Connecting with God - 3 November 2008

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

We have the privilege of living out our lives with the Holy Spirit dwelling within us; our continual connection with God. So how come we can go long periods of time without being aware of God with us? – At least I do, so I assume you do too! We should live our lives sort of like dodgem cars, continually attached to, and energised by the power source; whereas we are often more like battery powered cars with rechargeable batteries, that don’t get charged as much as they should, running on what’s left in the battery rather than on full power.

It’s not that God goes away, or clock’s off for a bit; it must be something in us. We can be too busy, too involved in what we are doing, too selfish, too proud or sometimes we just forget. We can also deliberately turn away, doing things that we know we shouldn’t or things that despite our best efforts we just can’t help doing.

This week we will dwell on some ways in which we can try and connect more with God. In one week we can’t cover all the possibilities; we all have ways in which we prefer to connect with God, but we need different options perhaps at different times or in differing circumstances.

For today, ask God to deal with the barriers we might have put up through what we might have done or said or in how we have behaved.

“Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement:” John 16:7b-8.

Take time now to ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to ask Jesus for his forgiveness; and then offer that to God. Soak in the love of Christ as his grace and love, freely given, break down those barriers; connect with God and savour that connection.

Jesus, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Help us be aware of you more and more.

Amen