The Holy Spirit Blessing in You

 

“God loves me.”

I say this all the time when good things happen.

When circumstances are good, it’s easy to feel God’s presence and His favor, but when times get hard, it’s not so easy. Sometimes frustration, discouragement, or grief makes it impossible for me to feel the presence or love of God.

When earthly blessings prevail, we feel blessed; when they don’t, we feel punished.

But Jesus described “blessed” another way:

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth… (Matthew 5:3-5)

 Upside Down Blessing

Jesus always had a way of turning everything upside down. But He wasn’t saying that the poor, grieving, and meek would be happy; His words promised so much more. Read this commentary from Spiros Zodhiates:

The Greek word translated blessed is makarioi which means to be fully satisfied. In Classical Greek, the word referred to a state of blessedness in the hereafter. In the New Testament, however, the term is used of the joy that comes from salvation. This satisfying joy is not the result of favorable circumstances in life, but comes only from being indwelt with Christ. (Zodhiates, Key-Word NIV. 1129)

The Greeks believed makarioi, full satisfaction, could not be reached until heaven.

But the New Testament teaches that blessing, full satisfaction, is experienced when Christ takes residence inside a believer. 

Mary was Makarios Blessed

I love the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth after Gabrielle told her she was chosen to be the mother of the long awaited Messiah. 

Joy filled both Mary and Elizabeth. Even the unborn John was doing somersaults inside his elderly mother as both women began to prophesy and praise God. 

Mary said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me” Luke 1:46-49.

I wrote about this in my book A Mary Like Me.

Mary was in a state of deep satisfaction and joy because she had the indwelling of the presence of the very God who gave her life. But this story reaches beyond these biblical women. The life of God within Mary wasn’t only for God’s favored one and her relative Elizabeth to know. The life of Jesus and this state of joy and satisfaction would be known by generations to come as we all have the opportunity to receive that new Spirit–Christ’s Spirit–indwelling in us. Because of this, we who believe are makarios. (A Mary Like Me: Flawed Yet Called, p. 154)

Are you blessed as Christ spoke of the blessing… fully satisfied?

We can’t be fully satisfied without his presence in us. 

The Reality of Discontentment

 Honestly, I’m not always fully satisfied. As I walked into Target the other day a thought whispered in my mind: As long as I live in this world, I may not be fully satisfied.

I know that was not from the Lord because there have been moments in this life when I’ve soaked in the Presence and love of Jesus, and during those Holy Spirit moments, I was full. I was whole. I wanted nothing. But it’s hard to stay there.

The world bombards us with promises of what will satisfy our longing.  Shiny or pretty things may lure us, but many people also believe that when their problems are resolved life will be good. We think, When my health is restored…when_________________” (You fill in the blank) then I will be fully satisfied. 

But even when we acquire the shiny thing we wanted, or we buy our dream home, or the illness disappears, even then, we can’t escape the empty.

When left to our own longings, another one will continue to beckon. That’s why we need a Holy Spirit intervention. We need Him to take over–thank goodness. What if we didn’t need Him?

Thankful for the Empty Places

Thank God for the unsatisfied, empty places because they remind us that only Someone glorious and wonderful can fill the caverns within. This week the Bible reading plan holds scriptures about the Holy Spirit and how He fills us. 

Bible Reading Plan on Holy Spirit Blessed

Grab the Printable to take with you!

Titus 3: 5-7:

 . . . he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 

 

Prompt: We cannot be fully satisfied on our own because earthly blessings fall short. Nothing fills the cavern like the Spirit of Jesus. Before you start your day, take some time to get in a still, quiet space. Take a deep breath in breathing in His Spirit and breathing out your desire to control and fix. Thank Him for your salvation and ask Him to guide you today. When you go to bed, journal anything about your day that seemed different.

Romans 8: 26-27

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Prompt: Do you ever worry that you aren’t praying the right words? No worries my friends. The Spirit is praying too. We give our honest petitions and the Spirit intercedes for us with all wisdom and knowledge, and in the perfect will of God. Be blessed in your prayers.

Use the Printable during Your Quiet Time

Philippians 4:11-13

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Prompt: Fully satisfied is a place of contentment, a place of peace. Paul lived there. But Paul attributes his contentment to the One inside of him who gave him strength to endure. The Greek word here for strength is endynamo. It means inner strength. Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you endynamo today as you face the empty places. Don’t try to fill it yourself. Wait on Him for that supernatural filling of satisfaction. 

Ephesians 3: 16

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being . . .

Prompt: In the prompt above we talked about the Spirit strengthening Paul and enabling him to be content . . . fully satisfied.  This verse tells us how God does this. Where does His strength come from? Take some time to “chew” on the thought of God’s glorious riches. Write down what comes to mind. Remember, God is generous with His riches or abundance (another way to translate this word.)

 

Ephesians 3: 17-18

. . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ . . .

Prompt: Faith is the word pistis which means to trust. Do you trust Christ? We can’t be rooted in His love, able to drink up the living water He has for us, and rooted strong to withstand any storm, until we trust. The more we trust and yield to His Spirit, the more we can receive it. Soak in His deep love for you today. If you live near an ocean or large body of water, go spend time within Him there.

 

Ephesians 3: 19

. . . and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Prompt; Honestly, I can’t imagine. What would it be like to be filled with the fullness of God? Can you imagine the peace, love, joy, wisdom? It only comes to us as we are to receive His love for us. He loves you my friends. Write down a statement of faith: “Jesus loves me.” Let that linger in your soul all day.

Click here to see what the printable looks like!

Midweek Bible Study

Could you use some encouragement in the middle of the week? Would you like to dig deeper in these scriptures with me? Well . . . come on over! Put on your stretchy pants, gather your Bible and journal and BoB printable, and jump on Facebook. I’ll be LIVE at 7:30 ET Wednesday night. Just follow me on FB to receive notifications when I start the broadcast. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch at your convenience.

Praying for you! Please leave a comment and share your thoughts about the Holy Spirit us satisfying our souls and how I can be praying for you.

Digging Deep,

Andy