FAITHFUL to FILTER

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

The month of February as with a lot of congregations I am sure, has had a little “LOVE” emphasis.  My home congregation is no exception.

But the path our esteemed Pastoral team has taken has been a little different.  They have talked about the LOVE of GOD, the LOVE of Jesus and yesterday, one of our staff Pastors, Bob, dove into the LOVE of the Holy Spirit.

It was a message I needed to hear.

Really needed to hear.

In recent weeks I have been not allowing the Holy Spirit to do “His job”, relying far too often on my own acumen and steam. And to be very transparent, that has produced less than stellar results, much less been very effective.

Instead of engaging Him prior to making choices and decisions, allowing Him to go before me (But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. - John 16:13 NIV), I plow ahead often into a minefield or a “less than stellar” outcome.

Friends, part of the job description of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and remind followers of Christ’s future insights.  But if we don’t pause to listen often it results in those “less than stellar” results.  And for me it opens the door to buckets of intense internal criticism from the liar. (John 8:44).

The Spirit knows what our tomorrows look like and is willing to guide us through them!  Our job is to ENGAGE Him. This guidance will protect us from making foolish decisions.  Our Father is “Faithful to Filter” the good from the bad, the productive from the unproductive, and the sin from the solution.

And even when we fail, when we plow ahead on our own without so much as inviting Him to observe, the Holy Spirit doesn’t shrug in disappointment. We can’t disappoint Him. Even though the enemy tries to make us think we do. 

At least he does between my ears. 

The Holy Spirit just waits for His next opportunity.

So, the message today is simple enough right?

Let’s both engage the Holy Spirit, ignite our resident Helper/Counselor/Advocate before we “go left or right” today. (Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, "This is the way you should go," whether to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21 NLT)

Trust Him.

Tozer said that, “The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.”

Therefore, let’s listen and let Him lead!

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

Love all of you

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE