January 05, 2022: There Are Two Spirits on This Earth...Which One Do We Have Leading Us?

THE FOLLOWING IS A SELECTION FROM THE BOOK ABSOLUTE SURRENDER:

"Christ said, when He spoke about the Holy Spirit: 'The world cannot receive Him', (John 14: 17). The Apostle Paul said: 'We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God', (I Corinthians 2: 12).

What is the great want in every Christian worker...The spirit of the world going out, and the Holy Spirit of God coming in to take possession of the inner life and of the whole being.

I am sure there are workers who often cry to God for the Holy Spirit to come upon them as a Spirit of power for their work, and when they feel that measure of power, and get blessing, they thank God for it. But God wants us to seek for the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of power in our own heart and life, to "conquer self" and cast out sin, and to work the blessed and beautiful image of Jesus into us".

What Andrew Murray, "author of "Absolute Surrender" is saying here is that there is a difference between the power of the Spirit as a gift and the power of the Spirit for the grace of a holy life. We, as Christians, may often have a measure of the power of the Spirit in us, but if we are not seeking for the full measure of the power of the Holy Spirit in grace and a holy life, then we will continue be living a defeated life.

We must come to the point in our lives to want to be holy for God and overcome the power of the sins in our lives. And the only way to do that, is to come to the "end of our selves". We must seek to be "completely and absolutely surrendered" to God, moment-by-moment, day-by-day.

I remember my first year of surrender to God, I would wake up every morning and pray to God to take "myself out of the way", and to lead me in a day of surrender to Him. I did this daily because I knew myself. I knew I always wanted to be in control of my wants and desires.

As the years have passed in my surrender, my thoughts and prayers are almost always in a "surrender mode" to God. I say, "almost always" because my flesh still battles with my mind, and I constantly must bring myself back to surrender. The bible verse I have kept constantly before me is the verse in Galatians:

Galatians 2: 20 (NKJV): I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. PERSONNAL COMMENT: May we all seek to ask God for His full grace and for the holy life He wants for us. It is only through the full power of the Holy Spirit in our lives can this be accomplished. May we seek to be fully and completely surrendered to God daily.