Supernatural Recalibration of the Spirit: Learning to take a drink of the Spirit throughout our day.
We live in a constant deep entrenchment of pressure and the undercurrents of hidden motivates. Some of the pressure may be internal, and some may come from our external environment. There are always voices or expectations trying to grab our attention away from being present in God’s presence. It’s centuries of ingrained culture cultivated in our world by people who partner with demonic principalities and spiritual forces. Therefore, many of this world’s value systems contradict God’s heart and His Kingdom’s values. I speak to those who have encountered the Lord and decided to follow Jesus. Still, when you go back to your family, friendships, workplaces, and churches, many of our motivations are contrary to the value system of Jesus. There are many false spirits and principalities at work in our world to steal, kill, destroy, and bring confusion, chaos, and evil (John 10:10). We must find a way not to partner with these spirits in our different environments. Or else soon, our encounter with Jesus becomes a fleeting thought among the waves of the culture of this world. And only talking and complaining about the broken culture doesn’t make a difference. Instead, it perpetuates a toxic culture of brokenness in our spheres and environments. That leaves us with a question, how do we live in the world but not be of the world? (John 17:16).
How do we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit rather than the influence of the devil and his spiritual forces? In this post, I will introduce the biblical concept of drinking in the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” The word used for “filled” is to mean continually filled and replenished to the full. This is not just a one-time experience but is intended to be something perpetual. We must be continually filled with the Spirit to bring God’s Kingdom from heaven to earth successfully. We must learn how to drink from the unlimited measure of the Holy Spirit given to us. In John 3:34, it says, For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. God created us to be continually filled by Him and His precious Spirit. We are often our most significant opposition and enemies to the more of God. We often think we have had enough of God or know God, and we stop hungering and longing for more of God. When this happens, we become salt without saltiness and lose who we are. When we truly encounter God’s presence, we always hunger for more.
When we drink from the Spirit, we learn to put our trust and sole dependency upon God and His indwelling Spirit within us. Drinking in the Spirit enables us to step into the realities of God and the finished work of the cross. We suddenly get reset and step into our union reality in Christ. We suddenly are aware of our divine union in Christ; no more separation. As we lean into Him, we suddenly have access to all things regarding life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Being hidden in Christ is the key to all divine wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). So many times when we learn to drink from the Spirit, lean into God, be present in His presence, whatever we were challenged by, suddenly bows to the presence of God. In the moment of abiding and union mentioned in John 15, suddenly divine revelation and strategy are released into our spirit man. A moment ago, we were struggling to breathe another breath; suddenly, as we became aware of God’s manifest presence, we could move forward when there seemed no way.
I remember a day I was struggling with the spirit of performance. I woke up with these impending thoughts to work and perform for my worth and place on this earth. At the time, I was unaware that it was an oppressive spiritual principality of the city I was living in. As I fell into this wrong motivating pressure to perform and strive, it started to overflow out of me to oppress and force those around me to perform, telling them that they were not enough. It began to leak into how I related with my wife and even how I related to my children. I started to micromanage them to do their responsibilities, but even that was not enough to please me when I was operating from the performance spirit. It wasn’t until I went to the bathroom that the Holy Spirit invited me to drink His overflowing presence. So I leaned into the presence and drank of the Spirit; I could suddenly feel His presence manifest in the bathroom all around me. And not even a few minutes passed, and whatever performance spirit was oppressing me instantly lifted. I came out of the bathroom, another man, full of the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. In that moment of drinking and abiding by the Spirit, not only was my body, mind, and spirit recalibrated, but the Holy Spirit reminded me to go and apologize to my wife and children for partnering with the spirit of performance. My family, by the grace of God, forgave me and was glad to be with me as I returned to my true self, united with Christ.
Drinking and abiding with the Holy Spirit is not only meant to be something you do when you are at a church service, but this access to living water is always available to us as sons and daughters of God. Often when we do yearly or monthly planning meetings, we spend extended amounts of time drinking and abiding in God’s presence. Suddenly those that walked into the meeting have had a challenging day in the office or are relationally disconnected; they get instantly recalibrated in God’s presence and enter into the reality of union with God. What was bothering them and causing them to stress instantly lifts, and at the same time, perspective and prophetic strategy about the year focus gets downloaded into our Spirit. What used to be a four-hour planning meeting gets finished in one hour. When we learn to drink in God’s Spirit together in a group setting, the outcome is unity and divine alignment that only comes from the Lord. Divine efficiency and productivity begin to flow.
So if drinking in the Spirit is so important and influential in the life of a believer, how do we practically engage it? We must first remember that this relationship with God is a love relationship, not a transactional one. We also need to be aware and know how we encounter God’s presence. I have learned that although sometimes there are similarities, we all experience God’s presence in unique ways. Also, it’s good to look back into your history with Holy Spirit when the Spirit baptized you; what physical encounter did you experience? How we experience God in the past becomes the doorway to how we can be present with Him now. For me, when I first encountered the baptism of the Spirit, I felt electricity and a tingly presence trickle down my neck, then my shoulders, then down my back. This was how God manifested and introduced Himself to me. When I drink from the Spirit, I lean back into that feeling of when He revealed Himself to me, and I stay in the feeling. This is what it means to practice His presence; we can do this anywhere and whatever we do. Our awareness of Him suddenly grows and intensifies as we stay in the feeling. From this place is where God recalibrates us in our union with God and brings us joy, peace, and liberty; His voice is heard, gives us wisdom, strategy, prophetic insight regarding the future, and so much more. Everything that God is becomes accessible to us in mind, body, and spirit. This is the reality we were created to live from. Let’s practice drinking from His presence until we stand in the reality of union with Him.
Summary:
We live in a world full of pressure that attempts to pull us away from our Kingdom identity and reality.
We can choose to be influenced by demonic spiritual forces or the Holy Spirit.
Drinking in the Spirit recalibrates and enables us to walk in our union reality with God.
While drinking in the Spirit and abiding in His presence, God often gives us strategy, wisdom, and revelation to help us move forward.
As we stay abiding in God's presence, we are able to be present to participate in what God is doing at that moment.
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