Are you familiar with the idiom: “Get in the groove”? An English website, proz.com explains “‘To get in the groove’ means to enter into the spirit of the situation or circumstance of the moment.” In a similar way Jesus wanted His disciples to “get in the groove” in relation to the Holy Spirit. If you have played basketball you know what that means. You may know the sport, have the skills but still sometimes play really bad. It is at those times you really want to “get [back] in the groove.”
I believe Jesus had something similar in mind when He spoke to His disciples of their experience with the Holy Spirit. “He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:17.
The disciples had been led of the Spirit to recognize Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:3). Yet Jesus longed for them to experience still more of the Spirit’s working. The Spirit was with them but Jesus wanted something more for them. “...Not until after the ascension was the gift received in its fullness. Not until through faith and prayer the disciples had surrendered themselves fully for His working was the outpouring of the Spirit received. --Christ’s Object Lessons p. 327.
If we were to ask the disciples what made the difference in the impact of their ministry after Pentecost vs. before I believe if they were familiar with the idiom, I introduced they would say, “After Pentecost we were ‘in the grove.’”
Surely, they would also warn us that it was a lack of full surrender that kept them from being “in the groove.” During the ten days that preceded the Pentecostal outpouring the disciples were repenting and confessing their sins. No doubt the “dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24) the sin that brought division and disunity among them was confessed at that time. Only then could they be “in the groove”.
Are you in the groove? Is the Spirit simply “with you” convicting you or is He “in you” as a conquering champion? What might be a hindrance to your being “in the groove.”? Consider the following: “The success of the meeting [or our personal witness?] depends on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. For the outpouring of the Spirit every lover of the cause of truth should pray. And as far as lies in our power, we are to remove every hindrance to His working.
The Spirit can never be poured out while variance and bitterness toward one another are cherished by the members of the church. Envy, jealousy, evil surmising, and evil speaking are of Satan, and they effectually bar the way against the Holy Spirit's working.” --Testimonies to the Church Vol. 6 p. 42.
