I made mention of doing the Bible in a year. It’ll take 18-months, but thou shalt not judge. Please. I am in Acts of the Apostles, which thrills me. Jesus said he would send “The Helper” – the Holy Spirit – and the Spirit hit the early church like a ton of bricks.
It is of the Holy Spirit that I write these few lines as the birds chirp and the sun rises this morning. If you fully understand this ghostly part of the Triune – if you have truly received the Spirit – I would love to talk. Because I don’t know if I have. Thus, have I not properly “cleansed” my heart?
God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.
Paul, in Acts of the Apostles 15:8-9
He cleansed their hearts. I pay for a goofy clip art library so I can add some color to this website. I entered the word “cleansed” and the search brought back several very sterile looking images of pretty girls washing their face with some sort of concoction, of models/doctors scrubbing in for surgery, and of brushes and soaps and such. Note the image I chose – some hand model all gloved up with a brush in a toilet.
There is no doubt that when I came to Christ on September 8, 1996, my heart was like a toilet. Way filthier than this straight-off-the-shelves-at-Lowes commode they used in the photo shoot. I was a filthy wretch of a wreck. I still am, but I try to die daily and hang my sins on the cross. Some days I win. Most days I don’t. But has God truly cleansed my heart?
That’s not a rhetorical question. I am candidly revealing concern. In my nearly thirty years as a believer, I don’t know if I have been hit by the Helper. Not like the early church. No tongues of fire for me. I get what I call “the quickening.” I have never revealed or tried to explain this to anyone until now. When I am in prayer or seeking guidance, I sometimes get a bit short of breath, I feel my heart race and my body tingles. You know, the quickening. I haven’t a clue if that is the Holy Spirit and if it is, what it means, but I always note when it happens and where my mind is at the point.
But I have never spoke in tongues. I have never interpreted a tongue. I am about to quote a whole lot of Bible here…
‘So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. ‘
Galatians 5:16
Please, by all means, Spirit, guide me! Like a pilot pulling his plane onto the tarmac, I’m looking for the Spirit to be wearing an orange vest and waving me on with those little orange stick thingies. But I don’t see Him. I don’t feel Him! And I don’t want my plane to crash!
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of 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 5:19-23
Paul lays down the truth at the end of Galatians 5. I have checked several of those boxes in verses 19-21. Then I said yes to JC. But the desires didn’t stop. Outbursts of anger? I think I had one 10 minutes ago. Quarreling? Have you seen a Board of County Commissioners meeting lately?
But Verses 22 and 23? Here are the fruits of the spirit. I have a few of those. I love. I am faithful. I am a pretty gentle guy. I’d like more joy, please. Patience? Well, I have a Board of County Commissioners meeting here in about four hours and I will pray for that! Self control? Boy, do I need more of that at the dinner table.
More fruit, please. More of verses 22 and 23 and less of 19-21, please.
Has my heart been cleaned? Has the Spirit come? Am I not clean enough? I never will be – that is the very reason Jesus died on the cross for me. To make me Holy before God – I do believe that with all my heart, mind, and soul. But where is the Spirit? My plane needs parked. I would love it if you would share your thoughts in the space below.
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