A Note About Internal Compulsion By The Holy Spirit

My wife wakes up at 4:15 am for work.  She does it without complaining and she does it with purpose. It really is admirable.  There is something inside of her, an internal thrust, that compels her to do what is right: to be a good and dependable employee despite the challenges of having to wake up so early.  I wish to use this as an analogy to understand the transformation that takes place when God takes root in our lives and the Holy Spirit has His way with us.

It is nearly impossible to transform one's self apart from an internal transformation that is caused by an external instigator.  True, one may, with great effort and time, change habits or preferences.  But it is another thing altogether to transform a person's very nature from one thing to another.  But this is precisely what God means to do to us.

He is not merely interested in 'better' versions of us: He is interested in new, perfect versions of us.  He does this not by changing our externals, like habits and appearances, but He goes about transforming us internally, dramatically changing our internal natures by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, God changes that which is propelling us internally in order to truly transform a person's nature, not merely modify one's appearance.

It is glorious and true to say that He changes a heart of stone to one of flesh, and eyes that are blind are given sight.  This is what salvation and giving one's self to Christ brings about.  Suddenly, the Holy Spirit become the internal One who compels us to bring God glory, to praise the name of Jesus, and to choose that which is good and righteous over our previous dead selves.

Amen and praise be to God for this wonderfully amazing thing!