Discouragement, confusion, fear... These things are
obviously not associated with the Holy Spirit.
Why then, if we're walking daily with the Lord, faithful in seeking Him, not changing our "routine", do we find ourselves lacking or dry?
For one, personally, I find that I'm still more wrapped up in the flesh than I thought I was; that I rely, still, on seeing and feeling rather than believing.
Why? Why, after seeing so much of God at work, do we find ourselves in this position?
Well we can at least take heart in knowing that even the disciples went through this...
"Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:22-25 NASB)
This was right after, in the previous chapter, that Jesus healed a man from a distance just by a word & raising a young man from the dead...
Why were they still so fearful of the storm? Because they relied on the person, Jesus, to come do something! But His response wasn't "why are you so worried? I'm right here. I would've gotten around to it!" No, in fact it was "WHERE is your faith?" Well, where was it? Wrapped up in the man, Jesus, rather in God.
We forget that while Jesus walked the earth, He was fully man. Yes He was the Son of God, but that's just it. He was not walking the earth as God, but as a fleshly man who fully relied on His Father, not Himself (let alone another man.) He spent His whole time here pointing to the Father! "Don't look at me, look at My Father!"
So where was their faith? It was NOT in God, but the man, Jesus.
We now, in some ways have it harder because we don't have the man, Jesus, to point us to the Father... We do have some men we can look to, who can seem as if we're watching Jesus, but they're merely men as well, following their Father. But we do have the Holy Spirit...
Does that mean we should be on a 24/7 spiritual high? "Heck yesss!" ...actually, no.
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB)
We're BEING transformed... And from glory to glory. It's a process of trusting even when the fleshly responses set in.
When the Glory comes, take it in...ALL of it. And in the in-between-time, rest in that. Remember it. Muse on it. Because there will soon be another Glory.
He (not the man, but GOD) will calm the storm if you ask. And then at some point, YOU will calm the storm, because we will have been transformed into His image.
Let today, whether you're on a high or a low, be fully the Lord's. Regardless of your situation, He is God and He is GOOD.
Why then, if we're walking daily with the Lord, faithful in seeking Him, not changing our "routine", do we find ourselves lacking or dry?
For one, personally, I find that I'm still more wrapped up in the flesh than I thought I was; that I rely, still, on seeing and feeling rather than believing.
Why? Why, after seeing so much of God at work, do we find ourselves in this position?
Well we can at least take heart in knowing that even the disciples went through this...
"Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:22-25 NASB)
This was right after, in the previous chapter, that Jesus healed a man from a distance just by a word & raising a young man from the dead...
Why were they still so fearful of the storm? Because they relied on the person, Jesus, to come do something! But His response wasn't "why are you so worried? I'm right here. I would've gotten around to it!" No, in fact it was "WHERE is your faith?" Well, where was it? Wrapped up in the man, Jesus, rather in God.
We forget that while Jesus walked the earth, He was fully man. Yes He was the Son of God, but that's just it. He was not walking the earth as God, but as a fleshly man who fully relied on His Father, not Himself (let alone another man.) He spent His whole time here pointing to the Father! "Don't look at me, look at My Father!"
So where was their faith? It was NOT in God, but the man, Jesus.
We now, in some ways have it harder because we don't have the man, Jesus, to point us to the Father... We do have some men we can look to, who can seem as if we're watching Jesus, but they're merely men as well, following their Father. But we do have the Holy Spirit...
Does that mean we should be on a 24/7 spiritual high? "Heck yesss!" ...actually, no.
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB)
We're BEING transformed... And from glory to glory. It's a process of trusting even when the fleshly responses set in.
When the Glory comes, take it in...ALL of it. And in the in-between-time, rest in that. Remember it. Muse on it. Because there will soon be another Glory.
He (not the man, but GOD) will calm the storm if you ask. And then at some point, YOU will calm the storm, because we will have been transformed into His image.
Let today, whether you're on a high or a low, be fully the Lord's. Regardless of your situation, He is God and He is GOOD.
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