Think of the Holy Spirit as a Moral Flame

By A. W. Tozer

For to be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace:. . .But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.   . . . Romans 8:6. 9

    One of the most telling blows which the enemy ever struck at the
life of the Church was to create in her a groundless fear of the Holy
Spirit!  He has been and is so widely misunderstood that the very
mention of His Name in some circles is enough to frighten many
people into resistance.

   Perhaps we may help by examining that fire which is the symbol
of the Spirit's Person and Presence.

  The Holy Spirit is first of all a moral flame. It is not an accident of
language that He is called the HOLY Spirit, for whatever else the
word holy may mean it does undoubtedly carry with it the idea of
moral purity. And the Spirit, being God, must be absolutely and
infinitely pure!

   It  follows  then  that  whoever would be filled and indwelt by the
Spirit should first judge his life for any hidden iniquities; he should
courageously expel from his heart everything which is out of
accord with the character of God as revealed by the holy Scriptures.

   At the base of all true Christian experience must lie a sound and
sane morality. No joys are valid, no delights legitimate where sin is
allowed to live in life or conduct.  No transgression of pure
righteousness dare excuse itself on the ground of superior religious
experience.

   "Be ye holy" is a serious commandment from the Lord of the whole
earth. The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy. The
holy heart alone can be the habitation of the Holy Spirit!

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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.