Spring is here. I especially love how there is more and more light. It does invigorate us – at least me – so much. But there is a problem. You see, here in Finland we get light around the clock in summer time. Yes, it is wild. Yes, it is wonderful. But. It is hard to sleep when it’s so bright all the time. So what do I do? I block the sunlight out. Then it’s nice and dark and I can sleep. What does that have to do with flowing faith? Let’s see.

The Light of God is very bright and very invigorating if we let it be so. But we can also block it out. We can put blinders on and live according to our own whims. And the more we block the Light out, the more we forget what it feels like to be invigorated by the Light.

The Bible urges us to ever be filled and stimulated with the [Holy] Spirit. (Eph. 5:18b, AMP, emphasis added,*) It is an ongoing process, not a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It is to be repeated and sought after. It is a blessing and a privilege of children of God.

Why would we ever want to live under our privileges? Why would we want to block out the blessings of the Holy Spirit? It beats me. Because – in my opinion – being filled with the Holy Spirit is what makes life delightful.

Did you catch the special emphasis of the Amplified Bible? Do not just be filled but also stimulated with the Holy Spirit! What could that mean? The Holy Spirit is ready to invigorate us, to encourage us on our faith journey, to empower us to progress further towards becoming Christ-like, to energize us for victorious living. Who would not want that? It beats me.

How can we be filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit? By asking. By basking in God’s grace. By enjoying God’s presence. God is more that ready to pour out grace upon grace, light upon light, life upon life. We just need to let the light shine on us. We need to get rid of the blinders that block God’s love and grace from our lives.

How do we do that? Just ask God to show you what kind of blinders you have on. What if you don’t want to get rid of them? Ask God to make you willing and go from there.

It’s all God’s work. It’s all grace. Right from the beginning to the end.

Let’s stay out of the way of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s let the Holy Spirit rule our lives.
Let’s be forever stimulated with the Holy Spirit!

 

Gracious God,
You have prepared blessings upon blessings for us.
Forgive us for blocking away your Light.
Enable us to stay out the way of the Holy Spirit.
May Your will be done in our lives.
We want to receive your gifts, Lord.
Stimulate, invigorate, encourage, empower us
for victorious living in Jesus.
Fill us with the Holy Spirit now and forever more.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Do you block the Light away? Or do you allow God move freely in your life? Why/why not?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you let the Holy Spirit stimulate you!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]

Image courtesy of Justin Schroeder, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Unite the Bloggersphere, Three Word Wednesday and #tellhisstory.