First Words 10-31-22

The Spirit-Empowered Believer

Putting our faith/trust in Jesus and what He did on the Cross as the payment for our sins is the beginning of an ongoing, day-to-day relationship with God. Those that put their faith in Christ are not left without help, strength, and direction in living the Christian life. Jesus promised that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit and that He (the Holy Spirit) would abide with them forever. Consider with me for a few minutes what the Holy Spirit does in every Christian’s life.

The Holy Spirit Leads into All Truth (John 16:13). This is one of the most important things the Holy Spirit does in the believer’s life. We do not always know the right way to go, the right things to say or the right decision to make. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death”. Not everything that seems right or sounds right, is actually right. Many voices influence us from many directions, but we have the Holy Spirit that can enable us to discern the right way to go and the right thing to do.

The Holy Spirit Will Convict/Convince of Sin (John 16:8). Sin is not defined or determined by culture, the media or Facebook friends. The Holy Spirit will convict us before we sin, while we sin and after we sin. For a Christian to continue in habitual sin they have to ignore and rebel against the convicting power of the Holy Spirit working in them. If you are living in habitual sin, you are living in rebellion of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in you.

The Holy Spirit Will Testify of Jesus (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to the believer. With the help of the Holy Spirit, every Christian can learn of Christ and all He has done in bringing salvation to a lost world. Also, the Holy Spirit exalts Christ in us and through us so that an unsaved world can come to know Jesus.

The Holy Spirit Empowers the Christian (Acts 1:8). God never intended for the Christian to live weak, weary and worried….the Holy Spirit EMPOWERS us! This promised power is a power with purpose: …“and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth”. The Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered Christian is a witness of Christ locally and globally. In other words, the Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered Christian lives a missional life.

Acts 2:1-4 provides a detailed account of the promised Holy Spirit being poured out on the followers of Jesus. Living a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life means that we live life…we do life in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit. A hunger for all that God has for us will cause us to go after God and ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The promise of Jesus still stands:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Christ) for they shall be filled.”

(Matthew 5:6)