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Have you ever known someone who was so obviously in love with Jesus
that it made you feel like something was wrong with you because you
didn’t feel like you “lived up” to that level of intimacy with the
Lord? We have all been there! But the good news is, there is a way past
that. Let’s look at it…
 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)
There are many fringe benefits in our inheritance as believers and followers of Jesus Christ (the Bible calls these benefits rewards). One of the key rewards is that possible for human beings to love God the way that God loves God. But this doesn’t happen automatically. In order for this reality to be ours, we must have an ever increasing connection with the Holy Spirit on the heart level.
Why?
Because the Person of the Holy Spirit, the Third member of the Trinity is the One who comes to dwell in us at our conversion and Who desires to gives us the power to love God.Our involvement and interaction with the Holy Spirit is always dramatic spiritually, but not necessarily in an emotional way, but in is still a consuming reality. He is called Holy Spirit – He is holy. Our interaction with Him has to be in the context of being Holy.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
Holiness is not wearing your hair in a tight bun, or wearing dresses, or not wearing makeup or any number of outward, cosmetic dynamics that many have mistakenly identified as holiness. Holiness is not a religion, or simply a form of legalism – a list of dos and don’ts that we have to subscribe to and adhere to in order keep from being “rejected” by God. Neither is it a system of meritorious works whereby we “work” our way to God, or work to “earn” God’s love or approval.
Holiness is an inner reality that can best be defined as we love what God loves and we hate what God hates. If the things you enjoy are the things that God enjoys, then you are holy. If the things we enjoy aren’t in sync with the Lord’s enjoyments, then we will not “see” the Lord. Not seeing the Lord is primarily talking about seeing Him in heaven after we leave this earth – though if our lack of holiness doesn’t eventually sync up with God, we could possibly find ourselves missing heaven. But that isn’t what the writer of Hebrews was saying.
The point that he was making is this; if we aren’t walking in agreement with God, on the heart level, we will not see, or experience, God’s realities as our reality while here on earth. And if we don’t eventually come into agreement (Amos 3:3 NKJ) with God’s heart and desires, we could end up facing some severe repercussions, both here on earth, in this age and in the age to come.
Holiness, or agreeing with God, or sharing the same value system with God is something we must do all day, every day, with every area of our life, and with every issue in our lives. Beloved, it really does matter what we place before our eyes, the words that we say, and what we do with our time, money, etc.
If we live our lives “out of sync” with God’s heart, values and priorities, the result is that we find ourselves with a “dull” spirit. A dull spirit causes spiritual realities to seem “unreal”, insignificant or unnecessary to us. The Bible call this reality being deceived. Many today, in our postmodern society, hold value systems that are more like those in the world than those taught and modeled throughout the Scriptures. And as a result, many hunger for God, but their experience is the opposite of their desires.
The good news is that we do not have to be remain in the dilemma of going day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, or decade after decade without experiencing growth in empirical love for God and living with a spirit of regret – feeling disconnected from God but wishing we were connected to Him. The good news is there is a better way that we can live. But there is a requirement on our part before we can experience what our hearts crave for. We must have a daily, vital, living connection with the Person of the Holy Spirit.
The ministry and activity of the Holy Spirit in and upon our inner man is dynamic and powerful. It will not always be emotional, but even when He is working in us in subtlety, it is real.
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S LEADERSHIP
When we say yes to Jesus, when we believe the Gospel of the Kingdom, and as a result we are justified (a simple definition of justified is it is “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned) and sanctified (a fancy word for set apart – we are set apart, separated FROM sin and set apart, or separated TO and FOR God). The Bible call this process being born again, or being born from above (John 3:3). When we are born from above, a spiritual rebirth, then God the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of our spirit (1 Cor. 12:3, 1 Cor.3:6).
God expects us, as believers, to treat our new “house guest” in an appropriate manner by developing a relationship with Him. One of the key ingredients to having a healthy relationship with the Person of the Holy Spirit is by progressively submitting ourselves to Him in an ever increasing degree. We do this by listening and obeying His counsel and His leadership. The way we do this is a moment-by-moment asking Him what He wants to do in our life.
What kind of things do you think the Holy Spirit will talk to you about? Well, there are many areas that He will work with us about, but the primary objective He has is He will always seek to encourage us to put the first commandment in first place in our lives.
37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)
The Holy Spirit’s highest desire for our lives is that we would love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It takes God to love God. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to enable us to love Jesus the way that we ought to. Without His ministry and activity we will not be able to live out the first commandment.
THE DULL SPIRIT
One thing that will grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:27) and hinder our being able to cooperate with Him is if we are not walking in the spirit of holiness that we discussed earlier. Can you see that without our walking in agreement with God, without our loving what He loves and hating what He hates, we will not be living in agreement with the realities of His heart. And when we live our daily lives in disagreement with Him we “grieve” Him and we hinder our ability to receive His activity in our hearts. And since it takes God to love God, without our receiving and cooperating with His activity in us, we develop a dull, dysfunctional spirit.
Even though we are believers in Jesus, we can never grow in an ever increasing appreciation and love for Jesus with a dull spirit. If our spirit is dull or defiled, we cannot “feel” His Presence. And you know, the strange thing is that we can be forgiven, and still have a dull spirit. We might even go to heaven, but still live our life now here on earth with a dull, dysfunctional spirit.
Another thing that will work to hinder our ability to walk in a spirit of holiness, or agreement with God, is when we defile our spirit with sin – when we choose not to come under the Holy Spirit’s leadership. Why? Because when we sin, we are living in disagreement with God. Sin grieves Him. I have news for you, the Holy Spirit thinks that He is God (and He is). And because He thinks He is God, He thinks that He knows best (and He does!). So when we disagree with Him He is grieved, and as a result we suffer.
When the Bible says that He sis grieved, that does not mean that He no longer loves us. He delights in us, but if we will not come under His leadership, we will not have His supernatural power inspiring our spirit, and we will be unable to walk in the realities that He has planned for us.
When we try to love God without interacting with the Holy Spirit, eventually we find ourselves growing cynical, and even bitter. Apart from a life lived under the Holy Spirit’s leadership, we will not change and we will not grow in our love for God. And the result of living a life where we don’t love God is that we develop a mindset of regret. And if we don’t repent (repentance means changing the way that we think so radically that we change our actions) and change our direction, we can even find ourselves growing cold and falling away from God.
Beloved, ask the Holy Spirit to release a spirit of holiness in your life. Spend quality time with your new house guest. We do this through spending time in His Word, through prayer, through worship and serving our brothers and sisters in the Lord and by telling others about Jesus (we only get to keep what we are constantly giving away).
If you cultivate an ongoing relationship with the God that lives in you, He will free you from the possibility of having a dull spirit. And then, oh, the excellancies of knowing and loving Jesus with a vibrant, Spirit empowered spirit.
It’s like the line from the old song, “To know, know, know Him, is to love, love, love Him. And I do!”
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