Absolutely Unconditionally Visible

Aimlessly staring at the falling pages, I could feel the soft edge of each page slip down my fingertips. Where is it God? What am I supposed to read to alleviate the pain? I am at a loss for words. I don’t even know what I am feeling. Please help me.  The pages slowly rested on themselves open to Romans 8. I began to read verse 26 for the first time. Words magnified in my mind as if read through a megaphone direct to my heart.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

Stunned, I read the words once more. They were not imagined out of desperation like a mirage in the desert. God began to renew with words resident to the Bible for centuries. Words read and reread by generations were new and invigorating. The words were mine to claim in a broken state of mind.

I had done nothing fancy. I didn’t prepare a grand environment perfectly inviting for the Holy Spirit. I didn’t assemble a grand feast. I wore regular clothes and most likely had little to no makeup. The material things of this world were not important. What mattered was the yearning desperation of my hurting heart. I went to God for answers and the Holy Spirit was ever present and focused entirely on me. Only moments earlier I sat hopeless feeling simple, unloved and misunderstood. Touched by the Holy Spirit to shine a light in my darkness.

Lock your heart around the Word of God.

Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit in John 14:26. “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative – that is, the Holy Spirit – he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

God may be invisible to the eye, but He is present and alive in our hearts. We have the choice to accept God into our lives with honor, respect and to humbly obey Him. It would be impossible to live a life honorable to active Christianity without the help from God’s advocate – the Holy Spirit. Verse 27 continues, “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.”

The best gifts are the ones that come just because. I am delighted and feel so loved when my husband brings fresh flowers home. My heart is warmed when my son brings something made with his own little hands because he loves me. Gratitude wraps my heart when my daughter presents me with a gift she purchased with her own hard earned money. Even the magnitude of these gifts is incomparable to God’s gift of the Holy Spirit wrapped with peace. Accepting, recognizing and utilizing the gift of the Spirit can be complex.

How do you know it is God? God knows you personally. He intently crafts your Holy Spirit moments to be yours and yours alone. When you can’t find words to fully describe how you felt after the encounter, the Spirit of God has been at work in and around you.

What do you do when the silent voice of the Spirit comes upon you? Exactly what it says. Verify it is indeed the Voice of God. Pray. Read the Word of God. If you find more conviction to affirm the nudging, pray some more and walk where God is calling you. If the Sprit comes upon you in a time of need for comfort, wisdom, understanding, peace, acceptance and forgiveness, don’t ignore it. Soak up God's perfectness like a dry sponge. Let it fall from you and drip onto others and the situations you are faced with. Soak up God’s perfect gifts in an imperfect world.

The continual random occurrences are far from random. God puts things in your life to get your attention and wow you. The sooner you stop rationalizing things as accidental, incidental and odd you will be capable of accepting the gift God has bestowed to you - the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a crucial and insightful tool to active Christianity. The Holy Spirit is intimate and personal. The Holy Spirit is the awareness of God as if He stands right next to you. Cheering for you. Wiping your tears. Holding your hand. Whispering wisely. Patiently teaching. Gracefully forgiving. Always accepting. Perfectly loving.

God loves you beyond all earthly reasoning and understanding. He knows we need His help. He knows the teachings and examples of the Bible are not enough for our fragile minds. He knows we are slow to say yes to His ways and even slower to move in His name. He knows the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross is impactful to an active Christian lifestyle. He knows we need more. His answer for more is the gift of the Holy Spirit. God lives and works through the Spirit for you personally. With the Spirit of God, He is absolutely, unconditionally and without a doubt very much visible.

Pray to invite for the Spirit of Truth into your life.  God is not a forceful God. He wants to be invited into your world. New, old, lost, seeking, found and secure – no matter where you are on your Christ journey, the Spirit of God can and will work in and for you.

Father, help each and every one of us feel the gift of your Spirit when we need it most. When we don’t quite understand the meaning of the Bible verse. When we are lost in pain and confusion. When we know what is right and do the opposite. Please send your Spirit to guide us.

Thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Thank you for Jesus’ resurrection and the forgiving of my sins. Thank you for the gift of the Spirit. May it guide me to an active Christian lifestyle to help bring others to your Kingdom. In Jesus precious and perfect name I pray. Amen.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2 NLT