In the days of the Old Testament, the Spirit of God came upon certain ones at times, and they would prophesy. Kings and Prophets were the usual recipients, but not always. Once it was even a donkey that spoke like a man. Anyway, consider what King David did when the Holy Spirit came upon him. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given unto believers to inhabit them. King David wrote the Psalms and did many mighty exploits for God. And even though he was not perfect and without sin, God said he had a heart after his own. Now he accomplished all that with only the VISITATION of the Holy Spirit at different times. Think of what WE could do for God now in this day and age with the INFILLING of the Holy Spirit!

But ARE we doing mighty exploits with the Holy Spirit that God has given us? If not, WHY NOT? Ever since the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers in the Upper Room, they turned this world upside down, or should I say rather, right side up. Such power had never been given unto mankind up till then. Sure, an occasional visitation, but WOW! Now the Holy Spirit comes to STAY and work in and through believers. Never in the history of mankind have we had the potential to be such a threat to the kingdom of darkness, and be an unstoppable force for the Kingdom of God! You’d think EVERYONE would want in on that, but sadly, the things of the world woo many believers into complacency.

Overwhelmingly, Christians today are not operating in the power of God, and there’s only one reason; they desire the things of the world more than the love and approval of God. I remember reading in Matthew 6:33, the Lord Jesus said, Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. You see, God doesn’t have a problem with you having possessions or money, but He has a REAL problem with those things being number one in your life. That relegates God to number two, and we all know He won’t settle for second place. And yet, we want to be God’s number one concern, the apple of His eye, and for Him to jump when we call, and I mean right NOW! I wish I was wrong about that, but the Lord himself put that in my spirit just now.

We want a full-time God, shouldn’t we be His full-time children, not just stopping in for a visit when we want something? I’d like to share a story from my childhood. When I was maybe six or seven, and my Mom and Dad took me to see my Grandpa and Grandma, he always had a present waiting for me. It got where I’d throw the screen door open (and let it slam shut), and run in and say, What do you have for me today? One day I heard Grandpa tell Grandma in the kitchen, I wish Jerry loved us for who we are instead of what we give him when he comes to see us. Well, that touched my heart and made me see myself for what I was: a selfish little brat. The next week I ran in, and closed the screen door gently, and gave them a hug and told them I loved them. I saw a tear run down Grandpa’s cheek. Every week after that, the presents got nicer. You see, I had learned to seek his face instead of his hand.

Now I don’t think God minds us seeking His hand, for it is He that gives us our needs. Think about it; if we had no needs, we would never seek Him. And He loves to MEET those needs, for He loves us so. The problem is, we don’t seem to love Him as much as He loves us. We’re more interested in what He will do for us. Do you know why God made His Holy Spirit available to dwell in us forever? That’s so we never have to be out of His presence.

We have it SO much better than the people of the Old Testament. They just had the Holy Spirit come UPON them, and that was only once in a while. We can have the Holy Spirit IN us FOREVER! Think of it: we NEVER, EVER have to be out of God’s presence again, for any reason! I desire than more than things, more than money, more than fame, more than ANYTHING! And when we seek His face first and foremost, well, His hands are right there too, blessing us with more than we could ever need or hope for! I just want to love on Him and do mighty things for Him, because, after all, He is so GOOD to me. And I hope you do, too. There’s just no comparison, the Spirit of God UPON us has given way to the Spirit of God IN us! What a blessing! What a wonderful Father we have in heaven!