Power to Live Eternally
Something inside us isn’t satisfied with life between the dashes of our tombstones. It yearns for more. For more life without all the suffering, inequities, and injustices.
Life on the far end of the dash can become burdensome with the pains and infirmities of aging. Still, within us is a longing for more life without all the struggles of advanced age.
There is a reason for this yearning. God made us for more than our sin-blighted life on earth. Holy Spirit-generated life and understanding make all the difference.
The Holy Spirit plays a major role in fulfilling our inner thirst for more life. Isaac is the first person the Bible describes as born by the power of the Spirit (Galatians 4:29).
His birth was miraculous because his mother Sarah had not been able to have children no matter how hard she tried. But through God’s grace, Isaac was born when Sarah was 90 and Abraham his father was 100 years old.
Similarly, by God’s grace and power, we who trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior receive new life through the Holy Spirit’s ministry. Christ lives within us.
Our bodies will die, but because we have been made right with God, we have a new life that doesn’t end (Romans 8:10). It is blue ribbon quality, sparkling with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).
As God raised Christ Jesus from the dead through the Spirit who lives in us, He will do the same to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). Christ, the last Adam, is a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).
We will have bodies that never die and whose life and power come from the Holy Spirit. Bodies with far greater glory than our present ones (2 Corinthians 3:8).
Not because we conformed to the old written covenant. But because we are under a new agreement with God we enter by grace through faith in the merits of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 3:6).
God “saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5 NLT).
Power to Understand God
The Holy Spirit is God’s CCO, His Chief Communications Officer. No one knows God’s thoughts except His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11).
As believers, we have received God’s Spirit to understand the wonderful things God has given us freely (1 Corinthians 2:12). Even His deep secrets (1 Corinthians 2:10).
So, how do we communicate these wonderful things to others? Not through our wise words but through words the Holy Spirit gives us to explain spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:13).
Expect blank stares and derisive responses when we share spiritual truths with others. Those who have not yet received God’s life through the Spirit won’t understand and will think these exalted truths are foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14).
One of the mysteries that wasn’t revealed for ages was how high, deep, and wide God’s salvation would reach. The Spirit revealed it would extend to every people group to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18–20, Ephesians 3:5).
Almost everyone has ears. We use them selectively. Having the ability to hear doesn’t guarantee we will. Only believers have ears to hear the voice of the Spirit. We are often guilty of selective hearing there as well.
Revelation 2 and 3 bristles with warnings to pay attention to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. What He says to the churches in the first century, He says to us in the 21st century (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
Paying attention to the Spirit is exactly what Israel didn’t do throughout much of its history. They suffered extensively for their inattention and disobedience. Let’s not repeat their errors.
Husbands are known for ignoring their wives' words. We husbands dare not do that when the Spirit speaks to us. If we pay attention to what the Spirit says, we will also pay more attention to our wives (Ephesians 5:25)! #freechristiandiscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources
See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com
God has empowered me to write “His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength.” It’s a free devotional discipleship resource. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead more than 2,400 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 4,563 people. I invite you to check it out. https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/his-power-for-your-weakness
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