Squelching The Spirit

John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (NIV)

“Lord,” I prayed, “Please help me to be mindful of your Holy Spirit. Please help me to live life aware that you are at work within me through the Spirit and not to lose sight of that fact today.” I finished my prayer, ashamed to confess to God yet again that I had forgotten about the Holy Spirit. How could I forget something so important—so essential to my Christian walk? Instead I had lived a life devoid of the power I had within me. This was foolishness at its finest and not one of my prouder moments.

Satan loves to trick us into living our lives mired in defeat and despair. He keeps us just busy and distracted enough to lose our focus. When he is able to accomplish this, he can detach our connection to the truth of the Holy Spirit’s power within us. If we aren’t focused on it then we can’t tap into it. Satan’s goal is to squelch the Spirit within us. He can’t have victory over the Spirit, but he can have victory over our flesh.

Armed with the knowledge of this fact, I have determined to be intentional about living life aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence. I am also trying to learn all I can about what that means. By reading the Bible, I learned that the Holy Spirit serves as my Comforter, my Counselor and my Controller. As my Comforter, he is an abiding presence whenever I feel lonely or rejected. As my Counselor, I can ask him to supply me with wisdom or even to pray on my behalf when words fail me. (Romans 8:26-27) As my Controller, he helps me control my impulses and guides my actions. (Romans 8:13-14) For these things to happen, I can’t be lulled into passivity nor can I be distracted into over-activity—thereby forgetting all about him in the midst of my busyness.

How many of us know the passage that lists the fruits of the Spirit, yet feel defeated in these very areas: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control? So many Christians will tell you they don’t have self-control with their eating or love for their spouse or that they lack patience or peace in their home. Through prayer and intentional living, I am learning to experience the fruits of the Spirit. I have already been given these things, yet I don’t live that way! Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would be given to us permanently and that every believer would receive the Holy Spirit. We can stand on that and receive the blessings of the virtues listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Galatians 5:25 says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Have you been too busy or too defeated to remember the Holy Spirit? Have you forgotten that he is right there waiting to help you, to hear you, and even to hinder you if necessary? A life that is tapped into the Holy Spirit is a powerful, victorious life. It is a life that is a very real threat to the devil. It is a life that is there for the taking, step by step.