The first type of relationship we can experience is the Spirit within us. The next level is to become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And the third
level of our relationship with the Holy Spirit is found in the book of Acts. “But you shall receive power, ability, efficiency and might—when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8 AMP).
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come upon us. The more we yield to the Holy Spirit the more His power will move through us. And the more His power moves
through us, the more His power will increase. His ability, His efficiency, and His might all become ours. That’s why it’s so important to yield and
surrender to Him.
The Holy Spirit begins to reveal His presence to us. He will develop the fruit of the Spirit within us, making us fruitful. He will create sensitivity
to His impulses, and as a result we will rise to new dimensions of His power.
The life we lived before we received Christ was governed by the appetites and impulses of the carnal nature. If our flesh wanted it, it got it! Life was
nearly consumed with catering to anything our flesh desired. Christians who continue to pamper their flesh will never become strong. They will never
be satisfied within because they cannot please God. Romans 8:7,8 tells us why: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject
to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Deep within them is the desire to please Him, but as
long as they are unchanged they remain of little use or effectiveness to the work of the Holy Spirit.
There are those, however, who are unsatisfied with a carnal life so they reach out for something more. They want to be sensitive and useful to the Holy
Spirit. They want to be “…a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21 NAS).
Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:5,9 from the Amplified Bible:
“But those who are according to the Spirit and controlled by the desires of the Spirit, set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy
Spirit. But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you—directs
and controls you.”
Paul addressed the Ephesians this way: “…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God,
in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23,24 NKJV).
To more fully cooperate with the Holy Spirit, we must refuse to yield to the distractions that Satan uses to draw us back. Yielding to the Spirit means
to give our thoughts and imaginations over to Him. We must think the thoughts of the Spirit. Instead of thinking destructive ideas that are negative—full
of defeat and despair—yield to the ideas of the Holy Spirit.
