I’ll bet you can’t remember who sang a song with the phrase “clouds in my coffee.” There are no fair Googling lyrics! I was listening to that song today, and the “clouds in my coffee” phrase caught my attention. I mean, it says “coffee”; how could the song not be a hit?
I got to thinking about clouds in my coffee. I nearly always drink my coffee black. However, when I pour cream into my coffee, it does look like billowing clouds. That is, until I stir it. Then the coffee and the cream are indistinguishable from each other.
The Holy Spirit Does Disrupt Us
Just like cream clouds are disruptive to black coffee, so is the Holy Spirit when He comes into our lives. I think “clouds in my coffee” is a good analogy for receiving the Holy Spirit. When He first comes in, He does disrupt us.
We all receive the Holy Spirit at the time we are saved. Suddenly, God is inside us, and we are energized new Christians. We run around to all of our friends and tell them our good news and encourage them to accept Jesus. This usually severs those old friendships because we no longer have the same worldview or interests.
People are often afraid to teach about the Holy Spirit, which is disappointing. There are some basics that we need to know. For example, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we often use the Old English word “indwelt.” The definition of indwelt means to be permanently present. A Christian indwelt by the Spirit is indwelt by God. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Ephesians 2:22)
Hyper-Awareness
We become Christians because we become hyper-aware of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus and our wretched condition. That hyper-awareness is called “conviction,” and the Holy Spirit is the Person of God who does this for us so that we see the truth of the Gospel. (John 16:8–11)
The Holy Spirit unites believers with Jesus and places believers into the body of Christ; the body of Christ is the Church. The Holy Spirit also unites believers with Jesus in His death, enabling believers to live victoriously over sin. (1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:1–10)
We receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of our rebirth. And the Holy Spirit sovereignly endows spiritual gifts or abilities for service to every believer. ( Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4) However, there is more that God makes available to believers. If we become hungry for God, God will give more of Himself to us. The Bible says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).
Recognize the Holy Spirit of God lives “in” every believer. However, it’s like that cream you pour into your coffee. You have a cloud of God in you, but God may not be in all of you. You may be holding on to things of the world or shutting God out because you want to be in control of your career, your lifestyle, and your money.
God Will Give Us More
However, when we ask for more of God, God will give us more of Himself through the Holy Spirit and stir us up. One of the things Jesus does is baptize with the Holy Spirit. We know this because John the Baptist testified,” ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'” (John 1:33)
With a greater fullness of God within a believer, the Holy Spirit guides and empowers the believer who yields to God and submits to God’s Word. (Romans 12: 1, 2; Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16) When we meet these conditions, the believer lives in the power of the Holy Spirit and produces the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16, 22, 23)
Aspects of Salvation
See, that wasn’t so difficult. Of course, many aspects of salvation, sanctification, the works of the Holy Spirit, and so forth often cause separation between believers. This separation is unfortunate.
It’s good to embrace the understanding that God has given us, but we should not shut out fellow believers who emphasize other aspects of salvation. We should fellowship with all Christian believers. We are to be known by our love. But, we must not bring into the Church people that embrace heresies, doctrines not found as truth in the Bible.
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash
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