Spirit Filled Expectant Living

December 16, 2015

Spirit Filled Expectant Living

“You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected”

Luke 12:40

Do you expect the Holy Spirit to move in your life today? Just as we must expect the return of Christ at any moment, so also the followers of Jesus live expecting the Holy Spirit to guide, to inform and to inspire us, moment by moment, each and every day. To live so expectantly is a very difficult spiritual discipline to master. Living expectantly is complicated because we cannot predict just how, when, or where the Holy Spirit will move: “The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

What can we do to help our spiritual growth in Spirit-filled expectant living? Two spiritual disciplines are helpful to me. First, I am learning to love the surprises. This is a biggie for me because I don’t particularly like surprises. I like to know where I am going, I like to know how I am going to get there, and I like to know what I am going to do when I get there. The Holy Spirit ignores my “I like to knows”, and delights to throw his surprises into the mix. I am getting better at just laying aside my need to be in control, and flow with the wind of the Holy Spirit. Along the way the Holy Spirit often reminds me to “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10a).

I am also finding it very helpful to practice the tenants of contemplative prayer as I am out and about each day. If just for a moment, I quiet my breathing and make scripture sentences my prayers of expectation . . .

·       “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10a).

·       “I fear no evil; for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

·       Abba, no one can take me from your hand (John 10:29)

·       Abba, Father, I am your beloved child. (Romans 8:15-16)

·       Nothing can separate me from your love. (Romans 8:39)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.