The Spirit's life

In thinking unto the Lord the other night, I thought about how the Holy Spirit is given to us in His fullness but yet it is still only a 'down payment'. We do not have the manifestation of the Spirit in His fullness, like Christ did, because of being in these vessels of clay.

In my thinking, it was likened unto the city's water supply. The large water tower tank in a city holds all of the water, this is the Holy Spirit in His fullness. The individual houses receive all of the water that can flow WITHIN THE PIPES to any given house. Home water pipes are not 10 feet in diameter! They are usually less than a couple of inches in diameter because a private residential home isn't built to receive large amounts of water at anytime, yet the water that can flow is more than sufficient for one family's needs. This is the Spirit being given to each born again believer. However, WE play a part in the manifestation of the Spirit in our lives.

If we only turn on a spigot or faucet partially, then we only get a small flowing of water. All the water that a private residential home can receive IS AVAILABLE to that home but it's POTENTIAL is realized only according to the amount of opening that a person allows through the spigot.

Father, I don't want to hinder, grieve or in any way prevent the Spirit from having His free flowing ministry through my life. Show me how I am not opening my spigot entirely. Help me to open it so that the Spirit may flow freely.

Death to anything not of the Lord

I have been thinking about 'giants' in the land of my flesh. I have read and heard ministers talk about how the spiritual application of entering the Promised Land, or Land of Promises and Art Nelson phrases it, is about doing away with the giants as represented by the things of the flesh - wrath, lust, fear, etc. 

In thinking unto the Lord about this, I could see that not only are we to destroy the 'giant' but the giants' provision - his dwelling, altars and even animals. in like manner we are to make no 'provision' for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Anything that feeds, supports, cares for, nurtures our wrath, fear, lust, etc. must be destroyed.

Also, we must even kill the 'children' - the fruit of  wrath, the fruit of fear, the fruit of lust, etc. Wrath, fear and lust all  produces (bears children) of unrighteous acts and is not a manifestation of love.

Help me to mortify my members and put on Christ.