Dave spoke this evening from Luke 2:41-50, reminding us that the presence and anointing of the Holy Spirit are essential to us on our Christian journey. In this passage, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem assuming Jesus was with them, but although it only took them one day to realise He was absent, it took three days for them to find Him in the temple. We can easily simply assume the Holy Spirit is present with us, but it is easy for us to run ahead of Him or to lose the immediate sense of the presence of Jesus. When this happens, we will only find Him again by going back to the place where we last experienced Him.
We need to seek God’s presence rather than presume He is always happy with us, for Eph 4:30 reminds us that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. He is likened to a dove, a bird which is sensitive, peaceful, quiet and easily disturbed. The Holy Spirit will not adapt to us; we have to adapt to Him and treat Him with dignity and respect.
Eph 4:31-32 shows us the things which grieve the Holy Spirit: bitterness, anger, rage. brawling and slander. It’s so easy to let bitterness creep in and to hold on to grudges, but when we do this, we give the enemy a foothold and grieve God’s Spirit. Ex 40:36-38 reminds us that the Israelites were led by the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They only moved when the cloud or pillar of fire moved. We need to be the same, being led by the Holy Spirit. Eph 5:10 reminds us we need to find out what pleases the Lord, and we do this by spending time with Him and adjusting our lifestyle so that it is in line with what God says. When God convicts us by His Spirit, we need to respond.
We need to be people who welcome the Holy Spirit, people who welcome Him as a friend and don’t ignore Him. He is our friend, our guide and our God. We simply can’t manage without Him.