Weekly Devotion

January 19 2020

Why Do You Want More of Him?
Philippians 5:2 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus
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          Recently I was loaned a book by a church member who asked if I would read the book and tell him what I thought of it.    The book is Forgotten God:  Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit written by Francis Chan and published by David C Cook.  The first edition was published in 2009 so it is not a new book.  As I read through the first few chapters of the book I found it was a book that someone who wants to know more about the Holy Spirit would benefit from. It does not lean heavily on the charismatic point of view nor to the other extreme.  Mr. Chan does an excellent job in laying the ground work for further study, as he encourages all who read the book to do. .           
          While the opening chapters of the book covered ground I was familiar with my attention was drawn to the title and contents of the fourth chapter which he titled, Why Do You Want Him?   The purpose of the chapter is for the reader to examine the reason someone  would want more of the Holy Spirit.  It is a question worth considering.  Why would a person want to have more of the Holy Spirit in their life?  What would be our motivation for asking God to let us have more of
His presence through the person of the Holy Spirit in our life?            
 How would you answer this question?   Why would we ask God to let the Holy Spirit have more freedom in our life?  In all honesty, it is a question I had never considered until now.  There are any number of ways I could answer this question.  Such as:  I want a basketful of fully ripened Fruits of the Spirit.  Wouldn’t that be great?   I want in my life the boldness of the disciples that followed the day of Pentecost.   I would love to have more knowledge of God’s ways.  These are some of the things I would give in response to the question.
 Yet the answer that would best fit the question is to have the mind of Christ.  Paul writes in Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.   In essence we should ask and seek more of the Holy Spirit so that we maybe like Jesus.  After all the tag we wear is Christian and that means to be like Christ.  If we possess the mind of Christ, we will be like him.  If we possess the mind of Christ the Fruits of the Spirit are there, the boldness to share Christ and stand for him is there.
 So why do I want more of him?  To more like Christ.