Dust clouds were forming around the carpet power head of my vacuum as I raced to clean the basement up before my son’s friend with allergies showed up. After trying several times to figure out the problem, I gave up and attached the floor brush to the hose. It managed to do the job but took more time and effort than I wanted.
After hefting the vacuum back upstairs to the closet, the tube disengaged from the power head and I noticed it looked a little odd where they connected. There was tape closing the end of the tube! Why anyone would put tape on the bottom of the tube, I had no idea, but I suspected my eccentric son. Later when I asked him about it, he said he’d done it because he had sucked up some spiders and didn’t want them to get back out!
A vacuum without air flow isn’t very useful for its purpose, but neither are we when the flow of the Spirit is hindered in our lives. Eph. says to be filled with the Spirit. Gal says If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Rom talks about being led by the Spirit of God. Both our active and passive actions are to be in the Spirit. Let’s see what Jesus had to say about the Spirit.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (The Holy Ghost John ), that he (the Comforter) may abide with you for ever; (John KJV)
In John 16:7, Jesus leaves in order to send the Comforter to us.
Jesus thought the Holy Spirit in our lives was important enough to leave us. Paul also reminds us of the Spirit’s part in our lives: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. 6:19; also 3:16) Walking in the Spirit is important to each Christian life as He dwells within us. There are many things that can hinder that ‘flow’ of the Spirit. Here are the basic ones that I see:
-Not understanding the Holy Spirit, His place in the Godhead and His place in our lives.
(lack of knowledge) Hosea 4:1,6; Is. 5:13; Jer. 31:34; Col
-We feel unworthy, don’t believe He can use us, or are afraid for varying reasons.
(pessimistic attitudes) Eph 4:23,24; Rom. 12:2; Pr. 4:23 to help
-Other people’s beliefs and disapproval of our attempts to follow the Spirit.
(fear of man) not to: Heb. 13:6; Matt. 10:28; Ps. 118:6
There are at least 250 verses of scripture on the Holy Ghost, Spirit and Comforter yet many find it difficult or uncomfortable to think of Him as a real person in the Godhead, yet how can that many verses be ignored? Since He dwells within us (Jam. 4:5) it must be pretty painful to Him when we ignore Him. It effectively cuts off our ‘flow’ in the Spirit. We’ve been warned:
-Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God."--Eph. 4:30.
-Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost"--Acts 7:51.
-Quench not the Spirit."-1 Thes. 5:19
Do we want to be a taped up vacuum that cannot fulfill its purpose, or do we want our lives to flow in the Spirit and thus fulfill God’s purpose in us? No condemnation here, we just need to do something: make a decision, learn all we can, and increase our intimacy with God so we know His voice and try our best to follow it. At the very least, we should remove the tape off our tube!