I love it when God goes ‘hey I’m just reminding you of something….everywhere you look’. It’s such a special reminder of God’s personal and intimate knowledge of us and care for us. These last couple of days have been about the Holy Spirit - firstly, on Saturday afternoon as I was reading the book ‘Whisper’ by M Batterson that my boyfriend and I are studying together, it was talking about hearing the voice of God. How He is always there, talking to us but we need to learn how to stop, be still in His presence and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. Then Sunday, at church, our pastor was talking about living a Spirit-led life instead of letting our human desires take over. And what I really got out of it was that it’s not just the big temptations that we have to be Spirit-led and make good choices - it literally can be at work with an annoying customer to choose to respond with grace, or instead of wasting time on social media, read my Bible and pray, or go for a walk instead of eating another piece of chocolate that will be better for my body, or in choosing what music I listen to, choose music that is going to fill my mind with good things, and the list goes on. There are so many micro-decisions each day where we have the choice to be Spirit-led or let our natural self do its thing, and so thinking through and praying through how I can invite the Holy Spirit to lead me is something that I am really focusing on this week.
And then Monday I opened my Bible to John 14 and this verse jumped out - “...and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” (verse 16) And that’s the moment where it all clicked and I connected the dots! It kinda just perfectly summed up what God had been teaching me over the weekend because it was a reminder that we do have the Holy Spirit in us and with us FOREVER. We aren’t expected to be able to behave perfectly on our own. Every moment, He is with us and so we can be led by the Spirit each day no matter if it’s the tiniest, most insignificant thing or if it’s a massive life decision. I know even myself I can be so focused on God the Father - who is good, faithful, loving, all powerful, in control, etc. And Jesus the Son, who is our perfect example that we are trying to be more like. And then the Holy Spirit is sometimes just the extra bonus blessing that exists and lives in me for when I need it. But the Holy Spirit is an equal 3rd of the Trinity and the part of God that He sent to us when Jesus returned to Heaven after dying on the cross to rebuild that connection with God. And I definitely should appreciate and make better use of this incredible gift that God has given us. Even by the evidence of God’s perfect timing of this little sequence of reminders is work of the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart and showing me what God was wanting to teach me this week.
So this week, I encourage you to find time in your days to pause, and listen to what the Holy Spirit is wanting to tell you and be encouraged that in all the sticky situations you might find yourself in, you have Holy Spirit inside of you, helping you and guiding you in how to respond or act in a Spirit-led way.
