Dear Precious Friends,
On this TGIFF... (Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday) I just have to share this awesome reminder of what it truly feels like when we let go and let God... and what true freedom is when we live and walk by the Holy Spirit's leading!!
When we are born again, there are things to learn, and things to unlearn. Habits to form and habits to break. We are like babies in many ways. We crawl and we stumble as we learn how to walk. We fall, then we struggle to our feet and keep going.
We quickly learn that we can’t change on our own and that we need God’s help. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in.
When we receive this amazing gift, God’s Spirit Lives in us:
The Father (Galatians 1:1)
The Son, or Jesus (John 20:28)
The Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4)
Since the Bible says God is one, yet it also refers to him as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, many people use the term “Trinity” to describe him as one being of three co-equal persons or aspects. Some describe him as being unique, with individuality and personality that is manifested in three persons.
When you became a believer, the Holy Spirit entered into you. When you think about it, that’s an amazing thing. God loves you and his Spirit lives within you. He is there to guide you, watch over you, transform you, correct you, and encourage you.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
God’s goal is to transform us — to help us become more like Christ...
PLEASE MY FRIENDS, JUST DWELL ON THIS FOR A MOMENT.... DON'T SKIM BY THIS!! GOD'S GOAL IS TO TRANFORM US... TO HELP US BECOME MORE LIKE JESUS!!
Being a follower of Jesus means much more than going to church or trying to live a good life. It means letting the Holy Spirit change us. Here’s one verse in which Paul wrote about God transforming us:
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Here are three more verses that illustrate God’s desire for us to be transformed and renewed:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)
SO WHAT HAPPENS as God transforms us, He wants to help you change your attitudes and emotions, to help us grow what the Bible calls the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). Let’s read about this fruit:
NOTE: The scripture doesn't say fruits of the spirit... it says fruit...
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
God causes the fruit to grow.
God is interested in the type of person we become. He wants us to become fruitful.
How do we grow fruit? It’s actually God’s Holy Spirit—not us—who produces the fruit. The fruit grows as a result of the Spirit working within us.
We have a role to play.
Although God produces the fruit, there are things we can do to help our fruit grow.
For example:
We can loosen or break up the soil of our hearts, allowing God’s roots to go deep. We can surrender to God’s will for our lives.
We can water the tree by reading the Bible, God’s word.
We can fertilize the ground by spending quality time with other believers and listening to sound teaching.
We can kill pests or bugs that would damage the fruit by fighting sin and resisting the devil.
We can allow God to prune our diseased hearts, ideas, attitudes, or behaviors that prevent healthy fruit from growing.
We can ask God to fill us with his Spirit. When we become believers, the Holy Spirit enters us. As we go through life, we can pray to grow closer to him—to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
Remember, we must focus most on changing on the inside.
The Bible tells us in many places how to live—how to overcome sin, how to have good relationships, how to help others, and how to tell others about Jesus. These are all important goals, but if we aren’t changing on the inside as well as on the outside, we are missing out on what really matters to God.
God wants to transform us on the inside, to help us become more like Jesus in our attitudes, our beliefs, and our love for others.
The religious leaders Jesus talked to didn’t understand this. They thought pleasing God meant acting right. Look at what Jesus said to them:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:25-28)
If we are honest with ourselves, most of us sometimes slip into the same behavior as the Pharisees. It’s easy to put on a good show, acting the way we think Christians should act, without dealing with the messiness inside our heart.
How willing are we to cultivate our soil and let God produce fruit within us? If we are like most people, our old nature sometimes resists God’s Spirit. There may be some fruit we don’t want to grow—even if God says it is healthy.
Have you experienced this??? I know I have... we must remember we are new creatures and Christ and the only way to be transformed is through the renewing of our minds which comes by reading God's word...
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
It is amazing when we spend time with the Lord in His word, how it permeates through us.....
Another way God wants to help us change is in our attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and values. Most of us come from a background or culture in which we have learned things that contradict what God says. As you open yourself up to God, he will lead you into truth.
If you find yourself wanting to be open to the Holy Spirit, but at the same time you are resisting him, ask him to help you change your attitude and cultivate your soil. Ask him for a clean heart. Follow David’s example by praying:
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
God wants to produce fruit in us—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our job is to cultivate the fruit....
Pray for openness to cultivating your soil. Also pray for God to produce a large harvest of fruit in you.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
NOW MY FRIENDS, I PRAY WE ALL GO OUT ON THIS TGIFF AND REMEMBER THIS IMAGE AND HOW AMAZING IT IS THAT WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVING IN US AND THE SAME POWER THAT HE GAVE THE DISCIPLES IN ACTS AND HOW CHANGED THEY WERE IS THE SAME POWER HE GIVES US...
WOW WOW WOW! May we use it wisely.
AMEN!
