Do You Want Him to be Lord of Your Life?

Jesus said, "very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." (John 16:7) And in the Book of Acts, we read about this moment taking place on Pentecost. But who is this Advocate we call the Holy Spirit?

A.W. Tozer wrote a sermon I listened to called How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit. His sermon title intrigued me because WHO the Holy Spirit is has been distorted over time. In addition to this distortion, many do not understand who God the Holy Spirit is in relation to God the Father and God the Son. Some have placed an over emphasis on one aspect and gift of the Holy Spirit, leaving all other attributes, like the conviction of the Holy Spirit to the side. Others have no idea who the Holy Spirit is. They consider Him an “it” and lesser than to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

This 30 page booklet by A.W. Tozer is one of the best descriptions and explanations of who GOD the Holy Spirit is. When we choose to say, “Lord, come be Lord of my life…” we are also saying, “Lord LEAD my life…” Every aspect of it, not just where we want Him to for our own selfish benefits. Here is a short excerpt from this sermon.

Do you want Him (the Holy Spirit) to be Lord of your Life?

I ask you, Do you want Him to be Lord of your life? That you want His benefits, I know. I take that for granted. But do you want to be possessed by Him? Do you want to hand the keys of your soul over to the Holy Spirit and say, “Lord from now on I don’t even have a key to my own house. I come and go as Thou tellest me”?...

Are you sure that you want your personality to be taken over by One who will expect obedience to the written and living Word? Are you sure that you want your personality to be taken over by One who will not tolerate the self sins? For instance, self-love. You can no more have the Holy Spirit and have self-love than you can have purity and impurity at the same moment in the same place. He will not permit you to indulge self-confidence. Self-love, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-admiration, self-aggrandizement and self-pity are under the interdiction of God Almighty, and He cannot send HIs mighty Spirit to possess the heart where these things are.

Again, I ask you if you desire to have your personality taken over by One who stands in sharp opposition to the world’s easy ways. No tolerance of evil, no smiling at crooked jokes, no laughing off the things that God hates. The Spirit of God, if He takes over, will bring you into opposition to the world just as Jesus was brought into opposition to it. The world crucified Jesus because they couldn’t stand Him!

There was something in Him that rebuked them and they hated Him for it and finally crucified Him. The world hates the Holy Spirit as bad as they ever hated Jesus, the One from whom He proceeds. Are you sure, brother? You want His help, yes; you want a lot of His benefits, yes; but are you willing to go with Him in His opposition to the easygoing ways of the world? If you are not, you needn’t apply for anything more than you have, because you don’t want Him; you only think you do!

A.W. Tozer
Excerpt from: How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit
GLH Publishing

Booklet available on Amazon for $3.99 and FREE to listen on Overdrive