Tag Archives: Christ in you

Who is the Holy Spirit?

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Perhaps you know you’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit. If so you know the power and freedom that comes from resting from your own works and letting the Spirit guide you. You know the peace that replaces your anxiety and worry. Instead of exhaustion and frustration you’ve found fulfillment and contentment. Instead of dealing with pain and disappointment by yourself, the Spirit comforts you and reminds you, “You are not alone.”

 

We’ve mentioned before that the Spirit is a real and divine being who is part of the three-part God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All who confess their sins and ask Jesus into their lives are given the Holy Spirit. The question is what do we do with Him? Like Jesus, he will not force himself on us. Oh, but if we seek to develop our relationship with him, he will penetrate every aspect of our lives, including our personality!

 

Maybe  you’ve thought the Holy Spirit was the same as emotional worship. But no, he is much more. He has a will and intelligence, feelings, and desires, same as you and me. He is the key player in you becoming “a new creation.” When we invite him to search the depths of our heart, he is able to reveal to us things we do not see in ourselves. Not only that, but he gives us perfect guidance for every situation. The Holy Spirit provides real power for victorious living, succeeding to win battles we’ve never won on our own. Acts 1:8 says “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” Ask yourself, “Am I living a life of victorious power or a life of one defeat after another?” Because he is deity he gives us access to the wisdom from above. He interprets our prayers when all we can utter is groans. Because he is just like  Jesus, we can get to know the Spirit by knowing Jesus, as revealed in scripture.

 

Knowing who the Spirit is gives us understanding, but it isn’t the same as experiencing his power and grace. It is one thing to have a promise and quite another when that promise is fulfilled.

 

Jesus said, “I am sending you something better.” Better? What could be better than Jesus with us? Jesus IN us. How else could Jesus dwell in each of us but by sending his perfect Spirit who is our only hope? (Colossians 1:27) We don’t need to prove Jesus with debates. All we need to do is let his Spirit speak to us, respond, and his light of truth will shine in and through you.

 

This  is indeed something quite better. Beyond having thoughts of Jesus as our guide and life model, Jesus realized we needed to experience his resurrection power and truth first hand. And he accomplished this by sending us his Holy Spirit to live in us; so we could be filled to the fullest of all Jesus is – his love and joy, his suffering and grief, and the wisdom and power to live victoriously as God intended us to live.

 

Meditate on this and how being filled with the Spirit would revolutionize your life. Tomorrow we’ll talk about how to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

The Swing

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We are more than a body that lives for a while and then dies. We are created souls with a spirit that lives forever. To understand the purpose of our life and how to live it, we must understand how our body, soul, and spirit work together…or against each other. Without this, we experience the same dilemma as Paul:

 

“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:18-25, condensed)

 

Like Paul we can be in two places at the same time: desiring to walk by faith but actually walking by sight. This ‘wretched’ place stems from the dilemma of thinking we can get closer to God by continually striving to be better. It’s like our spiritual goal is the old Avis Car Rental motto: “We try harder.”

 

Hebrews 4:9-13 tells us there is a solution our dilemma: Rest in God. His Word divides soul, spirit and body, revealing our thoughts and intentions. Nothing is hidden; all is laid bare before God. Those who stray from Him “will never enter my rest” (Psalm 95:11) but “anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works.” (Hebrews 4:11)

 

Dan Stone’s illustration of ‘The Swing’ helps explain both our dilemma and our solution. If you still have it, take out the illustration of The Line. It’s a horizontal line reaching left to right across the page. Above the line is our eternal life where the believer’s  spirit is united now and forever with God’s Spirit. Below the line in our temporary life on earth, our soul is seated in our body on a swing suspended from the line separating the unseen from the seen. Like Paul, we intend to follow God but our thoughts, feelings, and actions are contrary to this. Our swing constantly moves left to right, from ‘bad’ to ‘good.’

 

If we don’t understand God’s rest, we try to control the swing by our own power. We try to ‘nail’ the swing to the God’s ‘good’ side by trying harder.  But like Paul, we end up doing what we don’t want, and not doing what we do! We try to live the ‘good’ Christian life in our below the line experiences, but the life flowing-power of God only comes from above the line where our spirit is united with His.  Our spirit, guided by God, speaks to our soul. But our noisy soul also listens to our body which tells it what it sees and feels on the ever-moving swing. We’ll either be frustrated by living by sight (below the line) or empowered by living by faith where we are already one with Christ (above the line). When the starting point our dilemmas is seen from our point of reference, the swing will always present a problem for us to solve, trying to be good when we think and act opposed to it. Choosing to look at life from our union with God, the problems of the swing become a matter for Him to resolve as He works in us. We simply respond to Him – by faith, believing we already are who He says we are, thinking and behaving that way.

 

Our soul says, “This is how I FEEL.” Like Elijah, our fearful soul experiences the earthquake, wind, and fire around us.  We need to listen to our spirit who communicates God’s still small voice who says, “This is who I AM in you.”

 

Live in His presence, where your spirit meets His Spirit and speaks peace to your soul and your body. Listen for His still small voice and find His rest and peace.

 

 

Finding the grace of God…in holiness

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Grace, an undeserved gift, the exercise of love, kindness, compassion, mercy, favor; the disposition to benefit or serve another. We all want grace.

 

Some try to secure the grace of God by doing good works. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that we are indeed created for His workmanship to do good, but it is only by grace that we are saved, the grace that comes as a free gift of God through His son Jesus.  We access this amazing grace by believing who Jesus is, the Son of God, by asking Jesus to forgive our sins, to turn away from sinful ways, and to invite Him to be Lord and Savior of our life.  If you have made this sincere commitment you know the natural response of a truly repentant and thankful heart receiving this amazing grace is to love others and extend grace to them.

 

Hebrews 12 offers both a warning and encouragement to us:

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless…” (v 14-16)

 

In this day and age holiness may seem a bit archaic and might even bring to mind certain legalistic and ‘goody two shoes’ attitudes. It may also bring a feeling of overwhelming frustration: “How can I be holy?!”  Holiness is our utmost calling, and He who calls you to it will equip you.  You see, holiness is not just the end goal of a maturing Christian’s life; it is at the beginning of our walk with God and essential to discovering the fullness of His grace and extending it to others in our daily lives. It is much more than seeking to live by moral standards. To be holy is to discover the Living God in us. (“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27)

 

Take some time today, maybe right now… ask God to reveal to you what stands in the way of you and holiness. Be it secret behaviors or secret thoughts, selfish ambitions to control your own life or that of others, or a bitter root separating you from others, the answer is also what keeps you distant from Him. Not only that but distant from experiencing the fullness of His amazing grace in your life.   Holiness is found by disciplining yourself to maintaining the presence of God throughout your day, constantly seeking the one who loves you most. It is as much a desire as a product of our lives.  It is revealed in discovering God living in you throughout all your activities.  Holiness is not some pious behavior. It is the outpouring of a thankful and grace-filled heart.

 

Want to experience real grace? Be holy…because He (in you) is holy.

(1 Peter 1:16)

 

 

From Pieces To Peace

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In yesterday’s post we discussed how we all hold pieces of each other’s life puzzle. The key, and the will of God, is to develop a sense of awareness of the people around you because sometimes it is a total stranger who crosses your path and one or both of you hold a piece of the other’s puzzle.

The last two weeks of dealing with high blood sugars on top of the continuing chemo effects has been a struggle. Being pretty active and driven in my normal state, temporary diabetes has me on a constant sugar high. The insulin is helping, but it will take some time to resolve. In the meantime, I’ve tried applying to my life the true principles I’ve learned across 30 years of teaching and fostering personal and organizational change. Truthfully, I learned a long time ago that you don’t really change anyone other than yourself (and THAT is a tough sell too). What you can do is to create and nurture a supportive environment that is conducive for you and others to make better choices about their behaviors.

So in this new manic state, I sleep 3-4 hours per night and am active all day. But all my self-effort to make positive change happen in my life, to be less irritable, less obnoxious, less hyper, less hurtful…it is not only extremely draining but of devoid of power to change. In fact all my self effort to control my behavior actually made things worse.

And then, I read my daily devotional by Sarah Young, who wrote this book, Jesus Calling, (JUST FOR ME.) 🙂 She writes:
“It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about those events. Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation, to bring about the result you desire. Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves. Determined to make things go your way, you forget that I am in charge of your life. The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence. Stop all your striving, and watch to see what I will do. I am the Lord!”

I am stunned that I had allowed myself to stray from this basic truth that has guided me through this unexpected journey. Switching my focus from the problem to His Presence in me allowed me to instantly calm down. Marcia and I have enjoyed four consecutive days where both of us are freed to be more relaxed amidst the various pains and struggles. It wasn’t just a piece of the puzzle I needed; it was the peace that surpasses all understanding that I needed to reclaim. Looking for pieces of your life puzzle? They are found on the path to peace.

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27