The apostle Paul shares a wonderful word of affirmation and truth in Galatians 4:6 when he says, "And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, 'Abba, Father'" (NLT). What a blessing to know that we have the gift of the Holy Spirit within! Because of this, Paul says, "Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child" (Gal. 4:7, NLT), and further he says, "So Christ has truly set us free" (Gal. 5:1, NLT). Wow! What blessing, what promise - what potential - we all possess in God! And, what security to know that we have been adopted into God's family and have a place at His table. I firmly believe that in 2009 the church of Jesus Christ will shine! It will shine if we keep our focus on what the Holy Spirit wants us to do and say, for I believe this is a year for the Spirit. As Gordon Fee has written in God's Empowering Presence, "In dealing with the Spirit, we are dealing with none other than the personal presence of God himself" (p. 6). We have not been left alone - alone to somehow figure things out by ourselves. No, Fee writes, "Life in the present is empowered by the God who dwells among us and in us" (p. 8). This is why we can say with confidence that absolutely nothing is impossible to those who rely on the power of the Holy Spirit within!
2 comments:
Great post Bill and thanks for your message on my blog. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and Church will empower us to shine and manifest the glory of God to our world.
I fully agree with you that this year will be another year of the Spirit moving powerfully among the covenant community. We are living in prophetic days of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Every believer can do great exploits for the kingdom of God in these days because of the Spirit of God dwelling within us.
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