Spirit Of The Living God, Fall Afresh On Me

To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that we allow Him to occupy and control every area of our lives…How much of you does the Holy Spirit have?

When teaching this to my seminary students, I bring two glasses of water and two packets of Alka-Seltzer to class. I drop a packet of Alka-Seltzer, with the wrapper on, into one glass. Then I plop an unsealed packet into the second glass, and watch it fill with fizz.

I say to my students, “Both glasses have the Alka-Seltzer, just as all Christians have the Holy Spirit. But notice how you can have the Holy Spirit and not His filling.” Our goal is to live in such a way as to unwrap the packaging around the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us. [Adapted from James Emery White, Long Night’s Journey into Day (WaterBrook, 2002)]

We have been given a gift much to precious not to share. The Living Gospel is the Gospel that you take out into the world with you. It is a word of kindness in a harsh world. It is a word of healing in a hurting world. It is a word of hope in a despairing world. It is a word of caring in cynical world. It is the Word of the Lord that you take into a suffering world.

I read an incredible story that appeared in the New York Times about God’s comfort to James and Jill Kilibarda of Minnesota. They were looking forward to the birth of their first child, when they learned during the pregnancy that this baby had a genetic problem and would probably only live a few hours after her birth.

They turned to a unique prenatal hospice program to help guide them through this crisis and received needed guidance and help. The Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in Minneapolis provided them direction and stood by them through this difficult time.

Alaina lived through her first night and became among the 10 percent of these babies who live beyond two months of age. She will probably die before reaching preschool age.

The Kilibardas have returned to a normal life; both are back to work and take turns caring for Alaina. Hospice workers encouraged the Kilibardas to make memories with Alaina. These parents have carried their daughter to the homes of their friends, large family get-togethers, and even to the coffee shop they frequent.

Jill explained, “When we were expecting Alaina, people would say, ‘You’re in our prayers.’ But people were praying…to make it all better for us.” And then she said, “We weren’t asking, ‘Make it all better.’ God doesn’t come down and touch you to heal you. He sends people to be with you.” [Neela Bannerjee, “A Place to Turn When a Newborn Is Fated to Die,” New York Times (3-13-07)]

Most of the stories in our lives aren’t so dramatic, but they are still a part of the salvation history being written today—the story of a word of kindness in a harsh world, a word of healing in a hurting world; a word of hope in a despairing world; a word of caring in a cynical world. The word of the Gospel given to you by the Holy Spirit to share.

I want you to let the Holy Spirit sparkle in your life. To do this you to do something so simple, but so scary that you might have trouble doing it. I want you to begin every morning with the words: “Today, I will do one kind thing in the name of Jesus Christ.” And at the end of the day, I want you to go over what you did to make sure you did that one kind thing. You and your world will be transformed. I know. I’ve done it.