Enjoying the Presence of the Holy Spirit
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful
than that of a continual conversation with God.”
-Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Fifth Letter
By: Jeff Pallansch
One of our greatest errors in the Christian life is that we content ourselves with too little of God.
We let going to church and living a moral life be enough. Although we sing about the greatness of God’s love, we surprisingly assign little importance to actually receiving it for ourselves and walking in its reality throughout our day. We let ourselves be satisfied with merely hearing about God and other people’s experiences of Him.
As Anne Graham Lotz puts it, we too often settle for a “secondhand relationship with God.” And yet God wants so much more for us than this!
He wants the real deal. He wants to have a personal, firsthand relationship with you. He wants you to know Him at the core of your being. He doesn’t want to stay at arm’s length. He doesn’t want you to merely experience Him vicariously through others. He wants to come and make His home with you (John 14:23). He wants to live inside of you through His Spirit so you can experience the richness of unceasing fellowship with Him throughout the day (1 Thessalonians 5:17). He wants His love to be an ever-abiding reality (John 15:9). And He has given you His Spirit for just this.
Paul writes this in Romans 5:5, “[God] has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (NLT).
And there is nothing better in this life than experiencing God’s love firsthand. Words cannot express the sweetness and joy that comes from loving communing with Him.
Have you experienced this for yourself? Do you know the “inexpressible and glorious joy” that comes from a firsthand relationship with God (1 Peter 1:8 NIV)?
One of the most amazing things is that this isn’t something we need to earn. In fact, it extends far beyond anything we could ever deserve. And yet the Bible tells us that God’s love is so vast that even “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He died to pay for our sins so that we can be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). And as we trust in Jesus to be our Savior, He comes to live in us through His Spirit so that we may experience His abiding presence. He takes away our heart of stone and gives a new heart of flesh—a heart that is sensitive to God’s leading and full of His love, a heart that now beats for Him (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
So, do you hunger for deeper fellowship with God through His Spirit? Have you let yourself grow content with simply going through the motions?
You will not want to miss this upcoming series with Anne Graham Lotz as she shares how you can develop a firsthand relationship with God and personally experience the Holy Spirit as your constant companion. There is nothing more enjoyable than this! Let us not be content with anything less.
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
– Philippians 2:12 (NIV)
“In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
– Psalm 16:11 (NASB)
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
– Ephesians 3:16-19 (NIV)
