Becoming The Person God Has Called You To Be (Streaming The Holy Spirit)
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:10-12
Do you remember when life seemed simpler?
Do you remember when if you wanted to make a call when you were out you had to find a telephone box or wait till you got home?
Do you remember when you used to write letters instead of sending an email?
Today we rely on email and text messages to communicate with others much more than traditional posted mail or snail mail as its called.
Before text messages, before email, the three fastest ways to communicate information were:
Telegraph - Morse Code.
Telephone - Verbal Communication.
Tell somebody.
Well, those were fast, ways to communicate but today we have Text Messages and Social Media.
Messages appear in real time on our computer screens, our phones, and Tablets.
Today through the power of the Internet we can have friendship and near instant communication with people all around the world.
Maybe you are part of the “connected” generation.
Perhaps you spend hours tweeting on Twitter or updating your status on Facebook.
Perhaps you are one of the people who help to generate the stream of millions of words that flow across the Internet every day,
or maybe you just like to read and see what everyone else is doing.
If you are connected to this stream of information, have you considered if there is something you could be doing with it or contributing to it?
When friends comment about situations in their lives do you pray about them?
More importantly, are you taking the opportunity to share Christ with the people you know?
If you are my friend on Facebook or we follow each other on Twitter, you will know that I mainly post verses from the Bible, thoughts, links to Music and Videos, words of encouragement to other people, links to Food recipes and Healthy lifestyle recommendations.
On my Facebook account I have a number of “friends” that I have never physically met -
some of them are friends of friends that have been encouraged by what I have shared.
I get a lot of feedback on what I post, some people comment so that others can see what they say to me and others send me messages that others cannot see.
And some people even re-quote what I post to their own group of friends.
When I add to the stream of information that flows around the World - my first thought is always “I pray that my sharing is honoring God in some way?”.
I believe that the Holy Spirit does do amazing things in people today.
I believe that right now He is doing stuff in each of us, to refine us, to change us, to bless us.
When we allow the stream of the Spirit into our lives He can heal us, He can restore us, He can lead and guide us, He can empower us, He can fill us with joy and peace and patience and love.
The Holy Spirit will can transform us into being the person God has called us to be.
But there are times when we choose not to go with the flow.
There are times when instead of flowing in the power of the Spirit we drop anchor and refuse to travel further in our chosen lives.
And there are times when our actions, inactions, words or deeds can actually cause us to go against the flow…
- to swim in the opposite direction
- to move away from God’s will and purpose
Friends, each of us need to be willing to allow God to lead and guide us, He is meant to have first place in our lives, He knows what is best for us in every situation and circumstance.
We need to be willing to become the person God has called us to be.
Have you ever wondered how different your life would be without God being part of it?
What if instead of becoming the person God has called you to be, you had become the person you desired to be?
Or the person the World would say you should be?
What kind of person would I be today if the Holy Spirt had not led me?
If God were not guiding you according to His plan and His purpose who would you have followed?
Who would have been your role model?
What would you have become?
Would you be a scientist or an artist?
Would you be a musician or a mime?
Would you be a best selling author or a teacher?
Would you be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker?
If you could become anyone would you be willing to become the person that God has called you to be?
Let’s face it, you are who you are, for a reason -
Today you are you because you are you.
But, are you, all the you, you can be today?
Are you allowing the Spirt to work in you today? To flow in you and through you?
What would your life be like if you fully allowed yourself to fully be the person God wants you to be?
What differences would there be in your life tomorrow if you allowed the Spirit to work in you today?
The verses I want you to focus on today is:
1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (NIV) which says: “God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
The NLT translates this verse: It was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
In his book, “Whatever Happened to Worship”, A. W. Tozer said, “the average person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is engaged in a desperate personal search throughout his lifetime. He does not really know where he has been.”
For so many people in the world today, there are times in life that nothing seems to happen, everything is boring without sense or meaning.
So many people want to be someone else simply because they feel their own life is empty.
Be honest, in your own spiritual walk, have there been times when you have complained that everything is the same, no growth and no direction, yet when you have felt the Spirit prompt you to do something, you have chosen not to?
Maybe there have been times in your life when doubt has stopped you moving forward.
Maybe there have been times when you have asked why? Maybe there are times when you have refused to ask yourself why?
So let me ask you why, from our text, let me form a question for you…
Why when, we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us - why do we choose to accept less than God has freely given us?
Why do we spend so much time desiring to be like someone else and ignore who God is calling us to be?
How can we move past the feeling that something is wrong and allow God to work in our lives today?
How can we have greater joy in our lives?
How can we be satisfied?
How can we be the people that God has called us to be?
The simple answer is we must allow the Stream of the Spirit to flow in our lives - we must allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives so that we can become the people God has called us to be.
Do you allow the Spirit to work in your life?
Are you really thankful for the blessings God freely gives you every day?
When was the last time you thanked God for the beauty of His creation?
It is true to say that God knows your past, God knows your present, and He knows your future.
You know your past, you are living in your present, and I’m sure you have a hope for your future.
Does your plan for the future align with God’s plan for your future?
Actually, does your plan for today align with God’s plan for you today?
So often we try and prepare for things in our own strength, and too often we wonder why things didn’t go according to our plan when we never stopped to find out what God’s perfect plan for us was.
The past, the present and the future belongs to God and we need to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into our destiny.
We must be open to the leading of the Spirit.
Are you willing to become the person God has called you to be by allowing the Spirit to work in you today?
Are you willing to allow the full power of the Holy Spirit into your life, in your home, in your family, in your work-place?
Friends, we will never experience the full joy and contentment that God wants us to have if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.
We all need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. With His power our life can become a blessing to others.
With His power others will see and experience the love of Jesus Christ through us, afterall it’s Jesus who left us the Comforter, God’s indwelling Spirit.
Friends, you may look at others as role models, as people you aspire to be like, are you willing to be the person God has called you to be?
Are you willing to allow God to use you to bring glory to Him?
Remember we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
As Believers, we received the Spirit who is from God and not of the world, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God
So that we might use the gifts and talents God has given us, so that we can be the People that God has called us to be.
In this world with its constant stream of information, opinion and comment, God has called us to “stream” and communicate the truth of the Gospel with others.
Reflections Ministries / Calvin Wyatt / e-mail:calvincosmo30@gmail.com
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