Focus: Ephesians 4:30-31 - KJV
30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Colossians 3:8-17
Man created by God is spirit, soul and body. When the man gives his life to Jesus, his spirit is redeemed having found the truth of God, and is taken over by the Holy Spirit for direction, of his entire being, towards performing the will of God. The soul, which is the mind and place of all emotion, is the object of the Holy Spirit to transform and bring far away from sin, to forestall death, for the soul that sins, it shall die. But the body is yet to be redeemed and therefore fully susceptible to lust which is used to lure the soul to sin. In other words, even though the man is born again, his body makes him susceptible to sin but the Spirit wrestles against the flesh to discourage sin. When the body draws the soul consistently to sin in disagreement with the desire of the spirit, the Holy Spirit, being one that dwells in purity is grieved which results in loss of fellowship with the griever. Our body is to be redeemed only at the rapture, when we receive celestial bodies, like Christ’s.
To avoid grieving the Holy Spirit, we are to pay attention to the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. Yes, there are other items listed as part of the fruit but they all are to compliment love. For where you find love there is peace, long suffering and all the rest. God is Love and all these other matters are His attributes. Whenever therefore, it appears we are yielding in a direction that is not loving, we must know that it is the flesh that is warring against the spirit to make us sin and offend the Holy Spirit in us. Such things like bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, evil speaking, lasciviousness, immorality and lying are clear works of the flesh pushing against the Holy Spirit in us, thereby grieving Him and wanting Him to vacate. The danger in that is that there is no vacuum in the realm of the spirit. Once the Holy Spirit is grieved and He vacates, another spirit takes over the space created. It takes over the spirit in man and starts to make him do things that are not ordinarily convenient. Ask king Saul and those who practice sodomy and all manner of immorality. It is all nothing but madness as garnered from the spirit operating in them.
Beloved, it is high time we guard that which we obtained from salvation jealously. It is only those who make their body the true repository of the Holy Spirit that have the hope of the redemption of their body on the day of redemption. If through the lust of the flesh we allow the soul to be corrupted to act against God, then will redemption be lost on the particular being. It is the mind of God that our redemption be total. The beauty of retaining the Holy Spirit is multiple. First, we start to be led by the Spirit and qualify to be called sons of God; the Spirit cannot lead us into unnecessary danger and even when we fall into danger, He is able to see us through it; the peace with which we carry our entire being when the Holy Spirit is in charge, passes all understanding; and the Holy Spirit would not allow the vessel in whom He dwells to be defeated by the enemy, particularly when the abode is suiting. It is time to forego the luring of the flesh and hold tenaciously to the leading of the Spirit. Thereby, we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh which leads to death.
SOLUTION: Flee from every lust that grieves the Holy Spirit that dwells in you. If you allow Him to vacate, you may not have Him restored easily. To obey is better than sacrifice.
Please pray: Father, I know that because of the weakness of my body the enemy is hitting my soul from that angle. Please help me to yield only to your Spirit in me and never to the flesh, in the name of Jesus Christ. Please keep me holy and worthy temple of the Holy Spirit till the day of redemption, dear Lord, in Jesus’ name. Let the benefit of being led by the Spirit never elude me, O God, in Jesus’ name.
If you are blessed by this post, kindly share with your contacts, as well as others, that they may be blessed also. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly as you do so, in Jesus’ name.
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