John 7:37-39
New International Version (NIV)
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
More of this! I've been thinking about this today, and I also received a great message from my best friend telling me some really cool ways the Spirit was working in her life. Why, oh why do we not spend more time talking about this?
Maybe it's because we're scared. It's a little hard to comprehend, and a little overwhelming. God Almighty is living in me. I'll tell you what that does for me: it makes me lose my desire to watch a lot of television shows and listen to a lot of music , because how can I live with the Spirit in me while I'm filling my mind with trash? And it makes me remember that when I look at other people, they are people that the Spirit loves and cherishes, and it calls me to do the same. Romans 5:5 says that "God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." So if I have allowed the Spirit to pour out the love of God Himself into my heart, that means my heart has to get all Grinchy (my favorite adjective) and grow about a billion sizes.
But it also makes me feel better. I think I have tried for way too long to make my life what it ought to be all by myself. Quite the contrary, this verse doesn't say He's WILLING to pour God's love into my heart. It says He's already DONE it. All I have to do is be willing to accept it.
And get this verse: "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) How different our world, and even our church, would be if our minds were governed by the Spirit.
My prayer tonight is going to be that from this day forward, my mind will be governed by the Spirit. Life and peace.
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