
1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
The Apostle Paul is a living example of living in the flow of Holy Spirit. Paul relied on the Spirit of God to lead him from place to place. When Paul would come into an area or community he first went to the synagogue (church building) and when they rejected his teachings he would then go to a believer's house and share the gospel with all who would listen. In the above scripture Paul exposes his weakness and his strength. Paul's weakness was that he wasn't so much a person with persuasive words of wisdom, but Paul demonstrated the power of the Holy Spirit by sharing one simple message. That message was Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and the Holy Spirit did the rest.
One thing about living a Spirit-filled life. It is a life that relies solely on the Spirit of God and not on what we can do. The message from that kind of life will not be manipulated from outside resources or opinions, but it will take the simple message of Christ crucified and turn hearts toward God. In human reasoning we would have trouble with this, but in God's way of doing things it makes perfect sense. In our humanistic way of thinking we actually begin to "believe the press clippings" of what God is doing through us. When in reality those things we manipulate into existense soon fall away empty and lifeless. But when the Holy Spirit moves in a persons life there is a depth of conviction and a passion for God that cannot be explained or duplicated by anything in human wisdom. We cannot live without the Holy Spirit guiding us and to live in the flow of the Holy Spirit is real and lasting. Jesus spoke to this very subject in John 7 where He says 37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
That is the kind of flow I must live in to live the abundant life as promised by Jesus. In that flow I receive comfort in times of trouble; direction for what to do in certain circumstances, and wisdom in making life decisions. This is the power to live my life and for the sanctification process to bring me closer to what God intends for my life. This is the "seeking" heart that keeps seeking God, keeps asking God, and keeps knocking on the door.
In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For believers living in that "flow" is the only way to go. Here is Paul's conclusion of living that kind of life later in chapter 2 of first Corinthians 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. You may be a little misunderstood when you commit to live your life in the flow of the Holy Spirit, but don't despair because that is where true wisdom lies.
The Pilgrimage Continues......
David Warren
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