{"id":3208,"date":"2023-11-30T07:45:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T12:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2023-11-30T07:46:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T12:46:29","slug":"the-spirit-reassures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/30\/the-spirit-reassures\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit Reassures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here<\/a>

During the month of November, we\u2019re taking a look at 21 essential activities of the Holy Spirit, who represents God\u2019s presence in and through every follower of Jesus.<\/em>
 
There aren\u2019t many movies in which the hero is a pig.
 
Babe<\/em> is that wonderful exception. 
 
In Chris Noonan\u2019s 1995 feature film, a humble pig who lives on the Hoggett family farm yearns to be useful.  Having narrowly escaped becoming the main course for Christmas dinner, Babe impresses Farmer Hoggett with his ability to sort the brown hens from the white ones.  Could a pig possibly learn how to herd sheep?
 
Babe does just that, even though seemingly everyone around him \u2013 from sheep to dogs to humans \u2013 thinks the whole idea is ridiculous, even insulting.  Only Farmer Hoggett believes in Babe without reservation. 
 
In the film\u2019s climactic scene, Farmer Hoggett enters Babe in a national sheepherding competition.  His wife is mortified.  The assembled crowd laughs.  The uptight judges want nothing to do such a spectacle, only to discover there\u2019s nothing in the rulebook that expressly forbids a pig from playing the role usually reserved for a border collie.  
 
In a magical moment, Babe is entrusted with the sacred password that, when spoken to sheep, always wins their trust.  He puts them in perfect order and is acclaimed as grand champion.  In the movie\u2019s final frames, Babe looks up at Famer Hoggett, who looks down with a smile at his extraordinary sheep-pig and says, with gentleness and affection, \u201cThat\u2019ll do, Pig. That\u2019ll do.\u201d
 
Those are the words all of us long to hear.
 
Well, maybe not precisely those<\/em> words.  But as author and professor Kevin DeYoung puts it, all of us long for our Father in heaven to look down upon us with a smile, then hear him say, \u201cThat\u2019ll do, my child.  That\u2019ll do.\u201d  We yearn to hear again that we are the treasured children of a Parent who will never abandon us, and who loves us without reservation. 
 
Such reassurance is central to the work of the Holy Spirit.
 
Paul writes to the young believers at Rome, \u201cFor those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, \u2018Abba,<\/em> Father.\u2019 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God\u2019s children\u201d (Romans 8:14-16).
 
It\u2019s impossible to overstate the significance of those statements.
 
It\u2019s entirely understandable that people who surrender their lives to an invisible God may have doubts and misgivings from time to time \u2013 not to mention doubts and misgivings that last a very long time.  The Spirit is the inner voice that whispers, \u201cRemember God\u2019s Word.  You can trust that you are loved, chosen, forgiven, and blessed.  No matter what you\u2019re feeling right now, you\u2019re entirely safe in God\u2019s care.\u201d 
 
As our month-long spotlight on the Holy Spirit comes to an end, it\u2019s fair to ask: Is there an \u201cexperience of the Spirit\u201d that we\u2019re supposed to be seeking?
 
Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians have traditionally said, \u201cYes!  Everyone should seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit\u201d \u2013 something that might be accompanied by the receipt of a special supernatural gift, like speaking in tongues.
 
But the New Testament authors tell us, unequivocally, that the baptism of the Spirit is not a \u201csecond blessing\u201d that needs to be sought.  Instead, it\u2019s the universal experience of all those who become followers of Jesus.  If you have opened your heart to Christ, the Spirit now lives within you (John 7:37-39). 
 
That\u2019s the Spirit\u2019s baptism.  If you have Jesus, you also have the Spirit.  Period.<\/em> 
 
That being said, there are two ongoing \u201cexperiences of the Spirit\u201d that should indeed capture our attention.
 
One is a warning.  \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit\u201d (Ephesians 4:30), along with, \u201cDo not quench the Spirit\u201d (I Thessalonians 5:19).  These are Paul\u2019s reminders that just as children have the power to break their parents\u2019 hearts by their attitudes and decisions, our words and actions can bring sadness to our Father in heaven.  We don\u2019t cease to be his kids, but we should always remember we\u2019re called to higher things. 
 
The other Spirit-experience is a positive command.  Paul asserts in Ephesians 5:18:  \u201cDo not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit.\u201d
 
There\u2019s a reason that alcoholic drinks are called \u201cspirits.\u201d  When they enter our bloodstream, they can take momentary command of our lives.  Paul recommends yielding to a different Spirit.  We can glean at least four worthy insights from the Greek verb plerousthe<\/em> (\u201cbe filled\u201d):
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. It\u2019s in the imperative mood<\/strong>, which means \u201cthis is a command, not a recommendation.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. It\u2019s in the plural form<\/strong>, which means \u201cthis command is for everyone.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. It\u2019s in the passive voice<\/strong>, which means \u201cthis filling happens to<\/u><\/em> you; you don\u2019t fill yourself.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. It\u2019s in the present tense<\/strong>, which means \u201ckeep on doing this.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    There are untranslatable treasures in the Greek language that simply don\u2019t emerge in English.  When a Greek verb is in what is known as the \u201caorist\u201d tense, it usually denotes a one-time action.  For example, a statement like, \u201cYou should put up your Christmas tree this week\u201d would be in the aorist tense.  Your tree only goes up once. 

    But if the verb \u201cput up\u201d happens to be in the present tense, a Greek-speaking person might hear, \u201cYou should put up your Christmas tree 52 times this year\u201d \u2013 that is, every single week.  

    Paul is telling us, \u201cBe filled with the Spirit \u2013 that is, invite the Spirit once again to rule in your heart \u2013 and choose to do this again and again and again.\u201d 

    Why does this matter?

    Life\u2019s ultimate goal is that we might live every moment in a joyful awareness of God\u2019s presence, so that God himself might be glorified, and that his work in us might bless others.  My life goes best when I am filled with the Spirit and my thoughts are preoccupied with him.

    What I find, unfortunately, is that I am constantly thinking about myself.  That takes no effort whatsoever.

    When I wake up in the morning, I immediately begin to think about me<\/em> \u2013 my appointments for the day, my aches and pains, my worries about money, my need to hear the weather forecast and last night\u2019s basketball scores, and my fear that I won\u2019t have anything compelling to share the next time I try to write.  Me, me, me<\/em>.  Apart from a specific plan to set my mind on the things of God, all I think about are the things of Me \u2013 which means I am defeating the very purpose for which God brought me into the world.

    But when I am filled (and then refilled) with the Holy Spirit, I experience a different kind of life \u2013 one that draws me, slowly but surely, back under the canopy of God\u2019s grace. 

    How do we experience this?

    It\u2019s not complicated. 

    Choose to be still.  Calm your mind as best you can.  Pray simply, perhaps with palms upturned: \u201cLord, please fill me again with your Holy Spirit.  And help me walk in the power of your Spirit all day long.\u201d

    Or you might quietly sing the simple revival hymn that’s now almost 100 years old:

    Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me<\/em>
    Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
    Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me
    Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me<\/em>

    We can never open ourselves like that often enough.

    Nor will any of us ever grow tired of hearing the life-giving words that reassure us of our Father\u2019s love:

    \u201cThat\u2019ll do, my child.  That\u2019ll do.\u201d <\/em>
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here During the month of November, we\u2019re taking a look at 21 essential activities of the Holy Spirit, who represents God\u2019s presence in and through every follower of Jesus. There aren\u2019t many movies in which the hero is a pig. Babe is that wonderful exception.  In Chris Noonan\u2019s 1995 feature film, a humble pig who… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[660,661,352],"class_list":["post-3208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-assurance","tag-filling","tag-holy-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3211,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions\/3211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}