Has anyone ever asked you a question that really made you stop and think?
A couple weeks ago, we were sitting across the table from an older gentlemen and his sweet wife. He looked deep into our eyes and asked, “What do you believe it means to be ‘led by the Spirit’ or to be ‘filled with the Spirit’? We muttered an answer after we had thought for a second, but the words he said after our explanation just stopped me in my tracks. It was like he made Scripture “come alive” in my heart.
I almost wish I had discreetly pushed “record” on my phone, just so you could hear his words verbatim with the same passion he had, but I’ll give it my best try . . .
Roman 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
In Ephesians 5, Paul goes through a whole list of different sins we were enslaved to before we met the Lord, but then when it gets to verse 18, it presents a contrast: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” IT IS A COMMAND for us as Christians. When someone is drunk with wine, they are being controlled by a substance — their thoughts, their actions, their emotions, etc. He goes on to say instead of being controlled by a substance, you be controlled by the Holy Spirit.
You listen to that still, small voice when He speaks to you — even in the simple things, such as giving to someone He lays on your heart, or telling someone about the Lord, or saying “no” to your own fleshly desires. You start putting to action what He speaks to you personally through Scripture. You are constantly just saying “Yes, Lord.” It’s not about ME. It’s about bringing glory to Christ. It is about being filled with Him each and every day of our lives as we let Him dictate what we do and say, as we humbly ask, “God, what do YOU want me to do?”
I know it sounds a whole lot easier than it actually is. We hastily make decisions each day (myself included), not even pausing to seek the Lord and ask what He would want us to do or say. I don’t think we can even fathom what God could do and would do in our lives if we were completely yielded to Him and genuinely let Him be in control.
We’re the ones that are missing out when we choose to be “in control.”
I’ve pondered this over and over again after that night. It is powerful if you let it take root in your heart and ask the Lord to be in control of your life, as you choose to be a willing vessel in His hand.
Be encouraged.
Erin
