Invitation to Holy Spirit

Over the summer I was blessed to attend a women's conference at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. During the conference, I heard Eric Johnson share a message about "creating a space and a place" where you can encounter the presence of God.  It spoke to me and I thought about it yesterday morning when I was sitting on my back porch. I turned on some music, opened my bible and prayed for God to speak to me through His word.  I created a space and a place to encounter Him.  Sure enough, I felt Him begin to speak to me and remind me of things I needed to remember.  His Word flashed through my mind and entered my heart with precision only He could deliver. 

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active and full of power - making it operative, energizing, and effective. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit, the completeness of a person, and of both joints and marrow - the deepest parts of our nature - exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart."

He spoke to a void in my heart...a place I have lost a little hope of late. There was no condemnation for my weakened state. Just loving kindness. He was filling me with hope again for something I was starting to give up on. The specifics are not really important - I'm sure you can think of your own times you've felt a void or a hunger for something more. The part I feel He wants me to share is how He filled the void.  By me 'creating a space and a place', I invited Him to have His way. I invited Him to access the areas of my heart that were in need.  There's no magic formula. It's just simply being still for a moment and inviting Him in.  When my children ask me for advice or help on something, I'm honored and glad-hearted to help. It thrills me to see them humbly ask for direction, knowing I will sit down with them and share what I have to offer.  Just think how much more willing our God is to sit down with us! 

Luke 11:11-13 "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, then, being evil that is, sinful by nature, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” 

Asking the Father for the Holy Spirit is not necessarily a one-time thing. We have an opportunity to ask daily. There's more of Him to discover.  Ephesians 1:13 "In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and as a result believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, the One promised by Christ, as owned and protected by God."  We receive the Holy Spirit when we believe and are marked by Christ as His...but perhaps there are more levels of power and presence He wants to unlock in us.  Ephesians 1:17-23 "I always pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight into the true knowledge of Him, for we know the Father through the Son. And I pray that the eyes of your heart -the very center and core of your being - may be enlightened, flooded with light by the Holy Spirit, so that you will know and cherish the hope, the divine guarantee, the confident expectation to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), and so that you will begin to know what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His active, spiritual power is in us who believe."   When I became a Christian, I wasn't necessarily "done". I am not perfected.  I still need Him desperately.  I still need to be taught, nurtured, held, filled and refilled.  And thankfully, I think He's happy to do so!  And so yesterday (and again this morning) I asked for His Holy Spirit. I asked for Him to speak to my heart. To uncover my voids/wounds/weaknesses and meet me where I was.  He came.  He healed.  He filled.  He refreshed me.  He showed me truth in the word.  He uncovered and revealed what was hidden, and He brought it into the light of His presence.  

Create a space and a place to encounter Him today.  Ask the Father for the Holy Spirit.  Continuously ask.  He is only one invitation away from doing a work in your heart.  Ask for Him to teach You about things you read in His word.  Perhaps He will unveil and reveal things beyond what our human minds can understand.  Maybe He will reveal mysteries we never could have imagined!  Or maybe He will just speak to the void in your heart that desperately wants to be filled and the brokenness that He has healing balm for.  "For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding] 1 Corinthians 2:10 (AMP)