The Holy Spirit is not a force or a power that we can simply seek to acquire more of. Rather the Holy Spirit is a Person, the third Person of the Triune God. He is the One who fills us and seeks which of us are willing to empty ourselves so that His power may be manifest in us. Our role and position as Christians is not simply to know the gospel message and accept it. Our role is even more than just sharing the gospel message with others, though that is what we are commissioned to do. If we want to experience what God has planned for us, we want to be living and walking gospels in any and every situation and interaction. To have the Holy Spirit manifested in every facet of our lives so that others can't help but see Him rather than us.

We read Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:12,14, "If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ...Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel." We read in 9:16, "...woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!" What Paul was essentially saying was once you realize the truth and power in the pure gospel message, and especially when you consider the lives and future of those who don't know it, sharing and living out the gospel message should be the driving force in our lives, superseding everything else. Paul went on in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, to describe how he was willing to adjust and alter every aspect of who he was in order to relate the gospel message to that particular audience, as he writes, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those without the law, as without the law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without the law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you." Paul adapted to every audience he presented the gospel message to, realizing that he was much less important than the message that he was presenting. We read in 10:33, "just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." This should be our bottom line, not whether we have the right to do something or not, but whether or not by doing it do we glorify God and further the gospel message or not.

We can all learn much through Paul's beautiful example and message. Paul never compromised or weakened the gospel message, neither should we. He never exerted his own rights. He chose to be a stone which others could step on rather than stumble them. We must be sensitive to the needs, hurts, customs, etc. of others so as to keep them open to the gospel message. This sensitivity would never mean sinning in order to get the message across, it would not justify getting drunk at a bar so as to reach others for Christ. So we must stay ever vigilant in seeking opportunities to share the gospel truth with others, continually abiding in Him so as to not miss them. When that opportunity presents itself we should: pray, allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us and use us as willing vessels, not exert our own rights maintaining our sensitivity toward the other, and stay true by never compromising the gospel message.