Has the Holy Spirit left me?

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you. - NLT

I heard someone talking about this the other day and it really got me thinking. I have been chewing on their words for a while now and it has really encouraged me. It has also challenged me.

In this passage King David has written a prayer to God after having been caught in sin with Bathsheba.

Psalm 51: 1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge. – NIV

David knows he is in sin and he feels the separation this sin has caused between him and God. He cries out in verse 11 “…don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.” This is the part that I want to address.

At the time that David was writing this we know that Christ had yet to walk the earth. He had yet to die for us and ascend to Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father. At this time the Holy Spirit had not been released to dwell within us on the earth. Because of this David did not have the same in dwelling of the Holy Spirit that Christians have today.

In the Old Testament and even in the first parts of the New Testament Gospels there are references of different times when the Holy Spirit or “Spirit of God” was released into the lives of people. These releases were for the accomplishment of certain task in the service of God. These releases were usually temporary except in an example such as John the Baptist who was “…filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.” (Luke 1:14 NIV).

David did not have a permanent in dwelling of the Holy Spirit. When he sinned the Holy Spirit would have left him. He new this and he was desperate to have the Holy Spirit restored to him. David never wanted to have this experience again; he never wanted the Holy Spirit “taken” from him again.

This portion of David’s prayer does not have to be said now; it does not pertain to a person who has accepted Jesus Christ as his or her Savior. Look at what Jesus says in the following scripture:

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. - NKJV

Jesus promised that he would send us a Helper and He would abide in us forever. God will never take the Holy Spirit from us, He will never leave us. “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV)

It doesn’t matter what we have done or what we will do. We have a promise that He will not leave us. His love is unconditional and we can do nothing to make Him love us less. We can also do nothing to make Him love us more. So we do not have to ask the Holy Spirit to return to us or to not leave us once we have Him in us.

However; our sin, if left unrepented, can cause our hearts to become hardened toward God and the Holy Spirit. This drives a wedge between us and makes us less sensitive to them. In John 10:4 Jesus said “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (NIV) When we sin and our hearts become hardened it is almost like putting cotton balls in our ears to the voice of the Father. His voice will first become muffled and eventually be nonexistent in our lives. This causes a feeling of being abandoned but it is us who has abandoned the Holy Spirit, not the other way around.

Also, the guilt and condemnation that we feel from our sin causes us to feel separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is not because they have left us, it is because we have turned away from them and built a wall between us and them. The longer we continue to live in this sin the wall becomes higher and deeper and our hearts get harder and harder. We must repent of any sin in our lives and repentance involves more than just saying “I am sorry”. It requires a 180 degree change, a complete turning away from the sin. This repentance will tear down the walls that we have built. Repentance brings restoration of the relationship with the Holy Spirit.

While it may feel like the Holy Spirit has left us we must rest assured that He hasn’t and never will. The Lord promises “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:8 NIV) The passage continues with “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” So repentance and a movement by us toward God and the Holy Spirit will mend the rift between us.

Remember, the Holy Spirit will not leave you. Your prayer should be one of repentance not “where did God go?” Jesus died on the Cross and took all of our sins, future, and past, suffering the ultimate pain of His Father forsaking Him. He suffered this pain for us so we would not have to. If we turn our hearts to God and make them ready for Him to change them, to soften them, He will turn to us and the relationship will be restored.

"Shameless Persistence"

Today's verse of the day says "Ask, seek, and knock". In the Amplified Bible it says to "ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking..." (Matthew 7) This means that we are to follow God with, as John Bevere said, "Shameless Persistence".

James 5:16 – 18 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

AMP James 5:16b The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

AMP 20Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]--

According to the Bible there is a power available to us and working in us. What is this power and how does this power become available to us? It is the power of the Holy Spirit and it becomes available as we seek God with our whole hearts, earnestly, fervently, with “Shameless Persistence”.

Go back to the example the Apostle James gave, Elijah.

1 Kings 18:1 Later on, in the third year of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!” 2 So Elijah went to appear before Ahab.
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!”
42 So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.
43 Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.”
The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.”
Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. 44 Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’”

God told Elijah that the rain was coming. Elijah even told the King Ahab that he heard a storm, yet Elijah still went and prayed for God to send rain. He had to send his servant to look for the rain seven times.

What would have happened if after the first, or second, or even sixth time he would have given up? How many times in my life have I given up after the fifth time or, dare I say, the first time? I think I often have more faith in my hot water heater that I do in God. When I turn on the hot water at the faucet do I turn it off if I don’t immediately get hot water out of it? No I leave it on and wait because I know the hot water heater will produce hot water.

Jesus spoke more about this, He told his disciples, through the parable of the Unjust Judge, in Luke 18:1 – 8 to pray and do not lose heart.

AMP ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).

In this parable the woman, through “Shameless Persistence” went before the judge over and over again until he finally gave her what she was seeking.

As I asked in my earlier post, what are we going to do when the storm comes? We must stand on the rock and press in! We must run the race with endurance and not lose heart!

God is an awesome God and He is a good God. And he is working in and through us, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13 NKJV) But it is for His purpose and in His timing.

If you are praying for the salvation of your children, if you are praying for a job, no matter what your situation is do not lose heart. Knock and keep knocking, pray and keep praying and no matter what happens you must praise Him and acknowledge He is God.

We are in a battleground not a playground. Why else would God have given us armor? Therefore, we must fight the enemy and never let our down our guard. Satan is persistent too, he will continue shooting his fiery darts at us just for that one instance we lose heart and drop the shield of faith.

Remember it is not “if” we face trials, but “when”. Jesus says we will suffer for righteousness sake. We cannot stand still in our relationship with God, we will always be moving, it will either be forward or backward. The currents of this world are always trying to pull us backward and we must fight against it. In the times when it seams that we are moving the slowest, and fighting the hardest against the currents around us, we are experiencing the most growth but only if we are in continual, earnest, heartfelt prayer.

This post was inspired by a message I heard from John Bevere entitle "Shameless Persistence".

Am I sowing to the flesh or the Spirit?

Today's verse of the day, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8), is another example of not being focused on what can be done to help me. I have to stop sowing to the flesh and sow to the Spirit. If I am sowing to the Spirit it will continue to give me the strength to stand in the difficult times.

I watched "Facing the Giants" again last night. I need to be determined to praise God even when I lose not just when I win. No matter what my situation is He is still God and I am always devoted to Him.

Will I stand or be washed away?

I believe the church has become fixated by the “Drive Thru Break Through” mind set.  We pull up to the “great heavenly prayer speaker” and place our order, “I would like an order of healing with a side of finances, but please hold the discipline and correction. Oh, and could you please hurry up, the Super Bowl is about to come on.”

Yes, Jesus said “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.  He also said in Matt 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

We have become too wrapped up in “what does this mean for me?”  Not to mention how concerned we are about offending a guest that comes through the door.  How far do we go to make the church “relevant”?  Wearing jeans and a t-shirt to church is one thing but sacrificing the truth is another.

Mark 10:17  Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”^[c]
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
²² But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

How would that message have gone over in churches today?  The church board would have come to Jesus and told Him, “You can’t offend a rich man like that.  Just think of all the tithes he would have brought.  One more message like that and we will have to replace you.”

Just look at these other passages from the Bible (all emphasis is mine):

Matt 16:24  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul?

Matt 6:19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

 ²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

 ²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

 ³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

And remember Romans 14: 17 The Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink but righteousness peace and joy.

So often we quote Romans 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  But do we bother to read what “in all these things” is talking about. 

We must read the whole chapter to be sure we want to claim it.

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

 ⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

 ⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

 ¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

 ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

 ²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. ²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ...

 ³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

 ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I know I am a joint heir with Christ.  I no I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  I know that God is a good God.  He is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent.  His word will not return to Him void.  His promises are yes and amen.

In Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before the king and said that they knew God would save them but even if He didn’t they would not bow because God is the only true God.  In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul said that he had asked God 3 times to take his thorn in the flesh away but then God spoke to him and said that no matter what, God’s grace is sufficient.  And that in his weakness God is made strong.  And Paul said in vs. 10 “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We can become so focused on the “Hall of Fame of Faith” from Hebrews 11, but do we read to the end and actually pay attention to vs. 35 – 38.  When you are complaining about being laid off and asking “how could God have let this happen to me?” just think about this

35 … But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. ³⁶ Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. ³⁷ Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. ³⁸ They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

Even the situations I have gotten myself into are miniscule compared to what others have faced.  I have sinned and found myself having to suffer the consequences.  I have also suffered greatly because of other peoples decisions.  But notice that the people Paul spoke of in Hebrews were “too good for this world” and they were “destitute oppressed and mistreated.”  Were they any less worthy than me to have the “good life”?

What about Stephen, in the book of Acts?  Acts 6: 5 ... Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit)… vs. 9… Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.  Was he not as worthy as me for God’s blessings?  But he is stoned to death for preaching the Gospel.

Consider the Apostles all but one of which was martyred.  Peter was crucified, but it is told in history that he felt so unworthy of his Lord and Savior that he could not die like Him.  He requested to be hung upside down on the cross.  James and Paul were both beheaded.  The only one not to die as a martyr, John, had many attempts made to execute him.  It is said that he was dipped into a large vat of boiling oil!  He was then exiled and lived out the remainder of his life in solitude.

If that had been me would I have been able to write the book of Revelation?  Would I have been able to hear anything from God or would I have been to busy throwing a pity party and saying “I am supposed to be more than a conqueror, why am I here?”

Jesus spoke many times of tribulations that we would endure for His name.  James said “to count it all joy when you fall into various trials”.  Not just count it “some joy” or even mope around and cry about it.

What we have to learn is that the victorious and conquering life is not just about having stuff or being comfortable.  In Romans 8, as stated earlier, it says that we are supposed to conquer sin through Him.  We are supposed to be victorious over everything with which the enemy comes at us.  We are supposed to build our house on the Rock of Jesus so that when, not if, the storms of life come at us we can stand on it, not just hide behind it.

What is more important, having a nice car and house or being victorious over that sin that you continue to struggle with?  What is more important, having the latest fashion or gadget, or standing up in the face of the enemy when you are persecuted for His name?  What is more important, gaining the whole world or your soul?

The church in this wonderful nation, the United States of America, has become oblivious to many things.  Are we aware of how other Christians struggle throughout the world? Are we aware that the same things could happen to us?  We are consumed with prosperity and living a perfect life and when it doesn’t happen we become disappointed with God.  Do we know that in certain countries if you profess Christ as your Savior your family will hold a funeral for you and consider you dead?  People are beaten and murdered every day just for being a Christian.  Do you think they care what kind of shoes you wear?  Do you think those people who were sawed in half as described in Hebrews 11 would have cared what kind of car you drive?  Do you think that any one in the congregation in China that was forced to fill a trough with their urine so the persecutors could drown their pastor in it was thinking about how soon he could by a 52 inch flat panel TV?

Yes, God wants His children to be blessed.  However, I believe that the Body of Christ in the U.S. is about to enter its most difficult and darkest time.  The Bible talks about persecution all over the world and we have never had to face it here.  The signs of the end times are all around us.  Society is becoming more and more degraded and vial.  It is already illegal, in many countries, to call certain acts or lifestyles sin (homosexuality for one).  There are already attempts to pass “hate crimes” bills in our own congress which would make it nearly impossible to confront someone for their sin.  I believe it is going to become harder and harder to proclaim the Gospel.  I believe that this is going to be a time that the church will be separated as wheat from the chaff.  That those who have built upon the rock will stand and those who didn’t will be washed away.

If this happens what are we going to do?  Are we going to be victorious and say that “His grace is sufficient” no matter what happens to us?  Are we going to say, as those young men in the Book of Daniel, “We know God is mighty enough to rescue us and even if He doesn’t we will never bow to anyone or anything else”?  And even if it is sickness or poverty, can we still say “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us”?

There are also those in the church that think they are too unworthy for any of God’s promises and refuse to believe that He would do anything for them.  I will leave that for another discussion.

My very first post!

I plan for this blog to be a place where I can discuss my concern for lost souls including those who are in church but really have no idea what it means to live a life committed to Christ.  I believe it is time for those who have chosen to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior to stand up and have their voices heard!  I welcome all comments and criticism but if profanity, vulgarity, or blasphemy is used it will be immediately deleted.


Matthew 3