Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

Mar 13

Written By Rev. Paul Lawler

The Holy Spirit’s presence can be lifted if we’re not cautious in how we worship or approach God. As Christians, we must learn that being sensitive to the Holy Spirit means we are aware of the Holy Spirit’s sensitivity. This blog shares how you can learn to walk in the Spirit into consecration and transformation.

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

The nature of God can be described through the three Big O’s.

Omnipotence: God is all-powerful.
Omniscience: God knows everything/All-knowing.
Omnipresence: God is everywhere.

However, through the person of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence, there is also something called manifest presence.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

The manifest presence, God’s presence, dwells in the believer’s life. That very presence of God can be grieved, like in 1 Thessalonians, where we’re instructed not to put out the Spirit’s fire.

An example of this is Samson. He had the power of God residing within him through the gift of supernatural strength. However, when Samson began to cross boundaries, spiritually and physically falling into sin with Delilah, he experienced a diminished expression of God’s manifest presence.

If the church is taught, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit,” that means we are capable of grieving the Holy Spirit. His special manifest presence and anointing are lifted when the Holy Spirit is grieved.

“My greatest fear is that God would remove His hand from me.”

— Billy Graham, theologian and pastor

Becoming Sensitive to the Holy Spirit

“The Holy Spirit descended like a dove and rested upon Him.” (Based on Matthew 3:16)

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. The Bible does not say the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a pigeon. However, a dove is sensitive and will take flight when disturbed, unlike a pigeon which does not frighten easily.

“And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” John 1:32-33

The key word in these verses is the word “remain.” The dove was at home in Jesus because it found harmony in Jesus. That’s what we desire to be like as believers. We want to be a welcoming place for the dove to remain in communion with Jesus. We want to place a value on God’s presence in our lives and our church family for the sake of witnessing God’s glory.

To become sensitive to the Holy Spirit requires that we become aware of the Holy Spirit’s sensitivity.

Galatians 5:23 tells us that a fruit of the Holy Spirit is gentleness. Therefore, Paul urged, “let your gentleness be evident to all.” James declared that God promises when a man or woman lives into this power, the presence of God, that a living harvest will come. Righteousness is always life-giving and is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Invitation to a Journey

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead, let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them….” Ephesians 4:30-5:7 (ESV)

Asbury seminary professor Dr. Robert Mulholland wrote Invitation to a Journey, a book examining how we interact with God’s Word. He breaks those interactions into four categories.

1) Confrontation

Confrontation falls in line with many of the things listed in Ephesians 4:30-5:7. These things can include: addiction, sexual immorality, outburst of anger, etc. As God invites you to move into a new life and altitude, we face an internal confrontation because it can be uncomfortable to adjust to God’s presence. However, rather than saying, “I need to adjust,” we can say, “I get to adjust.”

2) Frustration

In confrontation, we go into a stage of frustration. Think about what happened when God confronted Adam about his sin. “Lord, it was this woman’s fault.” Often, when confronted, we blame other things. “Well, if I wasn’t married to this person,” or “If this circumstance hadn’t happened.” All of these things crescendo in our lives as a symptom of frustration from confrontation. However, I have learned that God will not alter His principles to accommodate me, and once again, we can move into a new altitude.

3) Consecration

Consecration is where we can begin to wave the white flag of surrender. This stage enables us to yield to goodness as we enter a place of agreement with God.

4) Formation

As you adjust to God in your life, a new formation occurs. This formation is the very life of God in you through the Holy Spirit. It’s an empowerment to a new altitude in His glory for you to discover a new resting place.

“His way works. When I am in His way, His way works. When I am not in His way, the way does not work.”

— E. Stanley Jones, missionary

Walk in the Spirit

When someone asks about your relationship with Christ, we want to make much of it. Who is Christ to you now? What’s His activity and movement in your life now? What’s your witness for Christ today? How is He moving?

Years ago, my church hosted a Christian conference that hundreds of people from all over the United States attended. However, there was one gentleman I invited because anytime I tried to approach him about what God was doing in his life, he diverted the conversation. He didn’t have the spiritual capacity to answer the question.

The Spirit was moving. People were praying at the altars and worshiping passionately. When I asked him about the message, he responded, “He had amazing delivery. I didn’t hear a single pause or misuse of the English language.”

While many of the attendees were receiving Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit, the gentleman I invited only received a great speaker.

Some people come to church to hear the preacher’s sermon, while others come to church to hear from God. Some people make going to church about the “what,” while some people come to church to make it about the “who.” [Related Reading: The Joy of Worshipping]

There’s a difference.

“Find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5:10

In His love for you, the Lord declared we are filled with the Holy Spirit. This verse was written in the imperative: Walk in the Spirit. These are instructions so that you may manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the character of Jesus, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts because none of us is an exception.

We don’t earn any of this because all of this is a gift from God. It is by grace that you are saved through faith. This is not a performance. This is surrendering to Jesus Christ, who bled and died for you. He has already done the work of reconciling you to God. So move in surrender, and pursue all the life made available to you.

My prayer is that you will earnestly desire spiritual gifts so that you can proclaim God’s truth. That doesn’t mean everyone’s a preacher, but when we study God’s Word, we learn to measure things by the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit. So, in light of Ephesians 4:30, let us, by God’s grace, live with a sensitivity to the dove of the Holy Spirit.

TL;DR

The manifest presence, God’s presence, dwells in the believer’s life.
His special manifest presence and anointing are lifted when the Holy Spirit is grieved.
As Christians, we want to create a welcoming place in our hearts to remain in harmony with Jesus.
To become sensitive to the Holy Spirit requires that we become aware of the Holy Spirit’s sensitivity.
Dr. Robert Mulholland breaks down our interactions with God’s Word into four categories.