"I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying of of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
~2 Timothy 1:5-7
This faith that belonged to Timothy, his grandmother, and mother, is yours if you are a Christian. Do you believe that God saved you? You have this faith that he has indeed saved you. Just as you have been given this faith, you have also, been given a gift. The gift of his Holy Spirit.
" ... you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
~Acts 1:8
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
~Romans 8:9-11
We have the Spirit of God in us. What a concept. We frail, helpless, sin-filled humans who have rebelled against the most high King are now able to receive his Spirit. Our bodies are now the living breathing temple of God the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever felt cast-down, depressed, and/or dry over a Spirit-less life? Don't be! The fire may have died down since you first came to Christ or maybe it has been smoldering, but the spark is still there. It needs to be fanned into flame. All we have to do is ask.
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will God."
~Romans 8:26-27
God is powerful in our weakness. Only when we realize our own pitifulness and helplessness are we able to cry to the Spirit to take over our lives. Our bodies have been wired to be in sin and rebellion. However, with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives we are now new creations. Ones that may still have residual symptoms of sin, but our core and inner being is no longer owned by the flesh.
"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
~1 Corinthians 15:57
1 comment:
Excellent post Caleb!
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12:10
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