Remaining Spirit

May the Spirit of the Lord remain upon us. Amen!

This was the prayer-blessing which was bestowed upon us at the conclusion of yesterday’s meditation. What is the blessing? It is that the Spirit will remain upon us. We know the Spirit remained upon Jesus, not just on that particular occasion in the synagogue, when He read the Scripture, but He remained with Him always. What does to remain mean? We all will answer with words and phrases such as stay, stop and linger. Albeit so, there are some meanings which totally cement the meaning of the word, remain, in our hearts and minds, our souls and beings. A few dictionaries bring us these meanings.

To remain is to stay in the same place. 

Recently, my neighbour told us that she was a teacher. She said that she had remained in one school all her teaching life. Despite challenges in the school where she taught and more lucrative possibilities in other places, she committed herself to that school and remained there. Where are we with the Spirit? If you are the Lord’s temple, then the prayer is that the Spirit will remain in your place, as His temple.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4

To remain is to keep in the same condition. 

My mind is taken to the very sad picture that has been painted of Tamar, David’s daughter, after she was raped by Amnon, her brother. We are told that she remained with her other brother Absalom, for the rest of her life, a desolate woman. She kept in that condition, no change whatsoever, as time went by. Where are we with the Spirit? If indeed the Spirit is immutable, unchanging over time, then He keeps His attributes, regardless. He keeps His attributes in us, no change, depending on circumstances. If He remains constant and true in who He is, then the prayer is for you to experience the Spirit who is the same to you, every hour of the day.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. Hebrews 6: 17 - 18

To remain is to continue to exist when other parts and other things no longer continue to exist. 

When I asked a friend, who was quite an actively social person about some of her activities, she told me that they no longer existed, due to the Covid 19 pandemic. On the other hand, I know of a few groups and organizations which have remained and have continued to function, in all parts, even after the pandemic. Where are we with the Spirit? The reality is that as long as we know the Holy Spirit with us, He will remain true, present and undaunted in the midst of huge trials. This being so, the prayer then is that the Spirit will be true and ever present in your life.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. 1 Corinthians 6: 19

To remain is to be with the same person or group, when others have left. 

Straightway, my mind goes to this scene with Jesus and His disciples, men and women who have decided to follow Him. One day, when Jesus spoke to them about the demanding cost of following Him, the cost of discipleship, there was a huge split in followership. Many of His followers and disciples no longer continued to follow as His disciples. On the other hand, there were some who remained with Him. Those who left, did so because the path was becoming too dangerously demanding. Where are we with the Spirit? One sure fact about the Spirit, is that He does not leave us, because we are becoming too demanding or too heavy for Him to carry. If the Spirit is uncompromising and unmoved in His promises, then the prayer is for you to know the One who will never leave you or turn away from you.  

Jesus told this to his disciples. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. John 14: 16

What then must we expect if the Spirit dwells in us and we are no longer our own?

This will be addressed tomorrow.