Help me to open my heart to receive all of your gifts

Do not settled for an appetizers.

Imagine you are at a wedding bouquet.  Several guests are milling around an elegantly decorated room, eating delicious and beautifully prepared appetizers.  They are talking happily and enjoying the good food and good company.  However, they are unaware that a door at the end of the room leads to a larger hall with music and a huge banquet.  Satisfied thought they are, they do not realize what they are missing!

As Paul traveled through Greece and into Ephesus, he came upon some disciples.  They were happily following God, devoted to what they had heard and understood.   But they did not have the whole picture.  They had embraced the baptism of repentance that John preached, but they had never heard the rest of the story.  So Paul told them about Jesus.  They had never heard of the Holy Spirit either, so he prayed with them, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them.  Evidently, God had much more waiting for them!

Get your main course

How about you?  You may feel that your relationship with God is good, but Jesus wants to make it spectacular.  He wants your cup to overflow with his love, his grace, and his wisdom.  Take a moment to recall the most powerful, grace filled experience of God you have ever had.  Now multiply that by tenfold.  That is what God wants to do for you.  If you think the “appetizers”  you have tasted so fare are good, just wait for the main course!

Always remember that the Holy Spirit lives in you.  Remember that he delights in doing “far more than all we ask or imagine”.  And do not forget about all the grace and power he offers you every single time, you receive Communion.

Ask, ask, and ask

So go ahead and ask him for more of his life.  Ask him to give you a new insight into the Scriptures.  Ask him to help you not only overcome sin but become a saint.  Ask him to make you extra confident in your position as a child of God.  Ask him to give you a joy that overflows and touches everyone you meet.  Ask, ask, and ask.  He loves you.  He has good gifts waiting for you.

word among us