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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Steve Smith
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October 8 - October 13, 2022
saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.
If we are going to embark upon the Spirit Walk—being led by the Spirit—we must abandon the indulgence of sin and instead indulge in the abandonment of right living.
If the Holy Spirit were an impersonal force, then you could live however you like.
Paul emphasizes that the filling of the Spirit is an outcome of rooting out sin. We must make our hearts a comfortable place for the Holy Spirit of God.
The same is true of your relationship with the Holy Spirit. He is the honored guest of your life—in fact, not simply a guest but the Master of your life. But just as in a marriage, sinful things you think, say, and do upset this holy person. When offended, He does not leave, but He also does not fill you unless you live a life surrendered to holy living.
As the Holy Spirit, He only desires to dwell in a holy vessel. If we want Him to fully guide and empower our Christian walk and ministry, we have to do so on His terms. His terms not only include surrender, but they also include a lifestyle of holiness and righteousness that matches the standard of God’s holy Word. There is no way around it: the Holy Spirit will only fully guide a holy person.
The key to life transformation is not just putting off, or breaking, old habits. You must be intentional about replacing bad habits with new, holy habits. But for this to stick, your perspective must change. Your old sinful self might lie to someone else because he or she is not related to you. But if that person really is one with you—as close as one part of a body to another—you must be truthful. This is how the kingdom works.
An honorable vessel is one that has fled from all sinful passions and instead clings to holy habits.
Today’s culture has not changed God’s standard of right and wrong. When believers conform to the world rather than the Word, they experience a great lack of the presence of God. The Holy Spirit is noticeably absent. Such absence only compounds bondage to sin and shame.
And even when we choose the path of holiness, we live around people—even fellow believers—who indulge in and celebrate questionable or sinful practices. Perhaps you cower from saying anything. You would be frowned upon or ridiculed in our current culture for abstaining from the same banter or not going along with the crowd, much less speaking up that such behavior is not fit for a child of God. Such silence quietly condones the decline in values among Christians.
Powerful
Yet how often do you yourself indulge in thoughts, words and actions that don’t conform to the Word and still expect God to bless the rest of your life and ministry?
When God’s people choose the enduring delights of righteousness over the passing delights of temptation, revival is the result.
No awakening emerges without the deeply refining process of confession. Confession and surrender are the crucibles of revival. There is no other path. And so revival—true revival—is rare.
Revival in your life, in your church, and in your ministry awaits these conditions: absolute surrender to God’s mission and complete rooting out of sin personally and corporately.
As consciences become more hardened, in the spirit of the downward spiral of Romans 1, believers begin condoning lifestyles they would have frowned upon earlier (Rom. 1:32).
The proper emphasis of a holy lifestyle is not to see how close to the line between temptation and sin that you can get, but how far from that line you can remain.
None of us ever lives completely free from sin. But our goal should be to grow more and more inclined to live uprightly than to wander into sin.
The Wesleyan (Methodist) movement began as small groups started to examine their own hearts to see if they were living a holy lifestyle. To foster this process, they reviewed a list of common sins each week so they could quickly seek the forgiveness of God and others. This list facilitated accountability within the group to seek intimacy with God. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate? Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in
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Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican? Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward, or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it? Do I grumble or complain constantly? Is Christ real to me?
If you have followed the process outlined in the previous chapters (and in James 4:5–10), you should expect God to respond with a fresh filling of His Spirit. Ask Him and He will fill you. Remember, this is no “name it and claim it” theology. The fullness is entirely dependent on your posture of surrender.
When you ask your Father to fill you, you should expect Him, in faith, to do so.
Remember, the Holy Spirit already dwells in you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. You do not have to beg God to give you the Spirit. He is in your life and always will be.
The emphasis of the Book of Acts is that you cannot live the life God has called you to without the guiding power of the Spirit. Rather, God has called ordinary disciples to live on mission, and has provided His Spirit as the means to do that with holy, maturing character.
To engage in any serious ministry to spread God’s kingdom, you need the unwavering guidance and empowerment of the Spirit. Otherwise, your methods, tools, spiritual disciplines, and projects are lifeless motions.
Overcome sin: Without reliance upon the Spirit, the biblical admonition to “flee youthful lusts” is fueled by your willpower. Willpower alone will never conquer most sins. Navigate trials: Without reliance upon the Spirit, you will never give thanks in and for all things, particularly trying circumstances. When difficult news gut-punches you, you will revert to complaining, worrying, and muddling forward in the darkness of your own strength. Put on holy habits: Without reliance upon the Spirit, putting on the holy habits that result in a changed character will remain elusive. Though you may
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the Holy Spirit fills you, He begins to speak to you.
Knowing the Word of God is the foundation for hearing the voice of the Spirit. This is why it is vital to maintain the life-giving practices of daily quiet time and periodic SWAPmeets.
Some recoil because following the promptings of the Spirit simply takes them out of their comfort zone.
Remember, too often we ask the wrong question: “What is God’s will for my life?” The center of this question is us, not God. The right question is simply, “What is God’s will?” Period. Then we must ask, “How can my life best fit into that and bring God the greatest glory?”
The answer is yes. The inevitable sign that accompanied every filling of the Spirit was that the believers spoke the word of God with boldness in some manner.
But the most common result of a continuous, steady walk in the Spirit is that you bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control do not sound nearly as exciting as prophecy, miracles, and healings. Yet they are the sure mark the Spirit is filling you. They are the fruit of the Spirit Walk.
Many of us seek the fruit of the Spirit without seeking the source of the fruit—the Spirit. If you want to be loving, do not strive to be loving. Instead aspire to be filled with the Spirit. If you long for patience, do not work harder to be patient. Rather, be filled with the Spirit. If you want more consistent self-control in your life, do not seek after self-control. Rather, let the Spirit fill you. The Spirit is the source of the fruit. Surrender to the control of the Spirit and the fruit will result.
To remind yourself to S.W.A.P. throughout the day, as mentioned, you might set your phone alarm to ring every hour, perhaps on the eighteenth minute of each waking hour to remind you of Ephesians 5:18:
