Building up believers and the New Testament church
Did You Receive When You Believed?
Hindrances
Why have so many seemingly missed this very important aspect of the gospel? I do not have all the answers, but I will suggest what I believe to be some of the main reasons.
Incomplete teaching and presentation of the gospel is probably the main reason. The gospel preached today is often very shallow. It is an "easy believism" that may not require genuine dealing with God. Seekers are told to repeat a "sinner's prayer," then assured that they are now saved, have the Holy Spirit, and are eternally secure. At this point, real repentance may not be evident, nor any observable evidence that God heard their prayer. People tend to believe what they are told, so if they are assured that their sins are forgiven and God dwells within, they will normally believe that. Thus, the biggest blame falls on those who present the gospel in this shallow way.
Secondly, there are many who actively preach against any observable supernatural working of the Holy Spirit through spiritual gifts, sometimes even calling them the work of Satan. This tends to create fear and extreme caution toward anything supernatural. Such fear hinders faith and confidence before God. Even though the Holy Spirit may be working to lead believers into a greater experience of God's grace, their minds take over and quench the Spirit. To overcome this, we must let the Holy Spirit wash our minds with truth and bring us to a place of rest, so we can move in faith before God.
Thirdly, the Holy Spirit can only come to indwell a cleansed vessel. That cleansing comes through genuine repentance and belief in Jesus and His work on the cross for the forgiveness of sin. Repentance includes works of repentance, not just words of repentance (see Matt. 3:8). Instructing the Corinthians, Paul explains it this way: "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (2 Cor. 7:10-11). The Holy Spirit is faithful to bring conviction of sin (John 16:8-10). A lack of response on God's side may be due to unrepented sin or unbelief. If we stay before God, He is faithful to reveal such things so they can be made right.
Finally, God is looking for those who are willing to give themselves to Him as Lord without reservation. The very essence of the gospel is to be brought from independence from God (the self-life) to being under the authority of Christ as Lord. Jesus can only be the Savior of the one who has willingly yielded all to His control. The Holy Spirit comes as an administrator of the authority of God. Having reservations toward His authority will hinder our relationship with God and must be resolved. To be "filled" with the Spirit is to be "controlled" by the Spirit. This is a sensitive place, and sometimes it takes time for us to completely yield. It has often been said that the Holy Spirit is a "gentleman" and does not force, but waits to be invited to come in and take control. God is willing to wait, and knows when the matter is settled.
God is giving us the most precious thing He can give: Himself. Ephesians 5 compares our relationship with Christ to marriage. Doesn't anyone seeking to be married want to make sure of the commitment of the other? If God seems to delay filling us with the Spirit, we must not give up easily."And He said to them, 'Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him"; and he will answer from within and say, "Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you"? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!'" (Luke 11:5-13)
The whole theme of this passage is persistence: "Seek and keep on seeking." God knows when all conditions have been met. He is good, has our best at heart, and is faithful to reveal anything on our part that hinders. We receive the Spirit through the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2)."But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).
Perhaps we feel we have done everything we know to do and yet God has not answered, at least not in the way we expected Him to. Here is where our confidence in the character of God may be tested. Jesus says that God wants to come and dwell within us, far more than we know, but our experience seems to show otherwise. What do we do? Well, can God communicate with us? Can we hear Him? There is a very important truth that applies in this situation. The faith that we need originates in God, not in ourselves. Consider this scripture carefully:"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1-2).
This scripture tells us that Jesus "authors" faith in our heart and he also "finishes" it. Our place is to draw near to Him, acknowledging that "apart from Him we can do nothing." No amount of self-determination can force God to do what only He can do. Instead, we draw near to Him, waiting on Him, praising and worshiping Him, and presenting ourselves to Him to do what only He can do. This is not a place of struggle--it must become a place of rest. Yes it is a place of perseverance, but not a place of trying to do what I cannot do. There is a certain amount of mystery in this, because we may not understand why God seemingly delays. But in the process, God is bringing us to the end of ourselves and what we can do, and leading us into the riches of what He can do. He may be after something deep within our heart that we may not understand at first, but His time and His way of answering is always perfect. He is God.