Chapter 4: Why Do You Want Him?
We are now in the fourth chapter of The Forgotten God and we barely scratched the surface. Tonight, we’re going to talk about one of the hardest questions to ask ourselves—if not the hardest of them all.
Why do you want Him?
So, why do we want the Holy Spirit? Why do we want to learn about Him? Tonight will be about reflection. We will reflect about our desires and will uncover our hidden motivations or intentions towards wanting God and His Holy Spirit. Our intentions and desires are some of the most powerful driving forces in our life. They can control the way we feel or dictate the way we act. They can even make us do things that we never thought we’d be able to do, and vice versa. Francis Chan believes that we need to call our motives into question in relation to our pursuit of the Holy Spirit. What is it that we want to get out of this study? What is in it for us to know God deeper?
“We all need to question our motives. We can’t simply move on and assume that our hearts are in the right place—what’s at stake is too important. Why does it matter so much?”
What are your possible motivations for desiring the Holy Spirit?
The Right Reason
We need to have the right reason/motivation, after all God already know what is in our heart. We might as well get it right from the get go, right? However, regardless how strong we think our faith in the Lord is, sometimes we still stumble upon a situation or even a season in our life when we don’t even seem to know what we want. But for the most part, we don’t even need to know what we want because what’s important is what God wants.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
According to Francis Chan, “The most obvious and stated purpose of these manifestations is for the good and edification of the church.”
On a scale of 1 to 10. How much do you love the church?
When we have the Holy Spirit, not only do we feel inclined to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we start to truly love them as our own. We would start to feel the kind of brotherly love that looks similarly like Jesus’ — that we would also want to lay down our lives for our friends (John 15:13). We would feel the kind of urgency to be accountable to their walks with God, pointing our their sins in truth and in grace, and encouraging them in the Lord (instead of leaving them) when times get rough.
“The Holy Spirit has given you a supernatural ability to serve the people God has placed around you. If God cares enough about His church to give you this Spirit-empowered ability, shouldn’t you care enough about the church to use that gift for the same purpose?”
Followers or Leaders?
As much as we hate to admit it, sometimes we struggle so much in our flesh (own selfish desires) to follow God’s leading. There is an inner battle going on all the time inside of us, fighting against our very desires to take heed of His instructions and His calling. We also have our own desires and purposes that sometimes cloud our ability to want God’s will and God’s way. We are naturally more inclined to follow our own hearts, but God calls us to choose Him regardless how scary it looks like. He wants us to submit to Him and to trust Him totally with full abandon, believing He knows what is best for us.
“I honestly believe that most of us - while we might say we want to be led by the Spirit - are actually scared of this reality. I know I am. What would it mean? What if He asks you to give up something you’re not ready to give up? What if He leads you where you don’t want to go? What if He tells you to change job? To move? Are you willing to surrender to Him, no matter where He wants to take you? ”
How much do you desire to be a follower of the Holy Spirit’s guidance rather than your flesh’s leading?
Once again, God wants us to live a God-centered life, saturated by the Holy Spirit, immersed under God’s leading, and fully committed to the call to love the church. We all are vital members of the church, and the world around us need us more than we need to get what we want for ourselves. We need to start living as though there is no greater call than this - to be a witness to the Gospel of Christ, to be a beacon of light in this crooked world, and to be an influence of hope for those who are perishing.
Francis Chan further says that, “It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But it’s absolutely vital to grasp that He didn’t call you there so you could settle in and live our your life in comfort and superficial peace. His purposes are not random or arbitrary. If you are still alive on this planet, it’s because He has something for you to do . . . Do you believe you exist not for your own pleasure but to help people know the love of Jesus and to come fully alive in Him? If so, then that will shape how you live your life in the place where you are.”
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. . . And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. ”