The beautiful
thing about being a Christian is that when we surrender our lives to the Lord
Jesus, we come to life spiritually. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be
"born again" (John 3: 3). That is, we must become alive spiritually
to God. That happens the very moment you surrender to Jesus and receive
Him as your Lord. At that very moment the Holy Spirit moves into
you. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that we are the "Temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19). How
amazing!
Now, when the
Holy Spirit moves in, He doesn’t move in empty handed. He brings with Him wonderful blessings for
you. The Bible teaches in Romans chapter
12 and 1
Corinthians chapter 12 that the Holy Spirit will give you gifts,
special abilities just for you to fulfill the work God has called you to do for
His glory.
Not only does the Holy Spirit
bring gifts, but He begins bearing precious fruit in your life.
Galatians 5:
22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and
self-control.” What wonderful blessings
these are. I don’t know about you, but I
could sure use a little more love, more joy, a deeper peace, more patience,
goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. How about you?
These precious
presents are from God for you. Notice, they
are not given to us by external conditions.
That is, external circumstances are not the source of our love, joy, peace….and
so on. No, the gifts and fruits of the
Holy Spirit are not given by the external, they are given internally, they are
FROM the Spirit. That is so important
for us to understand.
Have you trusted
Christ as your Lord? Have you repented
of your sin and surrendered your heart to Him?
If so, the Holy Spirit has moved in and has brought these precious
promises into you. Now you have them, but have you applied them? That is a question that must be
answered. Many followers of the Lord
Jesus have the Holy Spirit, but are living far below their means. They have yet to allow the Holy Spirit to
fill their heart and mind with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
How do you claim
and apply these promises from God?
Friend, you must place your focus on Jesus. Don’t look to the media, or politics,
or your checkbook, or your spouse, or your neighbor or co-worker to refresh
your soul. Set your gaze on Jesus. Remember this, the blessings OF the Spirit
are given to you IN your Spirit. To bring
these fruits to maturity in your life you must reach down deep in your soul,
down deep in your faith and saturate your heart and mind in these promises of
God.
I recently
shared this cute story, “A child was holding her favorite blanket. It was
a gift from her mother. One chilly
evening, the little girl said to her mother, ‘I'm cold, the wind is chilly.’ The
mother observed that her daughter was standing there holding her blanket. She said, ‘Sweetheart, you have a blanket,
wrap yourself in it.’”
That is what our
Heavenly Father wants us to do. He has given us these wonderful gifts
through His Spirit, now we must take our eyes off external circumstances and look
up to Jesus, focus on Him and wrap these precious fruits of the Spirit around
our heart and mind.
