Embracing God’s ‘Nots’ - Frustrate Not (Daily Devotional)

Shalom, it's wonderful that you have joined us here, over this last week as we have looked at God's instructions in the scripture with the word ‘not’. Today, we have reached our last instruction and we're going to be looking at frustrate not. Have you ever tried to help someone who keeps resisting help? It can be very frustrating when someone is offering help and that help is being denied. The Bible talks about how we as believers frustrate the Holy Spirit when we resist his work in our lives. We read this in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30, it reads, "And grieve not or frustrate not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption." Again, this is a direct instruction and it's a direct command that tells us that our actions, our attitudes affects our relationship with the Holy Spirit. To grieve the Holy Spirit, what does that mean? It means that we sadden the Spirit, that we frustrate Him through our sin, through our disobedience, or just ignoring His guidance. The Holy Spirit is our helper, our guide, our comforter. When we act against God's will, we hinder His work in our lives. So, what are the ways that we frustrate the Holy Spirit? By ignoring conviction. The Holy Spirit prompts us of sin; He prompts us sometimes to repent. And when we keep excusing that sin, we frustrate the Holy Spirit. When He's attempting to convince us and we do not repent, we frustrate the Holy Spirit. When we resist change, when we hold on to bad habits instead of allowing God to refine us, we frustrate the Holy Spirit because we're not moving in the likeness of God. And we frustrate Him when we neglect His presence. When we prioritize other things, other distractions, we frustrate Him because we neglecting His presence. Why is this an important instruction? The Holy Spirit is a person, He's not a force, He has an emotion and we sadden Him when we disobey Him. When sin hinders His work in our lives, we frustrate the Holy Spirit. When we act in anger or bitterness or any other form of impurity, we frustrate Him. Our lives are meant to reflect the presence of the Holy Spirit since He has sealed us for redemption, we should live in a way that honors Him. God commands us not to grieve the Holy Spirit because He wants us to be in true and full and complete fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The more we listen and obey, we experience the power, we experience the guidance and the peace of the Holy Spirit. Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, we repent for grieving the Holy Spirit, for frustrating the Holy Spirit. We want to be obedient; we want to listen to what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us. Holy Spirit, we pray that you will enable us to love you, to obey you and to follow in accordance to what you're convincing us to do. We want to say that we love you and we want to please you and we want to be your joy, in Jesus’ name we ask, Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Living Supernaturally, for more resources to strengthen your spiritual walk, please visit apcwo.org.