- 2 days ago
If we want to live our lives close to the Spirit of God, we need to be quick to humble ourselves and avoid making excuses for giving in to our fleshly desires and negative attitudes. Our resistance to the Holy Spirit's conviction blocks His ability to lead and guide us. Conversely, accepting humility to receive the Spirit's correction and conviction will bring us more grace: “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6). Whenever you find yourself justifying something the Holy Spirit shows you is wrong, recognize that the enemy is trying to get you to rely on yourself rather than God’s intimate presence and power. To live your life in step with the Spirit of God, you must resist self, sin, and Satan, which is a topic that Paul the Apostle wrote about:
In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul wanted to help the believers there with the same difficulties we face. He taught them that there is 1) Something we must know, 2) Something we must consider, and 3) Something we must present. Let’s look at the first of those three today and finish them off tomorrow:
1) Something We Must Know
3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?... 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin… 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him (Romans 6:3, 6, 9).
The prophet Hosea said that God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). I want to emphasize again that if we have been born again by the Spirit, we cannot lose our salvation; we are secure in God's love (John 10:28). It is possible, though, to be utterly ignorant about how to draw on God's grace and power to overcome sin, self, and Satan, for we are called to be overcomers in those three battlegrounds. In the Book of Revelation, in each letter to each of the seven churches, the Lord spoke about the rewards He will give at the end of the age, saying, “to him who overcomes…” (Revelation 2-3). God expects us to overcome self, sin, and Satan. To do that, we need God’s tools to overcome, with the Word of God being our primary weapon—the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).
Do you understand and believe what Christ accomplished for you when He died as a substitute and rose again? This belief is essential for living in harmony with the Spirit and being empowered for ministry. If you are not confident in this knowledge, the enemy will quickly condemn you and take away your authority in Christ. When Paul wrote the above Scripture, he stated that we are baptized into Christ’s death (v. 3); this spiritual transformation has taken place in the heavenly realms. The word "baptism" originates from the Greek word "baptizo," meaning to identify or immerse. Water baptism is an outward act that symbolizes this inward change and identification in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, as well as new life in Christ. The Greek word was a term used for dyeing cloth. When the fabric was dipped into the dye, it changed. We, too, are transformed by this baptism into Christ and His Body, the Church: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Christ's victory over sin was our victory. You may not feel victorious, but by faith, regardless of your feelings, you need to understand what Christ accomplished for you and know that He secured this victory for you to walk in—not just to understand mentally, but to live in the power of this truth. To keep these reflections brief, let's return to these thoughts tomorrow to explore the other two points Paul mentioned: 2) Something We Must Consider or Count On and 3) Something We Must Present. Keith Thomas
This meditation is part of the series "Be Filled with the Spirit," and the study is titled "In Step with the Spirit."