Secrets of Cheerful Living | Living in the Spirit
Imagine something with me…
You are walking into the home of someone you just met a week ago. You walk in and you smell a candle burning, and the fire is nice and cozy. They invite you to sit down. You sit on the couch. There is a great ottoman right in front of you, and after a long day of work you just want to prop your feet up, but you don’t because you don’t know your host well enough to make yourself comfortable.
Now, imagine walking into your own home, or at your mom’s, or another place that you are really familiar with...
You walk in after a long day and you head straight for the couch. You don’t wait to be invited to sit down. You kick your shoes off because your feet are hurting and you prop them on your ottoman or coffee table. You fluff the pillows and the blankets JUST how you like them. Maybe your favorite pet hops up to settle in with you. You don’t think twice about any of this, because when you feel at home, you make yourself at home.
Let’s begin today with a little bit of backstory. Before Jesus came to earth, our access to God was limited. The Spirit of God, the Presence of God, was confined in the Ark of the Covenant - a sacred box which was housed within the Holy of Holies in the temple. Occasionally, God’s Spirit would fall upon an individual. One of the most powerful stories that demonstrates this in the Old Testament is the story of Saul and David.
When Saul was anointed King of Israel, 1 Samuel 10: 10 tells us that, “The Spirit of God rushed upon him (Saul), and he prophesied among them.” After some time, Saul began to reject God and trust in his own power. Scripture tells us that God rejected Saul as King over Israel because he did not keep the commandments. In chapter 16, verse 13, we see God anoint a new King over Israel: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” Here, we see the same thing that happened to Saul when he was anointed King, happen to David. “The Spirit rushed upon,” the manifest presence of God, filled David to where it was visible to people around him. The very next verse is one of the saddest and scariest statements… 1 Samuel 16:14 says, “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.”
So we see the Spirit of the Lord transferred from Saul to David. This is weird, right? First, we might ask, why would God take his Spirit from Saul? That doesn’t seem kind or loving. To understand this, we have to look at Saul’s part in this story. Saul CHOSE to reject God again and again. Saul had opportunity after opportunity to step up and be the leader God had called him to be but instead he chose to trust in his own power instead of in God’s. We also have to realize that the Spirit of God in this day and age is radically different than how we understand it to work today. It was very rare for God’s manifest presence to “rush upon” an individual, especially outside of the temple.
Cue Jesus… When Jesus entered the scene, everything changed about the way we understand the presence of God. God himself walked among the earth as a human. Let’s look at what Jesus says to His disciples in John 14 when he first tells them about the Holy Spirit:
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever...
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Jesus tells His disciples, and to us today, that it’s actually better for us that he goes away, because He is sending someone better. This is hard for me to imagine as I can’t think of anything better than having Jesus in bodily form living and walking with me. It’s almost as if he says to them, “Now, you won’t have me walking beside you, but then you will have my very presence IN you. He will be able to help you in ways that even I can’t.” When Jesus gave Himself up for us, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. This signified that our separation with God was over and we now have open access to the presence of God. So when we believe in Jesus, when we submit our lives to Him and ask Him to come to us and dwell with us, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our very being.
The promise of the Spirit is for all who believe and trust in Jesus. It is no longer a “visitation” culture, where his Spirit comes and goes. Now, it is a “dwelling” culture, where He comes to make his home with us.
Where the presence of God left Saul when he chose sin and rejected God, because of what Jesus did on the cross the Holy Spirit no longer “visits” us for a while and then leaves. He comes straight in, sits on the couch and props His feet up. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Holy Spirit can make His home with all who believe in Jesus. It is no longer “invite only,” an exclusive invitation, but it is an inclusive invitation extended to ALL who will believe in Jesus. Our job is to accept the invitation, submit to Him and allow Him to work in our lives.
Living in the Spirit is the key to living a cheerful life. The Holy Spirit takes over our conscience and works to lead us where we should go and away from where we shouldn’t. The Holy Spirit works in us to help us understand scripture when we read it and to draw scripture to our minds when we need to remember it. The Holy Spirit is how we are able to have cheer, or joy, in the midst of impossible circumstances. When we feel like we have hit a wall, the Holy Spirit reminds us of all the ways that God has been faithful in the past and gives us a supernatural ability to have hope in the present. When we neglect the Spirit, when we aren’t open to His leading, we find ourselves without hope and without cheer. Romans 8 tells us:
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
I don’t know about you, but I want to feel life and peace. Today, how are we setting our mind on the Spirit?
What’s the secret to living cheerfully? Realizing the power of the Spirit of God that makes His home with us and never taking it for granted.
Prayer: Father, we thank you that your Spirit no longer visits but He comes in and He props His feet up. We are thankful that your Spirit allows us to have life and peace even in the midst of impossible circumstances. Today, we invite you to make yourself comfortable in our lives. We aren’t afraid of you. We trust you and we submit our lives to you. Come and do what only you can do in us. Replace our worry with cheer by the power of your Holy Spirit.
