Spirit Sponge Living

Hebrews 3 has a lot to say about what we are to be letting into our lives and the following scripture details it out really good. Hebrews 3: 5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. 7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness. 9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years, 10 So I was angry with them, and I said, Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ 11 So in my anger I took an oath: They will never enter my place of rest.’

I have said for years “garbage in garbage out, Spirit in Spirit out”. This definitely is not original with me. It is totally Bible based. In verse 9 it speaks to continued doubting and disobedience to following God’s direction through the Holy Spirit. The people had hardened, not receptive hearts and minds, but hardened against being receptive to God’s voice and going their own way in their own reasoning. Our reasoning is flawed at best!!! Pride causes us to trust in our own reasoning and that end result will be a life that is far away from God. For believers this should never be because Jesus left us the Holy Spirit to guide us and empower us in our lives. In other words ,we should be “Spiritual Sponges” and let the Lord direct us in our steps. We should absorb the teaching of the Word of God and follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in every area of our lives. You may say “When should this receptive attitude take place in my life? NOW!!! We have no excuse for continuing in a life that has nominal faith as its witness. We should be seen as people who believe God with a strong faith and that strong faith comes from a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.l. WARNING….WARNING…. The Holy Spirit will radically change your perspective on life and you will enter into a victorious life of belief that will be mocked by some, and judged by others. Just remember, the Holy Spirit will be in charge and all we need do is let Him be the controlling force in our life. DO NOT BE AFRAID!! The Holy Spirit will line everything up in conjunction with the Word of God!! Too many times we are suspicious about releasing our life to the Holy Spirit and that doubt confines what the Lord is trying to do in our lives. Too many times we try to restrict and manipulate the Holy Spirit and do this whole thing “my way” but that cannot happen. Half-hearted faith is the basic problem anyway so don’t do it.

Just remember this. When you do release control of your life to the Holy Spirit you need to let Him control every part of your life so you won’t fall off the deep end which is generated by our own perception of what should happen. In Hebrews 3:12-14 says 12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. The Message translation says it like this; 12-14 So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. We still deal with the old nature trying to distort what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. Verse 12 speaks to that warning very well. Too many times we see the extremes of people speaking about the Holy Spirit in their lives and we see things that scare us and confuse us as to how we should perceive the Holy Spirit working in our lives. I go back to scripture and even in today’s verse the Bible says “Don’t harden your hearts!” In other words, “open your hearts!” Jesus spoke to the heart thing in this way “21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” What do you treasure? Do you treasure your relationship with your Heavenly Father? Then deepen that relationship!!

Treasure (def)-wealth. I like to watch Expedition Unknown with Josh Gates. From time to time Josh will try to hunt down some treasure he heard about and usually the end result is “he doesn’t find it.” Our treasure is right here with us and we should access that wealth of forgiveness and Holy Spirit intervention and realize more and more the power of the Holy Spirit. Just remember the words of Jesus in John 14: 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

Time to start “living in the Spirit” and let Him have total control for everything you say and do. That is the Spirit-filled life.

The Pilgrimage continues….

David Warren