Live in God's WillÖrnek

Part Three: How Can We Live in God’s Will? Day 12: Live in God’s will by being empowered by His Spirit. God makes it very clear that we are to live our lives by being empowered by His Spirit daily. When we don’t, we are living foolish, disempowered lives. What does that look like? The Bible compares not being filled with the Spirit to being drunk. When we are drunk, we are usually not aware of what is going on around us. We may be self-focused. We do foolish things. There are consequences. When we are filled with the Spirit, we are aware of what God is doing around us. We are others-focused. We do what is wise, and there are great rewards for walking in the Spirit. Think about a time when you weren’t filled with the Spirit? What happened? You probably gave into your flesh. You might not have been patient, or loving, or kind. You might have been joyless and ungrateful. You worried, instead of having peace. You might have lost your temper, instead of engaging with patience and self-control. These are the moments when we can feel the most defeated. When we think of it this way, why would we want to live life any other way than being filled with the Spirit? What is similar about getting drunk and being empowered by the Spirit? We can’t stay drunk unless we keep on drinking just like we can’t remain empowered by the Spirit unless we keep on asking Him to empower us. Here’s a way we can picture ourselves being empowered by the Spirit: Being filled with the Spirit is like enjoying a creamy glass of chocolate milk. Imagine a nice big glass of cold milk. Sitting next to it is Hershey’s chocolate syrup. You pour in the chocolate, watching it settle to the bottom of the glass. You then take a spoon to stir the syrup until the milk is dark and thick. You take a big gulp, smile, and say, “Now that is good!” But, what if you leave the chocolate milk on the counter all day? The syrup settles to the bottom again. The milk will be lukewarm with only a hint of a chocolate taste. You must stir up the chocolate if you want the flavor of rich chocolate milk again. This analogy is similar to how the Holy Spirit resides inside of us. He comes into our life the moment we put our faith in Jesus. We do not need to continually ask Him to be poured inside us, but we do need to stir Him up for Him to be evident in our lives. He is not a dictator, coming in and overtaking our lives. He is a gentleman who waits until we invite Him to lead us, control us, and empower us. The Holy Spirit is always present, but His power is only evident when we surrender control over to Him. When we invite Him into our sinful areas, He is empowered to grant us self-control and obedience. When we invite Him into our relationships, He gives us wisdom on what to say and do. All of a sudden, our lives start to look like Christ’s…His character and His actions. When we aren’t intentional in inviting the Holy Spirit to empower and guide us, our lives will drift away from becoming more like Jesus, even if we still believe in Him. When it comes to overcoming our flesh and pursuing holiness, we need to personally invite the Holy Spirit to give us the power to say “no” to temptation and to provide us with the strength to choose what is right. All we need to do is ask Him, and He will enable us to say “no.” · Why would you want to continue to stir up the Spirit in your life to empower you daily? · What do you need to surrender to Him so that He can lead and guide you? PRAYER: Holy Spirit, thank You for being in my life. I surrender _________ to You and ask You to take control of my life today. Thank You for empowering me to live the life God wants me to live. Use my day for God’s glory, and may I become more like Jesus in the process. Amen.