HOW DO WE GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT?

When you give instructions as parents to your children and they do not obey, you don’t throw them out of the family.  But your hearts suffer because we see that when they rebel, they are hurting themselves and sowing seeds that will reap destructive consequences later.

How much more does our Heavenly Father want what is best for us all? He doesn’t want the enemy of our souls to get his talons into us with deception and evil works.

We know we are forgiven by the blood of Christ.  All our sins have been washed away and when we accept that gift, we become part of the family of God.  Romans 10:9. Our names are written in the Book of Life.

Being born again doesn’t mean we won’t still sin.  But because we are members of heaven’s family, it distresses the Lord when we do not follow his commands.

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring healing, deliverance, and blessings, and peace into our hearts.

Ephesians 4:30 -32 NIV

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.  With whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Romans 8:5-6

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires.  But those who live by the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.”

The very famous TB Joshua said, “I have witnessed the Holy Spirit descend on many people but He does not remain.  I mean, He does not stay when He is grieved. “

• We grieve the Holy Spirit through our pride

What is pride? When we consider ourselves more than God.  You care more about your ego than your conscience.  When you care more about your image than your destiny.  When you care more about your ambition than your salvation. 

This pride is expressed in many ways. For example, I will give you one or two ways in which you can identify someone that demonstrates that pride.  Have you observed that in life and society in general, it’s very common for people when they succeed and do well, they attribute the glory to themselves?  But when we fail, we look for an escape.  When we fail, we point fingers and blame, I am from a bad family, poor family, background.  This person is responsible for this, I’m facing these circumstances.  We easily point fingers at others when we fail and when we do well, we attribute it to ourselves.  Pride causes you to view yourself as the victim.  Whenever you face a situation that is contrary to your expectation you begin to say,” Why are they treating me like this? Why is it happening to me like this?  This person was promoted and not me. It is I, Me, Myself.  This is pride.   As Christians, we should take our stand. 

Do you know what the stand of a Christian is?

As Christians, we know that victory is not final and defeat is not fatal.  If we succeed today we give glory to God because the best is yet to come.  If we fail today, we submit to God’s will because the end has not yet come. That’s a Christian.

But it’s so common for people today, to attribute their success to themselves.  Whereas we know that we are who we are, where we are, and what we are by God’s grace. Everything we have today comes from God.  All we are doing is simply giving back to Him what we have freely received from his generous hands.  It’s all about Jesus but today another example of pride you see people boasting about their material possessions, boasting about the number of cars they have, boasting about the amount of money in their bank accounts, etc. 

When the Bible says,” The Spirit is greater than material possessions.  I apologize to say that even you see this in the house of God today.   Pride is trying to infiltrate you.  You see in some places they celebrate the name of the pastor more than the name of Jesus.  Build the brand of the ministry more than building the kingdom of God. 

Prophet TB Joshua quotes” The more God uses me the more I humble myself because the work of healing is not mine.  The work of deliverance is not mine; the work of prophecy is not mine.  No man can claim credit for God’s work.”

Pride hardens our hearts.  Pride masks the true condition of our hearts.  Pride clouds the eyes of our understanding. Pride distorts our vision.  Pride keeps us from dealing with the truth.  Pride blinds us from reality because we began to view ourselves as a victim.  Pride easily leads to offense.  Someone embarrasses you, insults you, and you say how could they do this to me? How can they say this about me?  Because of pride we quickly pick offense by doing so and we grieve the Holy Spirit.

• We grieve the Holy Spirt when we hold a grudge against someone

As a result of pride offense steps in, grudges steps in, unforgiveness steps in. 

Do you know when you need the Holy Spirit?

 When you are insulted the Holy Spirit is there to comfort you.  But Today we reject the comfort of the comforter, today we reject the help of the helper by our grudge, by our offense, by our pride.  And when we reject the help of the helper what do we do?  We start looking for human help to make us feel better.  You go and meet someone and discuss the person who misbehaved with you and you will expect the listener to have sympathy for you.  You expect human sympathy but the person whom you are sharing your problem with cannot solve your problem.  Because the problem you are sharing with is having the same problem.  And you wonder why your problem does not go.  What we are doing by this offense is rejecting the help of the helper and the counsel of the counselor.  And we are on our own because we grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to comfort us, to guide us, and to strengthen us in those moments where we are insulted, embarrassed, or tempted.  Check yourself.   

While you are nursing your grudge, bitterness, and pain, the person who hurt you, you don’t know what is going on in that person’s heart.  The same Holy Spirit is convicting that person what he/she did or said is not right. And the very same person is on their knees asking for forgiveness from God and reconciled with God. 

The person that offended you is free and you is offended is in bondage.  Even if the person comes and apologizes in front of you, you say it’s okay I forgive from your mouth but you still keep a grudge in your heart.  The person is free and continuing his/her journey because they didn’t grieve the Holy Spirit. After all, the Holy Spirit prompted her/his conscience to repent and he/she repented.  But you that were insulted, you are in a chamber of bondage.  You go to friends, relatives, and human beings for sympathy but no one can change you only the Holy Spirit can. 

In this world, there will be a disturbance. If you want to be in a place where nothing will disturb you you will reach Heaven.  In this world people will insult you, embarrass you, falsely accuse you, marital challenges, bareness, people may hate you for no just cause.  We all have a situation.  Something pokes us something prods us, something hits us.  That is life.  That’s the beauty of our journey to eternity because these things help us to realize how much we need God.  Today when we are tempted and tested, when we are troubled the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to comfort us is the same helper that we reject. 

The Holy Spirit is there to comfort you with God’s Word.  What are you facing in life that Jesus did not face?  Jesus said,” A servant cannot be greater than his master.”

If the world hated me, they will hate you also. 

Are you being hated, falsely accused, Jesus Christ was called the King of demons.

Have you been betrayed? Jesus Christ was betrayed by his disciple.  Have you been persecuted?  Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross of Calvery and he said, “Father forgive them.” Today just something happens we hold a grudge and say why me?

Holy Spirit cannot share a heart that is full of offense.  He cannot share a heart that is full of unforgiveness, the pain of the past, etc.  He will not force himself on you if the place he sees supposed to be is not conducive he will leave you and you will be on your own. 

• We grieve the Holy Spirit when we ignore him

Today it is common for people they pick up their Bibles and start reading it without seeking the attention of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible that you are seeing was inspired by the Holy Spirit.  And for you to read the bible effectively you must be carried along by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said,” His word is Spirit and life.  Reading the bible without the Holy Spirit is just reading literature, history, events, etc. This is why the bible makes no meaning to us.  We can quote scripture but our lives don’t seem to quote the evidence of scripture.  We grieve Him when we take our bible and read without involving Holy Spirit, asking for his help and seeking his attention.  “Holy Spirit take more of me and give me more of you.” Because you can’t read and understand the Bible unless the Holy Spirit helps you to. 

• We grieve the Holy Spirit by forcing him to see and hear what is opposed to his will.

This is affecting almost every one of us today.  Especially the younger generation.  Because today we are so often exposed to things that are contrary to God.  We watch lustful and dirty things, abominable things, and the Bible says, “that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 6: 19 – 20

 “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  And you want the Holy Spirit to dwell and live in you.  You sit down watch things on television, and on the internet, read things in books, and listen to music that is contrary to the Holy Spirit.  You want to force him to see what is opposed to his will.  Watching things that promote lust, things that promote fornication, things that promote hatred, and violence.

 You may say it’s not affecting me; I am just watching to pass my time.

 A Christian must be careful of what he sees because what he sees influences his thoughts. 

I am sure you can relate to this many times you have watched something once but you can replay what you have watched a thousand times in your mind.  Think about our young generation today, parents examine what their children are exposed to.  Today it is so easy with the accessibility of technology on the internet.  You find people at a young age exposed to immoral, corrupt, exposed to things that are dirty and we want the Holy Spirit to live in us. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a dirty place.  Children are playing video games where they are shooting each other and you wonder why they have violent tendencies.  The children are so fascinated by watching Horror films and soap operas where they celebrate lust and they think it’s normal for them to be sexually immoral.   You wonder why at a young age, you see young people begin to do all kinds of stupid and nonsensible things because they are watching things, reading things, and listening to lustful music.  If you notice the kids who use to read comics and cartoons.  Now Satan has taken over it as well.  You will see the lust in them as well.

 1 John 2 verse 16.   You need to examine yourself in the light of God’s word.  You can’t make spiritual progress on the platform of pretense.  You can’t deceive God.  God knows you better than you know yourself. 

When peace is absent in your life you will know that you have grieved the Holy Spirit.  You can run away from God with riches and wealth but you cannot run away with peace of heart.  Why can’t we strive and struggle for peace?  When there is peace of heart there is no need for division, fights conflict, envy, and jealousy.  We are never content.  We are always comparing ourselves with others, judging because we don’t have peace.  The Holy Spirit is the giver of peace.  But we reject peace of the peace giver.  We harbor offense in our hearts.  My brothers and sisters please ponder on the facts and ask forgiveness to the Holy Spirit for grieving him.  And welcome him into your life.  And you will see your life change.

Thank you