“I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit's leading on a daily basis. Christ said its better for us that the Spirit came and I want to live like that is true. I don't want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly.”
― Francis Chan, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit
There is a time when we are young adults that we realize all adults aren't grown up. It's kind of a shocker when you see people you thought were mature have immature arguments. As a child you look up to these people and then you step into that confusing time when you see that some of your mother's friends are having the same arguments and backstabbing that you and your high school friends are having. When your dad and his buddies are still looking at women as though they were still a bunch of high school boys allowing lust to control them. I remember going through a bit of depression when I saw that just because people were adults, they weren't necessarily grown up. Then comes the painful process of examining yourself. What areas am I still behind in my growth? We can be mature about some things and just plain stupid about other things. Then we turn our lives over to Christ and go through the same disappointment in learning that not all Christians are mature believers.
The areas that seem to be the most difficult to mature in are those areas with childhood wounds, those areas that were never completely healed. If we look closely these are the areas we only pretend to turn over to God for complete restoration, but in reality we are still trying to "control" them ourselves. As long as they have not been turned over to God they remain sensitive areas that are too easy for the devil to stick his long nailed finger into and we pay the price again and again. We become so busy putting band-aids on the wounds instead of exposing them to the light and Godly air to be healed, scabbed, and protected by a scar. Covering up a shortcoming does not allow it to heal. There have been stories in the news bout children locked in cages and fed just enough food to keep them alive and it stunts their growth. It's basically the same thing. Kept in the dark, things don't grow and heal, but exposed to His light and given the proper healing is the only way to mature.
The enemy in this day is using those things against us to keep us locked in our own prisons and blinds us to the ways he is controlling our lives. First things first, we need the Holy Spirit to guide us minute by minute. This doesn't mean He has to tell us "right foot, left foot, right foot", but it does mean as we are moving throughout our day, we need to be tuned into direction from Him. For instance, "turn left" could keep us from an accident. "Stop" could keep us from saying the wrong thing. God has a path for our lives and we have to listen to Him to stay on that path. As far off the path we go is as how far we have to go to get back on.
I went through a really tough time seeing people who say they are followers of Christ do things that were not Christ like. We all do this to a degree, but I am talking about on a much deeper level. It was heart crushing to see people who claim to live for Christ constantly and continually hurting people, going off in their own direction and having their own agenda instead of God's. It was something I had to go through to see who I want to be. We all fail at times, but some of this depends on the percentage of our lives we truly give to Christ. Maybe we hold back our kids, our finances, or our marriage. Maybe we follow Him in everything, but live with our significant other. Maybe we drink a little too much at times or like to check out the opposite sex in church while sitting next to our spouse. There are different reasons we don't totally give our lives to God. Maybe shame keeps us from talking to Him about an area of sin. Maybe we have failed so many times in an area we feel He refuses to help us in that area. Maybe we enjoy that little sin too much to let it go.
I think one of the reasons many churches today claim the Holy Spirit's presence, but don't really allow Him through the door, is exposure. We know in our hearts that God sees everything, but if we admit He is supernatural and the gifts of the Spirit exist, that person sitting next to us just might see into our hearts or into our lives and know we are not who we pretend to be. We want to keep it between us and God. But if the guy next to us is in communication with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is exposing our sin to him so he can pray for us, we fear our secret is out. Denying the Holy Spirit will not cure this problem.
People who see the demonic will see the demons we choose to keep around. People who have the gift of healing can see our brokenness and our smile is not hiding anything. I wasn't sure I believed in this, but I have seen it happen too many times to deny it. On more than one occasion God has allowed me to feel what another person is feeling. I will be overwhelmed with sadness, when a minute ago, I was in a great mood. I have to wonder if some people diagnosed bi-polar don't have this gift. Maybe it is not their own feelings they are facing. I have been overcome with temptation and then had the Holy Spirit point out to me who the temptation really belongs to. It's hard to hide our secrets in a church filled with the Holy Spirit.
A church full of pride has no room for the Holy Spirit. A church that is led through human wisdom cannot wait upon the Lord to do things His way. Signs of pride in church leadership are decisions made to benefit the leaders, instead of the body as a whole, a leader who cannot admit wrong, and/or an absence of repentance. Pride and repentance are not found in the same man or the same church. We hear so much about grace and love and repentance is thrown out of the church window, because if the leaders expect it from their staff and their congregation, they might be called to practice it themselves.
Pride is like a mask worn to hide God's vision. Pride makes it impossible to see our own faults, our own shortcomings and God's true will. We think we are hearing from the Holy Spirit, but when wearing our garments of pride instead of praise, when shielding ourselves from God's will instead of wearing our armor to protect us from the enemy, it is our own flesh and the whispers of the enemy we hear. Pride is a bubble protecting us from God, His grace, His forgiveness.
“Will God ever ask you to do something you are not able to do? The answer is yes--all the time! It must be that way, for God's glory and kingdom. If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us, God gets the glory. He wants to reveal Himself to a watching world.”
― Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing the Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Every Day
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