Friday: Further Thought – The Baptism and Filling of the Holy Spirit
It is only natural for any person to seek control of one’s life. We normally depend on our own efforts to achieve all that we can. While many people spend their lives in a quest for control, others have an unhealthy fear of losing control. This human dilemma finds an answer only in God. He wants you to give to Him, Your Creator and Redeemer, full control. He knows and loves you as nobody else can. This opens the door for Him to work in your life.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
By choosing to submit your will to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit, you will have His supernatural peace and boundless opportunities to be a blessing to others. But we need the desire for this power in our lives. God doesn’t force Himself on any of us. To be moral beings we need to be free beings. And to be truly free in Christ we need a sense of abandonment (that of wanting to abandon our old sinful and fallen ways) and a sense of abiding (that of abiding in the power of the Holy Spirit). To be truly free, we must be truly surrendered to the control of the Holy Spirit. But there is no contradiction here. Our freedom is found in liberation from the condemnation and power of sin, which always enslaves us and always leads to death. Instead, by surrendering to the Lord, and making way for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not only are we no longer condemned (see Rom. 8:1) but we live a life where we “do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (NKJV). That’s the only true freedom that we, as sinful and fallen beings, can ever know.
Discussion Questions:
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Indeed humans are captives to sin Romans 7:14,22 therefore our actions are not a result of our will but of sin living in us vs 17. Then the law condemns us to death through the justice of God, Romans 6:23. Now FREEDOM is this, the truest wages to your actions is DEATH, But when you acknowledge your sins you instantly are cleared of guilt. By accepting Christ as the propitiation of your sin, you are cleared from the condemnation of sin that is death. Yes freedom sounds so sweet but soon the urge to sin will be lurking near, still you are not immune to evil though you know the pain, sorrow and grief that sin brings with it. Then God gives us a constant supply of LIBERTY through the Holy Spirit 2 Cor 3:17, you no longer at liberty but liberty is now in you indeed you are free. John 8:36. You are liberated from Sin that condemns us to death, now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death Romans 8:1 indeed we are free.
Christ is the author and source of FREEDOM, experiential knowledge in the TRUTH(Jesus Christ)shall set you free. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free John 8:32. Sin condemns empowered by the law, but Christ offers grace.
What an arrangement. The only safe way to salvation is in total surrender to the Holy Spirit's control and God will never take away our power of choice. This is nearly an irony. " you have the full power of choice but the only safety to salvation is to yield that choice over to him. This of course shows us how God designed our envolvement in our own salvation. Our responsibility is our ability to respond, by choice.
Romans 8:1-2
So now there is no condemnation fro those who belong to Him ( Jesus Christ). And because you belong to him, the power* of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
With God, everything is possible, once you put our burdens to Jesus, we will delivered from our sins. I Jesus,s name. Amen!
"without Me, you can do nothing(righteous)". So having the Spirit is having Jesus as a constant companion and Helper. We cannot give an adequate estimation of the vital importance of this union of the human with the Divine.