Grieve not the Holy Spirit

[Christ4Ever]

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit." — Ephesians 4:30


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All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except He worketh in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure.

Do you desire to speak for Jesus-how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master's cause? You cannot without the Spirit-"Without me ye can do nothing." O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through His Spirit! Then let us not grieve Him or provoke Him to anger by our sin. Let us not quench Him in one of His faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting.

If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without Him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring His blessing. Let us do Him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from Him, and then depending alone upon Him, having this for our prayer, "Open Thou my heart and my whole being to Thine incoming, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts."

Charles Spurgeon

 

[B-A-C]

If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without Him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring His blessing. Let us do Him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from Him, and then depending alone upon Him, having this for our prayer, "Open Thou my heart and my whole being to Thine incoming, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts."

While I believe C.S. was great theologian, I don't agree with some things he says. I wonder how a proponent of "no free-will" views the verses above?
Charles Spurgeon doesn't really qualify as a Calvinist, however he did have the hyper-Calvinst view of no free-will. If this is true, then how would we even be able

to "attempt something without Him" or "begin no project" without His blessing ? It seems that implying we are even able to do these things is saying we have free will.

Indeed if we have no free-will, is it God Himself who causes us to sin and grieve the Holy Spirit?

 

[Christ4Ever]

While I believe C.S. was great theologian, I don't agree with some things he says. I wonder how a proponent of "no free-will" views the verses above?
Charles Spurgeon doesn't really qualify as a Calvinist, however he did have the hyper-Calvinst view of no free-will. If this is true, then how would we even be able

to "attempt something without Him" or "begin no project" without His blessing ? It seems that implying we are even able to do these things is saying we have free will.

Indeed if we have no free-will, is it God Himself who causes us to sin and grieve the Holy Spirit?

The Spirit moves in mysterious ways. Do you think he might have wondered the same thing when ink was put to paper in writing this?

In truth, I had a greater trepidation in posting this. I really could not see the connection in the use of Ephesians 4:30 and the grieving of the Holy Spirit with the content of the devotional. Maybe it was beyond my comprehending at the moment......