The Holy Spirit Within
So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:16-18
God wants your life be filled with the Spirit. It simply means that you have your life controlled by God through the Holy Spirit. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit means that you want God’s will be accomplished in your life. When Jesus gave a pattern in prayer, He taught His disciples to ask God to help them that their actions be guided by God’s will. “May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). God wants you to make that choice of asking the Holy Spirit to lead you in your life. If you will not allow Him to work in you and through you, just like what the Apostle Paul said from the text, it “will ruin your life.” This is a choice that you have to make regularly asking God by faith to fill you with His Spirit. Once you are filled with His Spirit, it will produce actions and attitudes that are from God. You will experience the power that only comes through the filling of the Spirit. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit will help you understand how to live your life based on the truth found from God’s Word. Jesus told His disciples, “The Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit is the One who will help you not give in to temptations that will lead you to sin. “Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16). All God wants is that you will produce the life that comes from Him as demonstrated by Jesus Christ while He was still here on earth. “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). You can only be filled with the Spirit when Christ is enthroned in your heart. This means that you have to admit that your life is no longer controlled by you selfish desires because they have been nailed with Jesus at the cross and you have accepted Christ in life as your Lord and Savior. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:24). Christ has to be in the throne of your heart so you will “not stifle the Holy Spirit’s” working in your life (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
Blessings.
