The Spirit of Life in Christ

 

Jesus said in John 14:15-17, 25-26, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

This week Michael writes: There is a difference between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of man. The spirit of man is the biological life we received when we were born from our mothers’ womb. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift, which we received when we were born again of God’s incorruptible seed. The spirit of man is the spirit of all flesh that we inherited from Adam. This spirit of Adam is contrary to the Spirit of life in Christ we received when we were born again of God’s Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2 says that We who have received the spirit of Christ can understand the things of God. However, the natural man who does not have God’s Spirit receives not the things of the Spirit of life in Christ because these things are spiritually discerned. Through God’s Spirit within us we can know, understand, acknowledge, and affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord. We can know that we know that we know that the Word of God is the final authority for truth, that we are men and women of prayer, that we can link together with likeminded spiritual people, and that we, as disciples of Christ, can give away the Gospel message of Salvation, keeping the His commandment to us in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus came and spoke to his disciples saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. This was not the “great suggestion”, it was the “Great Commission”. 

Even though we who have received Christ may feel broken, blind and deaf in the flesh, Jesus Christ is still Lord of our lives. 2 Corinthians 2 says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh) but mighty to the pulling down of (spiritual) strongholds. When the Holy Spirit takes residence inside us, we can work out our own salvation in Christ, our own wholeness in Christ with awe, respect, and reverence toward God and His Word. 

 

Romans 12:2 says, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Then, when we allow our minds to be renewed, God will work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has foreordained that we should walk in them. For when we dwell within the word and will of God, we all with open face beholding as in a mirror (of the word) will change from the reflection of the world into the reflection of the glory of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:18)

Colossians 3 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. When we turn from the flesh and unto the Lord, we will allow our minds to be renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, don’t worry about the things that sustain your physical life ... food, shelter, clothing and drink, but instead focus on the things of the kingdom of God, then all these other things shall be added unto you. God will sustain us. He is our sole provider and our soul provider… our Jehovah-Jireh [our God that provides]. As He said to Abraham, I am your provider … I am your portion, your sustenance for life.

As bond-servants of the Lord, we serve Him from a heart of love. We love Him because He first loved us. For even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly … including you and I. He loved us, rescued us, and saved us, not because of who we were but because of who he is; for Jesus Christ came not into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Fear not!

When we turn to the Lord, the things of this world will become strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. When we turn to the Spirit of life in Christ, our indwelling Helper, then faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (through worldly eyes.) Jesus said, he who is faithful in a little … in the things of this world he has called us to steward, then he will be faithful also in much … the things of the spirit of life in Christ.

The work God did within us and through us when we were born again, He has dedicated to his love, honor, and glory, that we might live according to the good pleasure of His will, in the abundance of the Spirit of life in Christ to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Your brother in Christ, Michael