Walk in Love
God does not abandon us but intimately loves us and wants to be in relationship with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit – our teacher, our guide, our comforter, and our intercessor. However, we may not feel worthy of being in relationship with the Spirit, our experiences of abandonment during our lives may have left us with feelings of shame and feelings of being unworthy of such a relationship. So, we busy ourselves with the things of this world and we cannot hear the Spirit's "still, small voice" through the noise of the world's loud voices. We dampen the Spirit through TV, music, social media, endless busyness, and simply benign neglect – I hear this so often – "God is too busy to care about me." We feel disconnected and abandoned by God – we judge God by those who have abandoned us in our own lives.
God says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Deut. 31:6) God says, I will never abandon you; I will never leave you orphaned; I will never desert you; I will never give up on you; I will never quit on you. "I will never ever leave you nor ever forsake you." God created us and knows us intimately and loves us and wants to be in relationship with us.
If you are feeling disconnected from the Spirit – remember that you're in a relationship with God and a relationship is a two-way street. You are to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, body, & strength. Here are some things that you can do to reconnect yourself with the Spirit as you move through the week.
1) Worship – praise God always – He is worthy & deserving of all our praise – we become intimate with the spirit of God during times of worship – listen to worshipful music.
2) Read the Word – read & study scripture – the Spirit intimately speaks to us through the Word and illuminates the Word to us (enlightens & helps us understand)
3) Prayer – God is deeply intimate with us and hears all our prayers – pray without ceasing – talk to God always by simply speaking to God – be intimate – share everything – we the church are the bride of Christ – share what's on your heart with God as if you're sharing with a spouse.
Theologian Dallas Willard said this in his book – "Divine Conspiracy" – Pages 32-33: "You cannot call upon the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, without being heard. We live in their house. We usually simply call it the universe, but they fully occupy it. It is their place – their kingdom – where through their kindness and sacrificial love we can make our present life an eternal life."
4) Community – we grow in intimacy with God when we are in community together – especially when we worship and study scripture together – the Spirit speaks to us through our communities of faith.
5) Obedience – our intimacy with God deepens when we obey the Spirit when the Spirit leads us and guides us – God has a sense of humor and can be quirky at times and we just have to be obedient and play along to see where the Spirit leads us.
When we do these things, we grow in our intimacy with the Spirit. As we prepare our hearts to celebrate our Lord's birth and to receive our Lord, let's cultivate our relationship with the Spirit this week and listen for that "still, small voice" and follow where the Spirit leads.
This coming Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent and as we prepare our hearts, we will read Ephesians 5:15-20 and look at what it means to "Walk in Love." I'm looking forward to seeing you all again on Sunday!