Equipped for
the Christian Journey
by the Holy
Spirit
The Christian journey involves
many challenges:
Learning the truth God has
revealed.
Pleasing God with our life
and serving Him with our abilities.
Openly revealing that we
are a Christian sometimes in a hostile environment.
Overcoming our weaknesses
to temptation.
Sharing the good news of
salvation to those who are happy to receive it, and those who
are offended by it.
Amazingly, the instant we
sincerely receive Jesus Christ as our Savior by faith the Holy
Spirit equips us with everything we need to be victorious in
all these areas and more. (See 2nd Peter 1:2, 3.)
We need to learn what the Holy Spirit has done for us and
appropriate these gifts by faith.
The
Holy Spirit Gives Spiritual Life to Our Human Spirit
Before we are saved our human
spirit is fully alive to all things physical and material
but dead to God.
And you He made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1
(Colossians 2:13)
When we receive Jesus as our
Savior by faith we receive spiritual life.
But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved). Ephesians 2:5,
6.
Most assuredly, I
(Jesus) say to you, he who hears My word and believes in
Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into
judgment, but has passed from death into life. John
5:24.
Jesus described this giving of
spiritual life as a spiritual birth by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus answered, Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is
born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5, 6.
It is the Spirit who gives
life. . . John 6:63a.
The Holy Spirit
Takes Up Residence In The New Believer.
On the evening before His
crucifixion one of the revelations Jesus gave His disciples
was
And I will pray the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever---the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him, for He
dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16, 17.
The apostle Paul wrote the
Christians in Rome,
But you are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in
you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His. Romans 8:9 (also 10, 11).
Paul wrote the Corinthians,
Do you not know that you
are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1st Corinthians 3:16. (See also
chapter 6:19, 20.).
The true believer in Christ
will never be alone. The Holy Spirit will always be present
within.
The Holy Spirit. . .
Bears witness that we are
children of God, Romans 8:14, 17.
Provides comfort in our
anxiety and distress. John 14:16, 17
Teaches and guides us.
John 14:26.; 16:13; 1st Corinthians
2:9-16.
Corrects our prayers to
conform to the will and purpose of God.
Romans 8:26, 27.
Corrects our wrong
decisions. Acts 16:7-10.
Enables us to worship God
properly. John 4:23, 24.
Empowers us to live,
serve and give witness of Christ. Acts 1:8; 2:4;
4:8; 31; Ephesians 5:18-20
The Holy Spirit Stamps a Seal
on the New Believer Identifying Him or Her as the Property of
God.
In Him (Christ) you
also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation; in whom also having believed, you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our
inheritance. . . Ephesians 2:13,14a.
(See also Ephesians 4:30 and 2nd Corinthians
1:22).
The Greek word for seal denotes an emblem of ownership,
security and preservation. The idea here is that the instant
a lost sinner receives Jesus as Savior the Holy Spirit stamps
him with a seal that denotes This is the sole property of
God. This carries a powerful message of Gods provision and
protection. It also carries a warning to the Satanic and
demonic realm and anyone who dares to pry this believer away
from God.
The Holy Spirit Baptized The
New Believer Into The Body of Christ
For
by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to
drink into one Spirit.
1st Corinthians 12:13.
For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Galatians 3:27. (See also Romans 6:3)
The epistles of Paul give a strong emphasis that the church is
not only a physical assembly of believers, but also a
spiritual organism. Jesus Christ is the Head of the church
and all true believers make up His body:
. . .So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members of one another. Romans 6:5.
Verses 6-8 point out that each
believer is given one or more spiritual gifts to contribute to
the health of the body. Other Scriptures that emphasize the
same truth are 1st Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians
1:22, 23; 4:7-16; 1st Peter 4:10. The local church
is not only an assembly of physical believers, but each of
these believers have a spiritual nature that composes the body
of Christ.
Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us
use them
Romans 12:6.
The Holy Spirit Sanctifies
Every New Believer
The apostle Paul wrote the
believers at Thessalonica,
But we are bound to give
thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord,
because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth. 2nd
Thessalonians 2:13.
(See also Romans 15:16
and 1st Peter 1:2.
The words, holy, saint,
sanctify, sanctification, all have the same root
meaning, set apart to God. The Holy Spirit is the
Agent Who sets new believers apart to God.
A study of sanctification
reveals there are three aspects:
Positional
sanctification
The instant a lost sinner receives Jesus Christ as Savior he
or she is placed into Christ and is totally covered with the
righteousness of Christ.
See Romans 3:21, 22; 4:5-8; Philippians 3:7-9.
Progressive Sanctification
This is the process by which a believer becomes more and
more set apart to God in love, devotion, service, and
witness. The apostle Paul was a powerful example. He wrote,
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended but
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13, 14.
(See also Romans 8:29; Philippians 1:6).
Perfect
Sanctification As
noted by Paul above, none of us will reach this level during
our Christian journey on earth. All the same we are
encouraged to know that when Jesus returns and we are caught
up to be with Him, by rapture or resurrection, we will be
changed and enjoy perfect righteousness.
Now may the God of peace
Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit,
soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 1st Thessalonians 5:23.
(See also 1st Corinthians 15:51-57).
The apostle Paul gave us a
beautiful description of the transformation that will take
place with all believers when Jesus comes to take us home:
For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Lord Jesus
Christ, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be
conformed to His glorious body, according to he working by
which He is able to even to subdue all things to Himself.
Philippians 3:20.
In the meantime, we are to walk
in the Spirit. We are informed in Romans 8:1 that . . .There
is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. Verse 4 adds that The righteous requirement
of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit
We are informed in Galatians
5:16 that even if we are tempted to sin,
Walk in the Spirit, and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 22
adds, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. . ..
To walk in the Spirit
means to live in harmony with the Holy Spirit Who resides
within. There is great profit in doing so.
