His Spirit is Everywhere

St. Paul reminds us in Romans 6:14, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."   It's so easy to let the world distract us from what we should be focusing on. When this happens we lose the opportunities for God's Grace.

We should have a sense of urgency about getting right with God and not think there is always time to fix things and make us right.  We should not feel that we can ultimately control things on our own. Sometimes we think that God is such a great Father that He'll put up with us for awhile and give us some time to get it right.

We should not underestimate our worth to God in this life for we are important to Him. We should act like this is our last day in this life and not put off seeking God. And how do we get God more into our daily lives? We must surrender to Him in all things; then wait and watch for His leadership in our lives through His Grace.

In Acts 19:1-7, we follow Paul on a journey to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit".

As the conversation went on, the disciples said that they had been baptized by John. Paul explained that John had baptized them into repentance and to believe in the one who was to come after him. When Paul later baptized them in the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came upon them.

We have much in common with these disciples, even though most of us have heard of the Holy Spirit. Living our lives in Christ is difficult for us as we try to connect with how he wants us to live. Our calling seems so obvious, but we have a hard time living into it. When we are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, we get a special gift in the Holy Spirit. Unlike most gifts, however, we're not sure what to do with it.

That's when we need to remember that in order to benefit from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we must surrender our control in all things and trust in the wonderful communication gift we have with the Lord, through the Spirit. The Lord will guide us through His Spirit, but we must learn to listen for this communication with all of our senses. The more we can do this, the better our life in Christ.              

In many old primitive cultures, ascents to the tops of major mountain peaks were not made by people, even though it was possible. Those high peaks were thought to be where God(s) lived and were forbidden to humans. If only we could look up today with our binoculars and see our God on the mountaintop. Or maybe, since we imagine God as creator of the universe and beyond, we will one day be able to see God somewhere out in the Universe with one of our fast-improving telescopes fixed to a rocket.

God saved me a mountain climb and lots of rocket fuel when he visited me in the hospital during my brain surgery some years ago. His presence through His Spirit was so powerful that He convinced me that He did exist and that I would spend my time in His Kingdom for eternity.

As we live out our lives here on His Planet Earth gift to us, we don't need telescopes or binoculars to connect with Him. He is at our side in every moment that we live. We must be sure that we turn our attention to Him in every moment, so we don't miss an opportunity for a blessing in all aspects of our lives.