Who is the Holy Ghost?

When we come to Christ, repent of our sins and trust in Jesus as our Savior, the Trinity moves into our Born Again spirit. The Father, Son and Spirit all abide in us, and we do the works that Jesus did, in each community in which we live (John 14:12).

God's Holy Spirit is our comforter, guide, encourager, perfecter, convicter, and sanctifier. He supplies us with everything we ever need to accomplish God's will during each moment of the day, as long as we consult Him first and not making our own plans (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The Spirit also fills us with His fruit until we exhibit Christ's divine nature of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith in exchange for our carnal nature (Galatians 5:22-23). He replaces our carnality with His fruit.

We can facilitate this process by focusing on one verse in God's Word at a time, which pertains to each fruit. I like to write the verses on 3x5 cards and carrying them around with me to reread every chance that I get.

The Trinity gives us wisdom when we are puzzled, forgiveness when we fall, humility when we are tempted to take the credit for our successes, and contentment that stems from living with a heavenly mindset rather than as worldly-minded individuals.

We already have all of the Holy Spirit abiding in us; however, the more we submit to His guidance, the more the Spirit controls our life, smooths out the rough edges of our day, and gives us supernatural strength to do all that He calls us to do.

Sometimes, the trials of life are overwhelming, causing physical, emotional, and mental pain and anguish. Yet, we can rely on God's Spirit to heal our brokenness (Psalm 147:3), comfort our distresses (2 Corinthians 1:1-11), and make our paths straight (Psalm 27:11).

Prayer:

Father God, we are so grateful that You did not leave us alone in this great big, scary world (Hebrews 13:5). We appreciate Christ abiding within us, teaching us, leading us, enlightening us with His Truth, and comforting us through His Spirit dwelling in us. Help us to see that our self-worth and confidence come from our relationship with You.

Teach us to pray without ceasing, rejoice in our circumstances regardless of their severity, and give thanks to You for Your provision, safety and blessings throughout our day (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). In spiritual warfare, You guide us in how to overcome Satan's wiles, and we are so grateful that You are greater than anything he or this world can throw at us (1 John 4:4).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus is the Word who became flesh in order to pay the debt that we owed for our sinful lifestyle; His Word is truth, and His Spirit enlightens us as we feast on verses of scripture throughout the day. - John 1:14, 14:6

A Stress-Free Life

Prior to finding salvation through Jesus Christ we had little more than our own resources to rely on while facing the issues of life. We developed a routine of depending on our self, with a little help from our friends and family. Life was hard, and every little bump in the road threw us off course. We had to fight with all of our strength to regain our equilibrium. We stressed out under the strain and trials of daily living. Once we came to Christ, we carried these same habits and defense mechanisms into our new Christian walk.

We continue to overreact to life from our own energy and the reserve, which we built up within us. Living life through human achievement is deadly! Physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion and illness are all the result of us living life through our own efforts. We get weary when we overly schedule our time or when we take on too many projects that God does not lead us to perform. We often feel like we are separated from God and He cannot help us, because He is too far away up in Heaven.

Life is always hard as long we as depend upon our own inner strength to conquer its difficulties. We want to please God with our life; but when we feel like we are doing His will, we often fail. At some point, however, we start to realize that we are struggling for no reason. As long as we separate our life into two compartments: our humanity and His divinity within us, we are divided and weakened. Once we realize that our humanity is already dead, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God, then we start to live only through His divinity within us (Colossians 3:3). 

Life is no longer a challenge, because it is now an adventure! We are united with Christ in salvation and perfected in sanctification. We no longer need to react to life from our lack, because He faces life through us with all of the power of the triune God. We are not called by God to live life for Him, but to step aside and allow Him to live life in and through us. God did not give us a faint, fearful spirit, because His love, strength and self-discipline reside within us by His Spirit (2 Timothy 1:7). Recognize the moments of His joy in your day and focus on Him as His Spirit directs your steps.  

When we realize Christ dwells in us, and we dwell in Him, then we succeed at living in serenity and fulfillment all of the time (John 17:23). It is useless to dream of or to wish for a problem-free life. In this world, we are guaranteed to have problems (John 16:33). However, they are not our problems to handle. They are God's problem, and He has all the wisdom and resources needed to meet these opportunities through us during each moment of our day. Allow the Holy Spirit of God to control your spirit, body and soul – your mind, choices and emotions, and you will live in abundant life, strength and peace (Romans 8:6; Psalm 29:11).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, all that You require from us is that we obey Your Spirit's direction, and that we allow You to work in and through us. You desire for to take a step back and view the issues of life through Your eyes. We hide under the shelter of Your wings and live with joy in our heart and a smile on our face, no matter how disturbing or challenging life becomes. The more we allow You to live through us, the easier we walk in this realm of faith and Spirit. We center our mind and emotions on You and we walk in complete peace (Isaiah 26:3-4; John 14:27). You deal with the temporal aspects in our life, as we focus on the eternal aspects moment by moment throughout the day (Galatians 5:16,25; Isaiah 41:10-13).

Thought for the Day:
“The love of Christ controls us.” - 2 Corinthians 5:14