Why the Christian Life is Impossible Without the Holy Spirit
Follow a Path Different From the World's
We live in a world where evil is called good and good is called evil. Right is wrong, and wrong is right. Everything is being turned inside out and upside down. But if you have a personal relationship with God and are being led by His Spirit, you can stand strong and thrive, even in an upside-down world.
What do I mean when I say we can be led by the Holy Spirit? Spirit-led living is following a different path from what the world says you should pursue. It's having different values, goals, and measurements for success from those dictated by the world. Spirit-led living is freedom from guilt, condemnation, and shame. It is boldly stepping into the future without fear.
Spirit-led living is knowing who you are in Christ and having that the Holy Spirit within you is greater than anything you face in this world. It is knowing God intimately, which results in learning to hear His voice. Spirit-led living is following God's leading so you can fulfill every bit of potential He has designed for your life. And Spirit-led living is the peace of knowing that no matter what following Him costs, it will be worth it.
Living in the Spirit isn't easy, but it's not something we must accomplish by ourselves. The Holy Spirit fuels us by His power. He gives us spiritual gifts that enable us to gain victory in life and minister to the world. And as we surrender to Him, His fruit becomes more and more evident in our lives.
I do not want to do anything without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Living a Spirit-led life is the secret key to moving successfully in this upside-down world and accessing the fulfilling life God has planned for us.
If I were addressing a group of young people eager to progress in life and the things of the Spirit, I would explain that when I say "Spirit-led," I'm not speaking of mere human intuition or gut instinct. Mood, diet, and even hormones can influence these natural, sometimes helpful, prompts. This makes them undependable at best, and they may even be misleading. Rather, being Spirit-led is to be guided by the Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity, the navigator abiding within the core of the born-again believer.
We must be Holy Spirit-led. When we give the Holy Spirit full rein in our lives, He transforms us.
- The Holy Spirit helps us be more than we are. We find many biblical examples of this: the Spirit turned a shepherd boy to a king, a murderer into a deliverer, and fishermen into disciples.
- The Holy Spirit helps us say more than we know. When He anointed Peter, who had denied knowing Jesus just seven weeks before, three thousand who heard him speak were saved and baptized.
- The Holy Spirit helps us do more than we can. We accomplish far more with him than our natural abilities enable us to do.
How Do I Become Spirit-Led?
You may ask, how do I become a person who is led by the Holy Spirit? It starts with getting to know the Holy Spirit the same way you would get to know a friend. Think of your relationships with friends or your spouse. How did you get to know them? By spending time and talking with them. To get to know them know the Holy Spirit, you spend quiet time waiting for Him to communicate with you in your spirit. He desires to commune with you and to lead and guide you in all things.
Being led by the Spirit isn't something we do passively; it's a conscious decision we make to be different from a world that thinks those who live according to the Bible are backward and out of step. It's a choice to trust God's Word and stand against the woke culture that rejects what Scripture says about marriage, sexuality, and even gender. It means staying married and raising your kids according to biblical values, and having integrity in all your relationships, both personal and professional. It means speaking up on moral issues and not just going with the flow. It means not being intimidated into silence about trans-genderism or drag queen story times at libraries. And it means realizing that reaching others for Christ is our main responsibility.
Being led by the Spirit isn't a matter of being conservative, and it's not a political position. I use those examples to convey that when we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, we don't just go along to get along. We live a different way.
The Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost and now lives inside every believer, convincing us of sin and enabling us to live holy lives. He imparts God's love and reveals God's truth. He fills us, frees us from sin, empowers us to witness, equips us to fight Satan, provides comfort and encouragement, helps us to pray, enables us to worship, gives us special gifts, and develops His fruit in our lives. When the apostle Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians the first one is love, followed by joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. This is what Spirit-led living looks like. If we become mature, Spirit-led Christians, our lives will exhibit these traits.
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