INTRO.: A. It is an enjoyable experience to spend time w/someone you love, someone you are close to. It is something to look forward to, an opportunity to be seized. The time should be planned, not haphazard; it should be proper but spontaneous. When we are with a friend we should not have to be constantly “on guard” - but we should act appropriately.
ILLUS.: When we were children & had friends we enjoyed each other and acted like children. As we grew up together, we changed our behavior. Certain activities demanded different behavior. We don’t act the same in church as we do in a ball game. (Perhaps we should! Maybe we ought to get just as excited about going to church as our favorite activity.) But we no doubt behave differently when our time is spent w/a small child or an adult, with a childhood friend or when visiting the doctor; when fellowshipping w/a family member as opposed to our boss at work...
B. Surely Someone Who lives w/in us ✨is even closer to us than a family member. And since He is God, surely ✨He deserves reverence & respect & appropriate behavior. “SPENDING THE DAY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT” should be a conscious activity & should take place every day - on purpose. ✨He is there all the time, but often He is ignored. ✨We must have “communion” with Him - we have no choice, but ✨He desires that it be on a conscious level & that our time with Him be planned.
NOTE: The word “communion” carries several meanings as it is used in the N.T. It means to be a 1️⃣partaker of something 11 times, to be 2️⃣a participator in something 9 times, & 3️⃣to have fellowship w/a person 5 times.
TRANS.: Since we are partakers of His Person & we share in His life & ministry and have some kind of fellowship w/Him it would do well for us to plan our time w/Him. We should consciously acknowledge His presence throughout the day & thus we will be... “GETTING TO KNOW THEHOLY SPIRIT” better!
I. IN THE MORNING:
A. Greet Him:
1. Acknowledge His presence as you awake. 2. Ask Him for guidance for the new day. 3. Ask Him to arrange your schedule & handle your appointments.
ILLUS.: If there is someone He wants you to speak to that day, ask Him to lead you to him/her & then ask Him to give you the words He wants you to speak. If there is someplace you should be or something you should do, ask Him for His help & guidance.
B. Meet Him:
1. After seeking directions for the new day, accept those directions. 2. Accepting His leading is by faith, just as in many other avenues of the Christian’s life.
NOTE: Sometimes He leads obviously & other times more subtly.
Acts.8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things…
3. One sure way of discerning His leading is that it is in harmony w/His Word, this is why reading the Bible in the morning is important; it gets our minds on the spiritual
Ps.119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Rom.8:5- 7 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
a. What our minds dwell upon will affect our communion w/the Spirit. b. Carnal (fleshly) thoughts erect barriers to the leadership of the Spirit.
ILLUS.: Sometimes the Lord reveals to me in a Spectacular & specific way what he wants me to preach, but most of the time I simply ask Him to control my mind & dwell in the realm of the Spirit & simply accept His quiet leading.
If a decision needs to be made w/a deadline I might ask for some special leading, but if the deadline comes & He has not done so, I ask Him to simply help me in what seems right & in faith believe the decision came from Him anyhow.
II. THROUGH THE DAY: A. Walk With Him:
Ps.37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Jn.15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
1. When we “walk” w/a person or fellowship regularly w/a person we start to become like that person; we pick up his mannerisms, ideas, philosophy, etc. 2. When you learn to “commune” with or “walk” with or “fellowship” with the Holy Spirit, you will become more like Him.
ILLUS.: Learning or yearning to be more like Jesus is not so much having the desire, but comes from getting to know Him better by spending time consciously fellowshipping w/Him. “Maybe if we spent less time attempting to walk LIKE Him & more time walking WITH Him, we would then walk more like Him.”
3. Fellowship w/the wrong crowd & you will be like them. 4. Fellowship w/the right crowd & you will be more like them.
ILLUS.: This is why a young person must choose the right school. The most important part of an education (for a Christian) is not necessarily the acquisition of facts & information, but the privilege of fellowshipping w/great people - people w/character & spirituality. 2 Cor.6:14-18
B. Talk With Him:
1. Did you ever notice how easy it is to pick up someone’s accent? 2. The more you talk WITH someone the more you talk LIKE someone! a. Just as you should begin the day talking with the Lord, so too you should spend your day talking with Him. b. He delights in your conscious recognition of His Presence in you!
ILLUS.: It is when we forget His indwelling presence that we fall into sin! When we forget He is in us, we will watch something displeasing to Him on TV, we will gossip about someone, we will harshly judge someone, we will do something or go somewhere we shouldn’t. “SPENDING THE DAY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT” will not only make us more Christlike, but it will also keep us from offending Him.
3. The more closely you fellowship with Him, the easier you will be able to discern His leading.
Rom.8:13-14 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Acts 16:6-7 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
4. Surely the Holy Spirit desires to lead & direct us throughout each day.
Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
ILLUS.: Philip was conducting a successful evangelistic crusade down in Samaria, preaching to great crowds, but the Holy Spirit lead him to go witness to one Ethiopian eunuch in the desert. As soon as Philip led this man to Christ he was again caught away by the Spirit to another place. (Acts 8:39)
III. IN THE EVENING:
A. At Home:
1. We have as much (if not more) responsibility to be Christlike at home w/our family as we do in public or at work. 2. The atmosphere in our home should be conducive to the things of the Spirit, not repulsive.
ILLUS.: It is not the preacher’s job to make your home spiritual - it is your job - as you yield to the Spirit. It is not the church’s job or the Christian school’s job to raise you kids - it is your job.
B. At Church:
1. On Sunday Night or Wednesday Night or if the church is in special meetings, it is the Spir it-filled believer’s job to be there. 2. The person in the pew is just as obligated to be in the service as the preacher is & he is just as obligated to be filled w/the Spirit as he listens as the man of God is as he preaches or teaches. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith...”
QUOTE:Lehman Strauss: “The Holy Spirit is needed no less in the pew than in the pulpit...When the Holy Spirit empowers those of you who occupy the pews in your church, you may expect an awakening such as you have never witnessed...the silent pew is the curse & blight of Christianity today.”
CONCL.: After saying “Good morning” to the Holy Spirit as you awake & walking & talking w/Him throughout the day on the job & then finishing the day w/Him in your home or in the church, end the day by saying “Good night” to Him before closing your eyes in sleep & ask Him to watch over you & yours during your sleeping hours.
ILLUS.:Jack Hylestells how as a young preacher he was first invited to preach a Sword Conf. w/ John R. Rice. He went to the motel room after the service & got out his Bible anticipating a devotional time. while Dr. Rice prepared for bed. Dr. Rice slipped into bed, pulled up the covers & simply said “Good night, Lord.” He had been walking & talking w/Him all day! So should we!