I read something and it had the phrase 'under the control' of the holy spirit.
It seems a Christian has the Holy Spirit living in them, but if they are obedient to the promoting of the Spirit, then they are under its control.
It's like you choose to be under its control, but there seems to be a shift in your experience when you do that... gifts? bliss?
Could anybody comment on how it is to live with the holy spirit, and being obedient to it?
I'd first argue that the Holy Spirit isn't an
it, He's a Person. Just as a slight correction as it pertains to normative, orthodox Christian belief.
In normative Christian practice we don't talk about being "under the control" of the Holy Spirit; but rather we talk about being indwelt by, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't assume direct control, but rather He abides in and with us. So it would be more biblical, and more orthodox, to talk about the ways we walk in and with the Holy Spirit, living in accordance with the Holy Spirit's guidance and invitation to faith and obedience to Christ. In that sense, it is about our cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
The language of walking in the Holy Spirit, of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and other language of that sort speaks to the fact that the person who has become new in Christ has the Holy Spirit, as a gift, who resides in us, and who is at work to shape us and conform us to be more like Christ. The Holy Spirit grants us faith to believe, and His strength and guidance leads us to obedience to the commandments of God, to follow Jesus in what He told us and taught us to do. In this way He is sanctifying us, making us holy, leading us to be more like Jesus and to be the sort of people which God would have us be. The old sinful way of being human is being put to death, and the new redeemed way of being human is being raised up.
We cooperate with the Holy Spirit in this, having been granted a new and clean conscience from God that can see and hear what is good and right, and a will which can desire the things of God, urging us to live righteously in the world. And that from faith and a new will we bear fruit--good works, love, gentleness, self-control, patience, kindness, etc.
It is the Spirit's power, renewing us, giving us faith, healing our hearts, cleansing our minds, granting us will and desire for the things of God that we cooperate with Him. We still struggle with the old things, with our sin, with the fallen desires of our flesh; and thus are called to be vigilant. To hear and abide and walk in the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit; to hear God's word and to seek His ways over and against the destructive lusts of the flesh.
So it is not an automatic thing, it is a cooperation, a partnership--enabled by God, by His grace, having given us a new kind of life, a new way to be human in Christ. It therefore becomes a life of daily struggle and discipleship of following Jesus. To take up our cross and bear the struggles of this life as we fight against the corruption of our sin and fallen instincts and desires; to abide in Jesus and His way, and cooperating with the Holy Spirit in His work to sanctify us, to sanctify our hearts and minds to be more as they ought to be. It is a lifelong, continued walk of faith, a walk of discipleship. Trusting in God's promises, heeding His commandments, as we are being brought up in faith, life, holiness, love, joy, patience, and all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. A life of good works toward our neighbor, and the transformative power of God's love and grace.
Yes, the Holy Spirit does bring peace in those circumstances where we would otherwise not have peace; He grants us hope in the midst of hopelessness. He gives us eyes to see and ears to hear, that in the sufferings of this present time there is a God who loves us, who saves us, and whose promises are true and faithful.
In this way, yes, the Spirit grants gifts to us, to hear God who, in His word, says He loves us and to believe it. To know the peace of Christ, in the midst of struggle and tribulation and turmoil. A faith which sees beyond the naked suffering of this present time, and which clings to promises made and promises kept and promises which shall be made full yet still.
Faith itself is a gift from the Spirit.
The heart that desires the things of God is a gift from the Spirit.
A conscience which perceives the rightness of the things of God, and the wrongness of transgression and injustice is a gift from the Spirit.
Hope in the flood of hopelessness; to know mercy from God, to experience joy in sorrow--all these are gifts from the Holy Spirit.
It is not a cheap or saccharine thing; it is a sober, deep, abiding thing these gifts.
-CryptoLutheran