We need to repent

After the service on Sunday two people shared the same word with me, that we need to repent. If it is true that we, at St Andrews, are in a place where we have lost something of our spiritual edge, our desire for the things of the Spirit and our reliance on Him then there has to be one response above all others - repentance.

If we have gone about our lives and our ministries without a deep reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit then what are we saying about our attitude to God and his work? It can be easy with some of the things that we do on a regular basis, that we feel comfortable doing, to do so without referring to God at all. You can turn up for your regular Missional Community activity and get to the end of it without ever turning your heart and mind to God for his power to do it or for his guidance in how to do it. Things like this can become routine and we can become complacent. We get in a rut and as long as the activity takes place reasonably well everyone goes home happy, but we can miss what God might have wanted to have done.

We need to understand just how far from God we can end up if we miss out on the work of his Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says "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." Living without recognising the work of the Spirit can grieve Him or, as some other translations put it, quench his continuing work in us. We need forgiveness for the times we neglect the Spirit's work in our lives or fail to acknowledge our need of His power.

Repentance also requires us to change as well. We need to make the choice to change our attitude to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, to make a conscious decision to allow him to lead and empower us. That decision needs to change our behaviour but what does that look like? How about making time every morning to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you throughout the day in every decision, activity and conversation. Ask him to empower you in all that you will do. Then before anything you do take a few seconds to be aware of what the Holy Spirit may be saying to you and ask for his power. Making a habit of turning your heart and mind to God before anything, no matter how mundane, is saying that you recognise that without the power of the Holy Spirit you are unable to do anything of any significance in the Kingdom of God in your own strength.

Do you have attitudes towards the work of the Spirit for which you need to ask for forgiveness? What changes do you need to make in your life to start making room for the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you? What can you do to to begin a more conscious reliance on His power? What do you need to stop so that you no longer grieve or quench the Spirit of God? Finally, what do we need to repent of as a church in our attitude to the work of the Spirit?