September 29, 2011 Who's in Charge?

Eph. 5:18-20 Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph. 6: 18 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I love the illustration and the way Paul uses it in Ephesians 5:18 because it is so clear. There are few people who have not seen someone under the influence or control of some kind of alcohol. That individual no longer has any restraints; it is though there is a disconnect between the brain and the body - a message of do whatever is before you to do without regard to the consequences is now in control.

Paul then talks about the Spirit's control, having shown us what control looks like. Wine controls and leads the individual to one end; the Spirit of God leads in the opposite direction. When wine is in control, we draw attention to and make fools of ourselves. When the Spirit of God is in control, we draw attention to God and glorify Him through our behavior.

The singing of psalms and hymns, and even choruses today, will be the natural by-product of intimacy with the Spirit. The awareness of the goodness and kindness and mercy of God will so rule our lives, that we will naturally be a people of thanksgiving.

Paul goes on to talk further of the Spirit, encouraging us to pray in the power of the Spirit always. I love the way Cheri Fuller puts it in Praying Through the Bible. Our eternal destiny is to corporately and individually be the place where the Spirit dwells and through which he intercedes. God is using every circumstance to help us grasp this truth and to learn to let the "rivers of living water" flow through us."

The challenge for me today is to make room for the Spirit to lead; that means getting out of his way. I can either control my life or allow him to, and honestly, it takes time to allow him to control me.   It requires me to get off the merry-go-round or the roller coaster of my own will which takes me thoughtlessly wherever, and own the presence of God. I must indeed "be still and know that He is God" and invite his control.