Holy Spirit Lessons

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:25-32

In this passage, Paul commands us this way in verse 30; “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”  The word grieve means to “make sorrowful or to offend someone.” The apostle is teaching us that we can grieve or offend the Holy Spirit by how we live.

Grieving the Holy Spirit has consequences for us as Christians. For instance, we will not have power in prayer when we grieve the Holy Spirit. Our prayer life will be weak and ineffectual when we are living contrary to God’s word.

So what exactly does it mean to “grieve” the Spirit of God? Consider the following:

**We grieve the Holy Spirit when we lie to each other (V. 25)

**We grieve the Holy Spirit when have uncontrolled anger (V. 26-27)

**We grieve the Holy Spirit when steal from others (V. 28)

**We grieve the Holy Spirit by being lazy and untrustworthy (V. 28)

**We grieve the Holy Spirit when talk unkindly about others (V. 29)

After telling us what not to do, Paul concludes by giving us the way we are to live. He encourages us to put away bitterness and wrath. We are to be kind and tender toward each other. Finally, the apostle reminds us of the importance of forgiving. Forgiveness should replace bitterness and kindness should replace anger in the lives of Christians.

Let us be careful to not grieve the Spirit of God. We ought to examine our speech and our attitudes regularly. And let us be careful how we speak to one another.

Let us not grieve the Spirit of God. Without Him, we have no power at all.

Tony French