Spirit

On Tuesday, we read Paul’s confession of the struggle all Jesus followers face when it comes to the war between our will and God’s will. Today, Paul reminds us of another weapon we have available for that war.


Romans 8
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.


Spirit. This phrase ... “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you” ... is a very important phrase for every Jesus follower. When you accept God’s grace, He places a part of himself ... the Holy Spirit ... inside of you. That power is made available to help us deal with this struggle between our selfishness and God’s honor. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead us and teach us and counsel us (check out John 14:16-17, 26). In order to get the most out of that power, we need to take time to quiet ourselves long enough to “hear” that counsel and we need to become as familiar as possible with God’s Story (God’s heart) so that we can authenticate that counsel.