Think Spot

Monday Think Spot

14 April 2014

Filled With The Spirit

Ephesians 5:18-19 “Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts.”
Now we might think of being filled with Holy Spirit as a one time occurrence, I grew up Pentecostal so in doing so it was more than a one time occurrence, because you know one thing the Pentecostals have is the Spirit. Even more than that, in our every day walk Christ is in us, Holy Spirit is there. He’s our comforter. Christ said that He had to leave so that the comforter could come. And as I bring this message to you this morning, I just want to share with you that our comforter is with us, ever present and we just have to lean into Him.



This past week was a very hard week for me as the son of some friends of mine was murdered last weekend. So I spent a lot of time grieving this weekend and last week but in this grief, it was a time for me to withdraw. Normally I am very socially active on Facebook and other social media and everything. I have several prayer groups that I am a part of and a few other communities that I am a part of; but I retreated. I wasn’t online as much but in doing so, it did cause some people to worry about me and I apologize for that worry, but this was a time that I needed to cry out to Holy Spirit to comfort me, to bring a message to me and to bring peace to me. And in my retreat that is what I did.



I stayed in the Word, and I just cried out to God to send that comforter to me. I listened to praise and worship music, things that would soothe my soul. In doing so, I have come to the other side. I’m not completely through the grieving process because grief does come as a process, just like forgiveness. It is multifaceted and it is a journey.



But I did not become stuck in this journey. I’m not stuck in the mud. It’s very easy when we lose something whether it’s a job, a family member, or a pet to become stuck in that grief. But as we take action then we can continue to move through it.



That is what I want to talk with you about: The action that I took was going into prayer, staying in my prayer closet. I could not do things as ordinary. I had to be a little different; I had to take a different stance in order to bring comfort and healing to my soul. I had to welcome Holy Spirit to do His work there.



There may be many of you out there this morning that are facing loss; again, loss covers a multitude of things. Typically when we think of grief we only think of losing a loved one but you know grief...my father in law is experiencing grief because he had a stroke last October. Before his stroke he was very independent now he has to rely on others a lot more than he ever did. But he has come a long way. He can do some things for himself. But where he’s not a hundred percent independent any more, that is a loss that he has suffered and he is experiencing grief and I am trying to help him through that; to help him realize that each time he does therapy he is taking action to heal in that grief and to recover from that grief.



When we think of grief, a lot of times people will say, “Give it time, it will get better. Time heals.” I’m sorry you all, I’m going to be honest, time does not heal anything. It just doesn’t! Not sure about that? Walk outside, if your tire is flat, pull up a chair and sit down beside that flat tire and wait on time to put air back in that tire. Time is not going to do that. It’s not going to replace the air in your tire. That is an action YOU have to take in order to continue your journey and grief works in much the same way. We have to take action. For me it is going to prayer, going for a walk, making myself eat because I don’t find comfort in food. I tend to do the opposite of a lot of other people and where a lot of people turn to food, I turn away from it. So, just the little steps of preparing a salad, things like that are things that move us or progress us further into the journey so that we can come out victorious on the other side. And we don’t have to do it alone because Holy Spirit is right there doing it with us.



So let’s close in prayer this morning. Father I thank you that Jesus died on the cross for us. I thank you that He told the disciples, “It is expedient for Me to go so that the comforter can come.” And I thank you that Holy Spirit does come and pray for us when we are too bogged down to even have words to pray, that He brings us comfort and that He brings us peace in these trying times. I thank you for this, I thank you for your love for us because it is your love for us that prepared this for us.



And I thank you, Father, for the opportunity to be connected with Partakers, with each ministry that is taking place there, with their prayer team. I thank you for each listener that comes every Monday morning to hear Think Spot, and each day throughout the week for the other messages. I just thank you, Father, for the divine appointments that You have put together here, for the way that you are using the internet to reach others and I just ask you to bless each listener abundantly. Rain your peace upon them, send the comforter to them and guide them down the journeys that they face this week. I ask you to place a hedge of protection around each one.



Blessed are You, Adonai, God our provider, God of peace, God of comfort, God of love. In Jesus name I pray, amen. Thank you for joining me today. I pray that you will come back tomorrow and the next day and the next day and be blessed with each message that is brought to you this with. And with that being said, may God rain his blessings and favor on you this week. Good day mates!



Right Mouse click to save this as an audio mp3 file

~Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!