Examples!

Examples!

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31‭-‬32 KJV

One of the most important steps in understanding the context of any verse is to establish who it addresses. Today's extract is addressed to the church in Ephesus, and one very key piece of information is in the verse before today's extract, and it says: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. If I will align with the instructions in today's extract, I need to establish my ownership. You cannot grieve One who does not hold total allegiance over your life. If I am still struggling with obedience and submission, then maybe I never belonged to God in the first place. If the Holy Spirit is not present, my life's choices will always reflect His absence. 

It then means that if He is present, there are things that will naturally flow out from my life and things you should not see anymore. Today's extract makes this very clear. The things mentioned in the first part of today's extract are characteristics that flow from a heart without the presence of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter the high sounding words you use; the Holy Spirit and sin can NEVER operate out of the same heart at the same time. Long before a man will speak evil, his ears, eyes and mind would have been feasting on evil. Where do you think the Holy Spirit will be when all of these is going on? 

And I must not buy into the lie of the devil that I am helpless against sin. God never asks me to fight on my own; that is why He gives the Holy Spirit to all who ask Him in faith, and who depend on the Spirit for daily strength and guidance. There is no sitting on the fence, where I can get away with being neither hot nor cold, and just doing enough to get by. There is a definite change that the Holy Spirit must bring about in me, so I can then flow out with the things that the Spirit alone can birth and sustain. 

And these things are the focus of the second part of today's extract. And again, what is seen is first the work of the Holy Spirit in a man before that life flows out with the proof of the inner working. We want to enjoy the benefits of the Holy Spirit, but we do not want to submit totally to Him. We want the release of the power, but we do not like the responsibilities of that power. God will not waste resources. 

And you see the proof of the Presence in the impact my life would have on those around me. 

If indeed I am a child of God, my life must be a living, breathing witness to the  presence of God. Men who were in Antioch were called Christians because others around them saw a model of Chirst. They didn't have to speak much, but their lives spoke volumes about the power of the presence of the Spirit of God in a life that is totally surrendered. What do men see flowing out of you? Am I a living contradiction of what it means to be a follower of Christ, or does my life bear true allegiance to the Holy Spirit? It is not really about my answer now, but about the truth known by God and which will be evident in the process of time by men around me. What do you spend time investing in? It is just a matter of time; whatever it is will flow out. His time of favour is here.