Waiting to Exhale

08.18.13

John 20.22 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (ESV)

Enough of the Law and the prophets: receive the Holy Spirit. Enough of trying to impress God with your efforts and pride: receive the Holy Spirit. Enough of pretending and jockeying for position: receive the Holy Spirit. Enough of trying to be good and doing it to show God how much you have to offer: Receive the Holy Spirit!

This may have been a private moment with Jesus and His followers (save Judas Iscariot who’d killed himself.) This may have been a moment of tenderness when Jesus told His men, “Lookit guys, all you’ve been told and taught in your religion is wrong – you really need Me!”

Later, in Galilee He told them, (according to Acts 1): “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Vv. 7&8) The Missing Link was God’s personal presence within the heart of each one who believed: Receive the Holy Spirit.

I failed so miserably yesterday – I was rude and disrespectful to a man because I ignored the personal presence of the Holy Spirit and like an undisciplined child, reacted in the moment, and failed. I didn’t get thrown out of the Kingdom (that would've occurred long ago); no, I just opened it up and let it rip – much to my own shame and remorse – I ignored God.

I wonder how long Jesus waits to exhale and tell some of us: Receive the Holy Spirit: quit pretending you have your spiritual act together, and live in the personal presence of Him who was sent to indwell the cesspool that you are and make you into something new – completely different. His personal presence is inside of us. He wants to transform human cesspools into rivers of living water…just sayin’.

I don’t think Jesus’ breathing was in exasperation, nor perspiration, nor desperation – it was in anticipation of His doing yet another work in them, and us, preparing us all for the next phase – the next in an endless stream of phases.

So here’s what I think: Paul, receive the Holy Spirit. Really receive Him. Quit pretending and throw yourself in perspiration and desperation upon Him who’s come to dwell within and trans form the stagnant smelly pool of waste into a beautiful, crystal-clear stream of life and refreshment. (The guy at the yard sale needed that, not the crap you threw at him…just sayin’.)

So, Lord, help me receive again today, not salvation, I have it; not the presence, I have that too; but respect and reverence for the One who came to live in me and show me the better way. Thank You for Your Gift – I need Him! Don’t wait to exhale, but bring it Lord! Amen.