...come Holy Spirit...

“25 So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you…1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  Ephesians 4:25-5:2.

This passage is filled with practical advice on how to be faithful to God, and warnings about how not to be faithful to God. It simply won’t do to go with the flow of whatever you and I happen to feel at any moment in time. Paul highlights the importance of speaking the truth. He quotes in verse 25 from an Old Testament passage from Zechariah 8.16: “16 These are the things that you shall do: speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.” Paul uses this text because it predicts that God is going to renew His people and restore their fortunes. Speaking the truth to each other is one of the ways in which this will be noticed.

In particular, you and I should behave like those who have received God’s mark — or seal — of the Holy Spirit. Paul says God uses the mark to indicate who the Holy Spirit belongs to and how to live in the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the community, and in the heart of the individual Christian, declares that we belong to God, and that we are destined for full ‘redemption’, that is, the liberation which will come on the day when God sets the whole world free and gives us our resurrection bodies. That is central to the Christian hope, and possessing this hope gives particular shape to our present lives.

Today, ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit, and do this every day. Live in and with the Holy Spirit of God. I grew up having learned this prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,

and enkindle in us the fire of Your Divine Love.

Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created,

and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let that be Today’s Prayer!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.