There is a message that burns deep within me that I wish I could impart to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus. Too many Christians are dead to the Spirit because they fell out of fellowship with Jesus before they really even started. It's like they fell out of bed because they fell asleep too close where they got in. They didn't go far enough with Jesus. They stayed on the surface. They went no further than salvation, the cross of Christ. They did not seek the deeper things. They became satisfied too early and relied on nothing more than the baptism of repentance. But Jesus offers us more than forgiveness; he gives us life to the fullest through the Holy Spirit.
I cannot stress enough the importance of growing in our faith through the Spirit of God. Faith and the Spirit go hand in hand, and I am talking about the faith that provokes you to act on the promises of God.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
Too many of us live without the power of God. The life we live in this body we are living by our flesh instead of by faith. It is like what Paul warned, that in the last days there would be a form of godliness without the power of God. Look around my friends, where do you see the power of God? Too many of us have created our own little god with our own little law. We still use the same names but the god we worship is not the Jesus we read about in the Bible. Paul asked this question:
"Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" (Galatians 3:5)
The problem is that many of us have not received the baptism of the Spirit and miracles do not happen because we don't believe what we read. We are too busy limiting God with our limitations because we don't know how to live by the Spirit and try to serve God by our flesh, which is impossible. Allow me to share a little known verse:
"He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians 3:14)
It's all about us receiving the Spirit so we can live a life of faith as big as our God. The blessing given to Abraham was righteousness by faith and it is by this same faith that we receive the Holy Spirit who enables us to live by God's righteousness. The Holy Spirit is the great enabler. Without him we can't see God. Without him we do not have Jesus.
"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer under law." (Galatians 5:16-18)
You cannot live for Jesus without being possessed by the Holy Spirit. You cannot operate in the power of God without the Holy Spirit. You cannot live a life that glorifies God without the Holy Spirit. You cannot see God without the Holy Spirit. You cannot know the will of God, the mind of Christ without the Holy Spirit. You cannot even begin to imagine the love of Christ and its power to transform without the Holy Spirit.
"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25)
So in order to keep in step with the Spirit we need to first be living by the Spirit. Too many Christians know nothing about the Holy Spirit yet he is the reason Jesus left this place. Jesus said he had to go so he could send the Spirit, who would then live in us. It is a question of surrender and obedience. Will you receive, surrender to and then obey the Spirit of God to allow Jesus to live through you? The Word tells us that all we have to do is ask:
"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13)
So, in faith, ask!
No comments:
Post a Comment