is it possible to have more or less of God’s Spirit?
Have you ever prayed like this? “Lord give me more of your Spirit today!”
I know I have. It seems very normal to say “I want to be more like you God, so give me more of You!” Or perhaps when you know you’re going through a time of serious testing, you inherently want more of God to help you through it.
I was recently on a prayer time with some fellow believers and this topic came up. I realized at it’s a completely reasonable sounding prayer, but it’s theologically inaccurate.
When I say “theologically inaccurate” I mean that it goes against the nature of who God is. You might as well pray that God would let you win the lotto that day.
Baked in the center of that request is a belief that you are effectively using everything that God has given you and that He needs to turn up the volume to get a better outcome.
I think you can see where I’m going with this.
In John 14, Jesus promises to send the Comforter (Holy Spirit). He doesn’t offer any guidance about whether it was a little bit of the Holy Spirit (meaning you can ask for more when you need it). He just says, “I will send the Comforter.” The implication is that He will send all of the Holy Spirit.
Later on we see language (especially in Acts) that says “be filled with the Holy Spirit”. In fact that’s Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:18.
The “filled” word makes us think of a cup that is empty most of the time but on special occasions gets filled up all the way. But the context in Paul’s exhortation is being controlled. Just as alcohol controls the drunk, so the Holy Spirit controls the surrendered Christian.
However much of the Holy Spirit that God gives us individually when we surrender in faith to Jesus, that is all the amount we need to ….
- move mountains if we have faith
- inspire revival in a community
- be conformed to the image of God’s Son
- provoke a special occasion like Pentecost
- give bravery to speak of Christ to a coworker
- overcome a besetting sin
- show grace or forgiveness to a fallen brother or sister
- walk across the road and show love to stranger
- turn the other cheek
The question isn’t how much of the Holy Spirit we have, it ‘s how much the Holy Spirit has us.
I’ve heard that phrase before. It’s clever, but it doesn’t tug on my heart.
What is really blowing my mind out of this is realizing how much power I have right now, this second! I have ALL OF THE POWER OF GOD in my life. Available. Willing. Waiting.
The better prayer, is “Lord I believe! Help my unbelief!” Or perhaps more on a point, “Lord I surrender. Help me surrender completely.”
Pay attention as you pray. If you find yourself asking for more of God, let me encourage you to shift that prayer to praying for yourself to surrender more.
God has given a good gift and it is already all you need. Remember that.
Until next time.
Dennis
