“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:30-32
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
All believers receive the Holy Spirit and are sealed with the Spirit in regeneration (the salvation experience) (1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 1:13).
All believers are commanded to seek the empowerment of the Holy Spirit on a continual basis (Ephesians 5:18).
The daily life and commitments of a child of God either limit the power of the Spirit (by grieving Him or quenching His work in our life) or enable one to cry out, “Come, Holy Spirit."
“And let us strive for greater and greater degrees of it (the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit). Let it be considered that he that has most of the Spirit, will have most of God… Let us carefully avoid all things by which He may be quenched. Let us long and thirst for Him. Let us cherish and yield to and follow all His motions. Let us pray for the Spirit.” Jonathan Edwards, Sermons and Discourses, p. 436
I CAN CRY, "COME, HOLY SPIRIT" AND NOT GRIEVE OR QUENCH HIS WORK/POWER WHEN:
1. I understand the only foundation for living the life of faith is the cross of Christ, (justification by faith alone through the work of Christ alone), “by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). We are to bear fruit as believers by the power of the Holy Spirit; fruit that is produced out of the rich soil of the gospel of grace (Ephesians 4:32).
"But that is not the way you learned Christ!" Ephesians 4:20
Am I known as one who rejoices in the magnificent mercy of the cross of Jesus?
2. I live in (known) repentance: confessing, forsaking, and hating sin. I understand the paradigm of:
• Rejoicing
• Roadblocks
• Repenting
• Readjusting
"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5
"So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man." Acts 24:16
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity." Proverbs 28:13-14
Am I known as a repenting and readjusting believer?
3. I am vitally and consistently involved in gospel communities and relationships in the local church (Ephesians 4:29; 5:19-21, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15).
Am I intentionally building, nurturing, and caring for others in a local community of faith?
4. I test all things by the Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) and diligently make life applications.
"The Puritans sought to ‘reduce to practice’ all that God taught them. They yoked their consciences to His Word, disciplining themselves to bring all activities under the scrutiny of Scripture, and to demanding a theological, as distinct from a merely pragmatic, justification for everything that they did. They applied their understanding of the mind of God to every branch of life, seeing the church, the family, the state, the arts, and sciences, the world of commerce and industry, no less than the devotions of the individual, as so many spheres in which God must be served and honored. They saw life whole, for they saw its Creator as Lord of each department of it, and their purpose was that ‘holiness to the Lord’, might be written over it in its entirety.” J. I. Packer, Quest for Godliness, p. 29
“What is the Bible, but a dead letter to us till we do experience the work of the Holy Spirit in us, not one or other separately, but both together.” Howel Harris
Do my contemporaries know me as someone who examines all things by the Scripture?
Is my knowledge of the Bible pushing me further into the reality and light of Christ?
5. I do not shut down my emotions when joyful, spiritual expressions are called for (Ephesians 5:18-19).
6. I understand the necessity of daily abiding in Christ by the power of the Spirit, and therefore cry out, “Come, Holy Spirit!”
“Regeneration (the new birth in Christ) makes man's heart a battlefield, where 'the flesh' (the old man) tirelessly disputes the supremacy of the new man. The Christian cannot gratify the one without interference from the other (Galatians 5:17, Romans 7:23)... the devil's strategy is to induce a false sense of security as a prelude to a surprise attack.” J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 197