01/08

His Good Pleasure

“For it is God who works in you both to will and do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

What is the Lord’s pleasure? What is it that the Lord wants? God blesses us all the time, but have you ever wondered how we can bless God? I believe that if your heart is to please God, you want His Spirit to have what He desires. The Holy Spirit has purpose for times of visitation in your life and moments when we come together to meet in His presence. This is His pleasure –to deliver the anointing and accomplish the purpose of God.

We can choose to seek God for what He wants to do through His Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” To grieve Him means to cause Him to feel heaviness, sorrowful or distress. How could we grieve the Holy Spirit? I believe resistance to the Holy Spirit causes Him not receive His pleasure or His desire. When He is grieved, it is because we are keeping the Holy Spirit from what He wants to do. When the Holy Spirit is grieved, He will not force Himself on us, and He will lift the anointing.

Stephen was a leader in the early church. In Acts 7:51, Stephen was speaking to the religious leaders and he said, “You always resist the Holy Spirit.” He calls the people stiff-necked because they stiffen instead of yield to the leading of God’s Spirit. They were stubborn and self-willed rather than pliable and surrendered. The Holy Spirit was resisted.

There was a time when I told the Lord that I was open to whatever He wanted to do. But the Lord said to me, “I don’t want you just to be open to my Spirit; I want you to pursue my Spirit.” Being open is passive; being in pursuit is putting action to our passion for God. This principle is true in our individual lives as well as our church services and group meetings.

Even good intentions can grieve the Spirit when a consideration of what God actually wants is neglected. You are doing good things, but you are not doing God things. Did the Holy Spirit achieve His pleasure? Did He get the chance to do what He wanted? If we do not pursue the desire of the Holy Spirit, not only do we rob ourselves, but we also rob others of the supernatural power they could have received to set them free. However, when we pursue the Holy Spirit’s desires, we give the Spirit the opportunity to manifest His powerful anointing and do something supernatural in our otherwise natural day.

Application: Start your day in prayer. Ask God what He wants for the day. Then pursue that. See what He does!

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