Responding to the Inward Leadership of the Holy Spirit! - Eph. 4:30

"22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Eph. 4:22-32

Earlier in the book of Ephesians we find that a people's hearts is darkened by their ignorance of God which ultimately comes from the hardening of the heart.

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts."
Eph. 4:18

A hard heart is a heart that listens to self over God. A hard heart will pursue its own desires despite the inward call of the Holy Spirit to something honorable. At the core of a hard heart is "me", and at the core of a soft heart is Christ! This is the essence of a believer's life... The "I" part of me "has been crucified with Christ" and the "I" part of me "no longer lives, but Christ lives in me." Therefore I no longer live for "me" but for Christ... "who loved me and gave Himself for me.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

I say all that to capture where the Holy Spirit is trying to lead you. He is leading you to a place where Christ is greater in your lives and the "you" part of you is less. Grieving the Holy Spirit is getting in the way of that process. The Holy Spirit wants to lead you into something or out of something and you resist. One of the great things about the Spirit of God is that He was given to us to guide us and lead us into truth, but so often His leadership is ignored and we do our own thing.

What would it be like if we would covet to be obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives? How would our lives be different if we were quick to respond to Him as He leads us? So often we lean on the crutch of "well, after all I am human," and I agree that we are not perfect people, however, that excuse is a cop-out. God has told us in His Word that He has given us everything we need to for life and godliness. He also has told us that if we live by the Spirit we have the ability to not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. While it is true that perfection is not probable, moving toward perfection is the reality to which we are called, and we can do this because we have the Holy Spirit! We need Him!

So how do we live in such a way as to not grieve the Holy Spirit? First of all, understand that this is a process, so if you fall... get back up! Second, we have to realign our thinking about ourselves to match truth. We need to constantly remind ourselves that living for "me" does not fit our new identity... we were called to live for Jesus! It starts in our thinking, and then we have to ask God for the courage to face our sinful desires and say "NO! THAT IS NOT WHO I AM!" Finally, we need to have sensitive ears as the Holy Spirit leads us from within the core of our being... and be obedient.

So don't grieve the Holy Spirit, but rather embrace His leadership as He leads you to become like Jesus!

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