Don't Go Without The Spirit

Being spiritually minded does not mean the same thing as being Spirit-filled. I find it hard to understand Christians who love the Lord but deny his power in them. They will deal with everything within their limited understanding and refuse to allow Yahweh to be the God of "everything is possible". People look at Jesus and say, "But that was Jesus, Son of God". They fail to understand that Jesus also set for us an example of what it is to live by the Spirit. Read this:

Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. (Luke 4:1)

Jesus was fully God and fully man, having set aside his divinity, and operated in the same manner we have been given to operate; by the Holy Spirit. Jesus did nothing in his divinity but relied on the Spirit for all things. He did not take on the enemy in his own strength but entered the desert full of the Holy Spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit. So what makes us think we don't need the Holy Spirit and that we are wise within ourselves or that our human strength will carry the day? But it goes beyond even this.

Every day we deny the power of Jesus in us to carry out his work. We decide what we will do according to our abilities, limiting him to those abilities, not stepping out in faith because we have barely even begun to understand what faith means. We serve by what we know, not by the promises. Yet, how did Jesus minister and teach?

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. (Luke 4:14-15)

Why do we ignore the obvious? Is it simply because we are uncomfortable losing control? Is it because we are afraid to let him be Lord in case he takes us places we don't want to go, to do things we don't want to do? Do we really think he needs our wisdom, our intelligence or our talents? He does not want us to serve him in our limitations but in his possibilities.

Let's stop teaching, preaching, and serving in our own strength and start seeking his anointing through the Spirit to do his work through us. The world doesn't need to hear what we think or to see what we can do. The world needs to see Jesus in us so we need to let him take us beyond ourselves. Let us learn to walk in the Spirit for the sake of the world.