Tolerant or Obedient?

Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11

While David had to depend upon God to "give" him the Holy Spirit for certain functions and tasks, we as born again believers have the indwelling Spirit constantly at work within us. This however leads to our taking advantage of Him at times. While David was constantly aware of "losing" the presence of God, we many times act any way at all and believe that somehow God is not grieved. Yet Pual reminds us in Ephesians 4:30 that we are not to "grieve the Holy Spirit of God" with our thoughts and actions. Though a true born again Christ follower cannot "lose" what God has sealed (John 10:28-30), we can lose that deep and abiding fellowship with Him. If we live in sin and condone the sin, accepting it as "allowable", than God cannot and will not be a part of our decisions. We can find ourselves outside of His realm of protection and open to all sorts of demonic and dangerous activity and influence. The deeper we remain in sin and ignore our need for repentance, the more we risk God stepping in and correcting it Himself, even to the point of an early death. David's plea therefore is very relevant today. Lord, keep me and safeguard me from my own mind and desires that I do not run the risk of losing Your protection and direction here in this life. Help me to not take Your Spirit for granted. Help me to daily examine my walk so that I may not grieve You and that You may give me all You have in store for me, my family and generations to come. Bless me God, so I may in turn bless You and others!