Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:30-32 MSG
Comment
This morning I woke up and all was not well. I had a sense of unease, I felt ashamed and I realised that some of my recent behaviour was grieving the Holy Spirit. I knew exactly what behaviour it was and so I spent some time with God confessing my sin, repenting and receiving his forgiveness. Afterwards it felt like a cloud had lifted and I told my wife what God and I had been doing.
We cause God the Holy Spirit to grieve when we do things that are not good for us, for others and for Him and His family… the Church. He grieves because he loves.
This Holy Spirit lives in us, our bodies are the temples in which he now resides. He is transforming each of us into the image of Christ. It is not good for us and for our spiritual growth to grieve Him. It is not good for our relationships either.
In the passage Paul advises the giving up and taking up of specific behaviour. He lists things that kill relationships and things that build them.
Is there anything going on in your life which grieves the Holy Spirit?
Prayer (together)
God the Father, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in me. God the Holy Spirit, through you I have the gift of faith, I am a new creation and I grow to be like Christ. Show me where I grieve you. In the power of your love may I confess my sin and turn back towards God. May I grow in the knowledge and understanding of how much God loves me and may my love for God grow in response, for I ask in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Prayer (for others)
Father God, we lift up … and … to you. Holy Spirit show them the things that grieve you, help them to change. Help them to grow in the image of Christ. Amen.
For more
For a further helpful prayer to the Holy Spirit click Prayer to the Holy Spirit.
