"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16)

Walking with Jesus, guided by His grace, we need to learn to open ourselves to every action of God in our lives. As was commented in the previous post, God respects us more than we respect ourselves. God does not do things in us that He is not invited to do. He awaits our request and our authorization to act. He treats us, because of the free will He gave us, and by the coherence of who He is, as if we were masters of our own lives. But aren't we really?

Some Christians become restless and dislike it when they are told that they should renounce some things that hinder the life of grace in following Jesus Christ, which can range from a simple inappropriate thought ("All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything." [1 Cor 6:12]) to contaminated objects and things consecrated to the devil (in other posts we will talk more about spiritual contaminations) that hinder us from being open to all the grace that God desires and wants, much more than we do, to pour out abundantly and profusely upon us. But it is not something that will happen overnight. It is always the fruit of a choice!

You need to choose God and ardently say this (with these words, for example, what matters most is the desire of the heart): "I want, I desire, I need, I require the grace of God... I long, I sigh, my soul thirsts for the Lord my God... I ask and implore the Lord, more than anything in my life, I want to follow Your steps Jesus! I want to walk in Your ways! I long to be within Your heart and not lose my communion with You for anything that happens in my life! I desire to be all Yours, only Yours, entirely YOURS! I renounce everything that separates me from Your path, Lord! Help me to remain hand in hand with You and not exchange the Lord for anything or anyone, because the Lord is more important than everything in my life!"

God gives us opportunities and chances to learn to always be open to His grace, because if we are not open to this grace of God, He will not break down the door of our heart for us to be filled with His presence. He is not like the enemy of God and ours, the thief who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (cf. John 10:10), but He respects us so that we can choose and "give Him freedom." If we have this courage, to open ourselves to God and choose Him, even if we don't succeed as we should, our choice guarantees God's grace upon us.

Many people instructed me in this way and that's how I learned... Even if I can't do everything I feel God asks me to do, I want to do it, I ask God for it! I take steps in that direction! I show Him the great and intense desire of my heart! I talk to Him!

So, even with so many errors and sins, even if it seems that I NEVER manage to do even the minimum, the grace of God that sustains me is always greater than anything that would make me give up. This happens because we CHOOSE God. And of course, in this choice, we often suffer, because we don't know what to do, we don't know how to behave, we don't know how to live differently from the life of sin we were accustomed to, according to this grace that God pours upon us. But God helps us and does things so that we remain firm.

"And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28).

Even if it seems difficult! This is the true life of a person who lives with God: fall and rise, fall and rise, fall and rise! But the important thing is NEVER GIVE UP! This is the secret!

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Cor 10:13)

We are sacred! With this awareness, we must open ourselves to God. And ask that what is already within us, flow in us, act in us, from within out and from without in, freeing us from all bitterness, anger, hatred, laziness, malice, impurity, wickedness, lies, adultery and fornication, masturbation, rage, lack of control and imbalance (physical, psychological, and spiritual). We need to ask God for liberation from everything that hinders us and keeps us far from His love and His presence. And we ask for this in prayer. But it may be that we don't know what to ask for, or how to ask for it. So now what?

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom 8:26-27)

**In other posts we will talk more about the gift of tongues.**

Many Christians are bound by things that prevent them from walking with God. God desires to heal and free us from all this because He loves us, wants our best, and knows that if we are open to His grace, He will do what only He can do in us. And Jesus gives us the promise that with His passion, crucifixion, death, and resurrection He gives us eternal life, if we accept it, and ascending to the Father, with His glorious and resurrected body, He sends us the Holy Spirit.

"And while staying with them (with the disciples), He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the HOLY SPIRIT not many days from now.' (...) but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:4-5, 8)

This is the central part of this post, so prepare yourself and open yourself to this spiritual content, which can help you to be filled with God. We need men and women filled with God to make a difference in society and live God's will, being open to everything God desires!

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom 12:1-2)

Only those moved by the Holy Spirit offer their bodies to God. It is impossible for a person, with their natural strength, to offer themselves to God and remain so for as long as God desires. It is impossible for anyone not to conform to this world if not by the action of the Holy Spirit. We need to learn a lot from the Holy Spirit. But who is the Holy Spirit?

First, we must know that He is a person! The third person of the Most Holy Trinity! He is the fullness of the love of God the Father and the Son, poured out upon us. He is the deepest and most intense expression of God's loving action in us! He is the strength of the weak whom God chooses.

It was He who moved the old Simon to become the new Peter. It was He who conceived Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It was He who manifested Himself at Pentecost and filled all who were in the Upper Room. Through Peter's preaching, He touched the hearts of approximately five thousand men, not counting women and children, who were contrite of heart and repented of their sins. It was He who transformed Saul, the murderer of Christians, into Paul, the evangelizer of the pagans.

It was He who instructed the disciples and continues to instruct those who obey God (cf. Acts 5:32). The Holy Spirit leads us into the desert to strengthen us (cf. Luke 4:1). It is He who guides His Church and sustains the faith of Jesus' representatives on Earth. It is He who strengthens the servants of God... If we were to describe here what the Holy Spirit does, we would not finish this post, but let us mention some things that the Holy Spirit does, to help us be filled with His presence.

The Holy Spirit manifests Himself in the Holy Bible in some human forms so that we may know Him and find it easier to relate to Him. We have the image of Him as a dove descending upon Jesus when He is baptized in the Jordan River by Saint John the Baptist (cf. Matt 16:16). He is the living water that springs from our heart to eternal life (cf. John 7:39-40) and the water of baptism that flowed from Jesus' heart on the cross (cf. John 19:34).

He is the fire with which Jesus baptizes us, as Saint John the Baptist says (cf. Luke 3:16). He is the wind, the Ruah, that God puts in us to give us life (cf. Gen 2:7) and the breath that Jesus gives to the disciples (cf. John 20:22). He is the oil of anointing that was used in the Old Testament for the anointing of kings and prophets (cf. 1 Sam 16:13) and the oil that the virgins preparing for marriage keep in reserve (cf. Matt 25). So, in summary, the Holy Spirit is fire, water, oil, wind, dove.

What matters is that we are open to His action and are burned, anointed, bathed, enveloped, possessed by His action. The Holy Spirit is the dynamus, the constant action of God's love, always in motion. He renews us every day. Whoever is moved by the Holy Spirit never lives one day after another, and no day is the same. With Him, every morning is new. The Holy Spirit renews us every day. The Holy Spirit gives us awareness of our misery and of God's greatness and mercy.

"And when He comes, (the Holy Spirit) He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me (in Jesus); concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." (John 16:8-11)

To be filled with God, we need to cling to the holy word of God, we need to walk in His Holy Church, we need to live in community, we need to have a life of prayer and communion with Jesus, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit, we need to live love, we need to offer ourselves as instruments in the hands of God, we need to seek Him while He allows Himself to be found (cf. Isa 55:6). Either we do this to be filled with God, or we are filled with God and do this... You choose, beloved of God!

And being filled with God, you will do the will of God, because you will fulfill the command that Jesus gave to the disciples ("Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" - Mark 16:15) because the mouth speaks from what the heart is full of. (cf. Luke 6:45). If you are filled with God, you will speak God, think Jesus, and dream of the Holy Spirit...

If you are truly filled with God, you will become an instrument to transmit the love, peace, and joy of God's Holy Spirit...

Let yourself be inspired by this phrase from Saint Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words."

*I apologize for the length of the text, but I ask in my prayers for whoever reads it, that they may already be filled with the Holy Spirit. And full of all the grace of God's fullness, which the Holy Spirit reveals! God bless you!