Have you ever struggled to live for God? To be a living sacrifice? Even to just do the things that please Him? Typically the issue lies in the focus and “the means” of how that is to happen.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1
It is through tending to our relationship with God, our communion with the Spirit and focus on the Lord that we are transformed and able to live after His desires. It’s all about the relationship.
Inside Out
As the Spirit lives inside of us we are able to put to death the deeds of the flesh and walk in His ways. The way this works is through our communion with the Holy Spirit – our interaction with Him. The Spirit is not to be ignored as Jesus told us that He would be our Helper.
We want to learn how to create an atmosphere of God’s Presence – to carry His glory no matter where we are. We want the atmosphere of heaven to be in us through the Person of the Holy Spirit. Our lives should be saturated with the Spirit’s Presence.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
2 Corinthians 4:7
As this happens the Spirit Himself manifests joy, peace, power and the love of God. The love of God flows freely through us as we live yielded to the Spirit. He is the source of love. He is the source of life. We are created to be temples of the Holy Spirit.
Inhabited & Anointed
God wants to inhabit you, just like His glory filled the temple in the days of Moses. He wants to come by His Spirit to manifest His Presence beyond what you can imagine. Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure.
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
He’s called us to be anointed in the same way. The purpose of the Son of God manifest was to destroy the works of the devil – to obliterate the works of the devil. We are called to do the same thing. You’re called to carry that same anointing that sets people free.
One of the ways we can begin to carry God’s Presence is by simply spending time with Him. This is part of our surrender. Learning to practice the Presence of God is essential for our lives. God has made us much like “sponges”. We absorb what we hang around. If your friends are fools you will become one. In this context, if you are not the leader you will be the follower. Whatever you put inside your body will be what you feel like. Eat something healthy and you will feel healthy. Eat unhealthy things and you will be unhealthy. You are what you eat.
Finding Consistency
Looking at this from the angle of a sponge – if you’ve ever put water on a sponge, at the beginning, the sponge is dry and resistant. Have you noticed that initially you put the sponge under the water it will bounce off. But after a while, after just a little bit of time begins to absorb the water. Once it is broken in it’s amazing how much water it can hold!
We are much like sponges. Soaking in the Presence of God is like this. You have to give it a little time. Be consistent. Learn how to just hang out with God. He loves that!
LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
Psalms 26:8
And the place where Your glory dwells.
How do you do this? I like to just turn on some worship, instrumentals – things that have anointing. Just hang out, lay out on the couch, whatever you want, on your bed, whatever and you just spend time receiving from the Lord. Receiving from God is very important.
Religion makes it all about your works – rather than tending to your relationship with God. But the Lord loves it when we will sit at His feet like Mary did – receiving His words, enjoying His Presence. You don’t have an agenda. You’re not coming to pray a bunch of prayers, to remind God of everything he needs to do for you. You’re just there as a child in a sense, just receiving from the Father. We need that childlike faith. God loves it when we have simple faith. Just say the Lord, “I just receive everything you have for me.”