Spiritual Strength Beyond Our Own
For at least ten years, I’ve grown vegetables in containers. Without significant rainfall, I must water them daily. If I ignore them for a week, they’ll probably die. I apply Miracle-Gro fertilizer every ten days to provide essential nutrients to produce a good crop.
We’re like those vegetables. God has planted us in our time and place in history to fulfill His purposes. We aren’t strong, smart, or wise enough to do that without a lot of help.
Like container-grown vegetables, we’re dependent on external help to prosper. We need continual insight, strength, and encouragement. Trying to produce a spiritual crop in our strength yields only frustration.
We need spiritual strength beyond our own. Part of God’s solution is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s consider 40 ways the Holy Spirit benefits us.
· The Holy Spirit isn’t a distant resource. He lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19).
· He reveals the wonderful things God has given us (1 Corinthians 2:12).
· He gives us a new birth and eternal life (John 3:6, John 6:63, 2 Corinthians 3:8, Titus 3:5).
· He empowers us to overflow with confident hope (Romans 15:13).
· He makes us holy (Romans 15:16).
· He affirms that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16).
· He helps us overcome our weaknesses (Romans 8:26).
· He prays for us in harmony with God’s will (Romans 8:26–27).
· He enables us to live a life of goodness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17).
· He equips us to discern truth in a lie-packed world (John 14:17).
· He teaches us everything God wants us to know (John 14:26, 1 John 2:27).
· He enables us to guard the truth (2 Timothy 1:14).
· He makes it possible for us to think about things that please Him (Romans 8:5).
· When He controls our minds, we experience life and peace (Romans 8:6).
· He renews our thoughts and attitudes (Ephesians 4:23).
· He frees us from sin’s power (Romans 8:2, 2 Corinthians 3:17).
· He enables us to put to death the deeds of our sinful nature (Romans 8:13).
· He changes our heart (Romans 2:29), filling it with God’s love for others (Romans 5:5, Colossians 1:8).
· He gives us desires opposite those of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:17).
· He produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives (Galatians 5:22–23).
· He fortifies us with inner strength (Ephesians 3:16).
· He leads every part of our lives (Galatians 5:16, 25).
· Through Him we can live fruitful lives for God (Ephesians 5:18).
· Because of Him we can worship God (Philippians 3:3).
· He supplies power for us to be Christ’s witnesses (Acts 1:8).
· He anoints us and sends us to testify about Jesus (John 15:26).
· He furnishes the words for us to explain spiritual truths to others (Matthew 10:20, 1 Corinthians 2:13).
· He gives assurance of the truthfulness of the gospel (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
· He appoints church leaders (Acts 20:28).
· He equips us to serve God (Romans 7:6).
· He distributes spiritual gifts for ministry (1 Corinthians 12, Hebrews 2:4).
· He guides our ministry to others (Acts 11:12, 13:2, 16:7, 19:21, 20:22).
· He makes us more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).
· He fosters unity in the church (Ephesians 4:3).
· He baptizes believers into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13).
· He predicts the future (John 16:13, 1 Timothy 4:1).
· He inspires prophecy, visions, and dreams (Acts 2:17–18).
· He searches out everything and reveals God’s secrets (1 Corinthians 2:10).
· God’s word is His sword (Ephesians 4:17).
· He powers our prayers (Ephesians 6:18).
We need the Holy Spirit as much as my container-grown plants need water and Miracle-Gro to prosper. He leads. We must follow. May His rivers of living water flow through and from us to bless a needy world. #freechristiandiscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources
See free spiritual growth resources for Christians at https://www.christiangrowthresources.com
God has equipped and 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 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 2,140 people to date. I invite you to check it out. https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/his-power-for-your-weakness
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