when He is kept out of the conversation. I grieve when He is held back from involvement in the lives of those He loves because 'it has to look a certain way to be legitimate.' We are so quick to build fences, out of fear, many times, that we don't open the gate to Him. Why are we afraid that He will violate His revealed revelation if He shows up? Why are we afraid that He will lead a believer to do something contrary to His will? Why do we unnecessarily complicate things when it comes to God when we see things so much more simply in our daily relationships? Why do we hold Him at arms' length, keep Him on the other side of the door, fence, wall? Why don't we trust Him?
If we have been taught by Him, we will walk in His way - 1 John. We will have fellowship with Him. If we are taught to merely look, think, and act as if He's just black ink on a page, a dictator who is ready to punish, Someone who can only be trusted so far, it's no wonder there is no warmth and life in what we may call the relationship. Let Him in and begin the conversation! He's ready to talk.
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