Every morning for me begins with a hot cup of coffee. It must. Each night my husband gets it all set up so when I wake up, there it is. It’s like a refuel that I need at the beginning of each day.
This morning I thought of an interesting analogy related to my morning coffee fill-up. An analogy to something far more important that also requires a deliberate choice every day to fill up with a fresh dose to get you through the day. I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.
As a child of God, adopted into his family through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, we are expected to live our lives in such a way that the Almighty God is glorified. But as mere humans in a broken world, this can often be a high calling that seems beyond our capabilities.
How can we love the unloveable? How can we forgive the hurtful? How can we be joyful when we’re not happy? How can we feel peaceful in the midst of strife? How can we be patient when life isn’t moving at the pace we’d like it to? How can we be kind when everyone else seems to be apathetic? How can we be good when we feel bad? How can we demonstrate self control when the enemy is so busy tempting us?
The good news is that God never expected us to do any of this on our own. He has been quite aware for all time of how far short each of us would fall from his glory. And that is precicesly why he sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross. Through him we have the forgiveness we could never earn on our own. And when Jesus rose again to take his rightful place at the right hand of the Father, he sent his Holy Spirit to be our helper. It is through him that we are able to accomplish the high calling of living as children of the Almighty God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! – Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
So before we head out into the world where reality is already under way, we need to ask God to fill us fresh with his Spirit to guide us and help us through another day.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. – Psalms 51:10-12 KJV
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. – John 16:13 NLT
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. – Galatians 5:16 NLT