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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
...the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Where would we be as believers without the Holy Spirit?
I really would hate to know but we could begin with a total lack of continuity between the Gospel ministry work of Jesus and His disciples who were expected to carry on that work.
Thankfully, God had a succession plan in mind and this was made clear by Jesus before His death, resurrection, and ascension. Here’s what He had to say in the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel:
“If you love me, obey My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.” Vv. 15-17
At His baptism, we know Jesus received the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:9-11) and so indeed His disciples were living in the presence of this amazing power that was promised to be in them later. That “later” happened in Jerusalem after Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of God in authority over all things in Heaven and on earth. Acts, chapter two captures this important event that we know as Pentecost:
On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. Vv. 1-4
From this moment forward, Jesus’ disciples were equipped and empowered to continue His work and Christ believers have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as soon as they place their faith and trust in Him as Savior ever since.
So what does a Christian gain when they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?
The scriptures gives us the answer for when we study them, we learn that this Holy Spirit empowers (Acts 1:8), leads and guides (John 16:12-13), instructs (John 14:26), convicts (John 16:8-9), intercedes (Romans 8:26), and serves as a deposit for the eternal life to come as all believers (2 Corinthians 1:22). We also read where it produces a harvest of spiritual fruits that help Christians better live in righteousness as Jesus did. Here’s what we find in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter five:
...the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
As we see here, the true and blessed emotion of joy comes from the Holy Spirit and the more we actively engage Him in our lives, ever seeking His direction so to carry out the Lord’s will and way, conviction when we might be contemplating sin, and discernment and knowledge so to best understand the scriptures when we read them, the greater the magnitude of joy that we’ll experience. And this joy, the joy produced from the Holy Spirit, can be found by us even in times of hardship and difficulty as we saw in yesterday’s message.
And so as we navigate through this third week in Advent, a week centered on joy as we move ever nearer to the celebration of our Savior’s birth, let us all rejoice in the presence of the Holy Spirit within our hearts and souls as He works to generate a wellspring of delight and happiness that isn’t just fleeting but rather endures for all eternity.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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