The Evidence of God's Love: From: Holy Spirit, To: You (Do Not Open Until...) - Pt. III

If you haven't experienced it yourself, you have probably seen someone go through it. The difference between many of the rooms we walk into are a result of the perpetual battle going on between flesh and Spirit, and that is why many of us experience either loneliness or a sense of true belonging. Do not get confused with the external, environmental sense of belonging or loneliness. You can never read the setting in a book to determine the outcome of the story. In the case of community, a sense of belonging, or loneliness, is found within, and when people find true, genuine community, they know it.
Why do they know it? Because deep down inside we are given with the innate desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We feel connected when others around us genuinely enjoy our company. While this part of the Gospel, unity with fellow believers, is crucial in the development of the newborn Christian. there is another gift that far surpasses the connection we feel with the church body, and this connection is much, much bigger than ourselves.
2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." We gain true freedom from bondage when we dip into the blessing of the Holy Spirit, whether or not our fellow believers are encouraging our walk with Christ. Now that we are given the blessing of community, our mindset should be on connection with the Spirit, as well as a constant download of the wisdom the Holy Spirit provides.
When Paul preached and spread the Gospel, he warned those who heard him that "Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, [he] relied on the power of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:4). Why? So we would "trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God" (2:5). Paul understood that his freedom did not come from the people around him, as encouraging as they might have been. His hope was found in God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what took him deeper than he could go, and it gave him freedom from bondage.
Other than giving us freedom, why else would we want to be driven by the Spirit?

1. In order to comprehend the mysteries and secrets of God, we must tap into the Spirit:
"...so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." (1 Corinthians 2:12)

2. When people lived under the Old Covenant, the glory was to remain sacred and untouched and unseen. Moses actually had to intercede on behalf of the people of Israel. Under today's Covenant, we can see and hear within our hearts the wonderful blessing of transformation into his likeness (Romans 12:1-2).
"..the veil is taken away...all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord...makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

3. The Holy Spirit gives us confidence and boldness to live out our true calling - this genuine confidence cannot come from believers, but can merely be encouraged by them (Philippians 2:1-4). Paul calls us to be one in spirit together, encouraging one another to live out love, being "one in spirit and of one mind." However, we receive that confidence and boldness through the promise of the Holy Spirit.
"...as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are confident.."(2 Corinthians 5:5-6).
"Since this new way (the New Covenant talked about in part I) gives us such confidence, we can be very bold" (2 Corinthians 3:12).

4. The power of the Holy Spirit gives us peace and hope that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
"...by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13)

5. We receive conviction to live out a healthy lifestyle with our body, including what we see, hear, touch, and think about.
"...don't you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

6. You are chosen by God to be imitators of him, and in doing so we receive conviction when living in the Holy Spirit.
"...because our Gospel came to you not only in Word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction" (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

7. We have access to his thoughts! Isn't this amazing? We can access his thoughts about us, the world, and how we can be stewards of it.
"No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:11)
*Remember, we have been given the Holy Spirit, which is "God's own Spirit." = "...but we understand [the Lord's thoughts] because we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:15-16).

These seven reasons we should invest in the Spirit on a daily basis is only touching the surface. Paul goes much deeper than this, and he encourages us as a body of believers to dive into the secrets of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ, We understand and comprehend the vast knowledge of God when we are devoted to the part of us that is so much greater than our ordinary self (1 Corinthians 2:16). In fact, the Holy Spirit is the very part of us that makes us extraordinary.

As a challenge, begin looking to the Holy Spirit within you for guidance. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). One way to "delight yourself in the Lord" is to seek the Holy Spirit. As you do that, you will begin to understand what your hear truly desires.

Go deeper with the Holy Spirit, because with it you will discover things much bigger than yourself.

Identity Crisis

We all put our identity in something: possessions, position, and people. As a result, our identifiers control our temperature. We get heated when we lose something, our authority is in question, or we disagree with a loved one. Like a roller coaster, our days have their ups and downs. We often do not see them coming, but once our ups become downs, we let our worst become evident.

We have created a love relationship with the world around us, glorifying the good it brings us, and being corrupted by its tempting beauty. At night, we go to bed with it, and in the morning, it leaves us unsatisfied. The result? Destruction of our spiritual, emotional, and even physical well-being.

Once sin plagued this world, Satan used deceit, lies, and evil to enslave God's Image to his purpose: total annihilation of any possible love relationship with the Almighty God. One of his greatest weapons is convincing us to be content with the world. Like a one-night-stand, we try to get what we want quickly, and when the night is over, we go on seeking another form of happiness that is as fleeting as the air we breathe.

As we go from one hotel room to another, sin slowly devours us; unrealistic comparisons, lust, greed, coveting, uncontrollable temper, self-pity, lying, malice, the list goes on. We become the monster we promised we would never become. If we were to be interviewed with the question, "Do you wish to inflict harm on anyone?" most of us would consciously say "No." Unfortunately, when worldly expectations are not met, we lose control and live a destructive lifestyle. We unconsciously change our answer to "Yes."

If we keep these things from becoming our identity, they are good things to have. When we construct a golden calf (Exodus 32) in honor of the world, we become a slave to it. We befriend the world and bow down to its commands. The world tells us, and we do it.

We have become adulterous people, sleeping with the world and shunning the love that God offers us all the time. James 4:1-4: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God...You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

So, we become enemies of God when we put our trust, faith, and loyalty into the world. How is this encouraging? How is this uplifting? None of this is, but what God offers is truly the greatest gift we can receive. When we read James 4:4, it can be easy to take pity on ourselves because we have so often become friends with the world. But, we can take heart because "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted, beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can endure it."

In other words, all of the sins that mankind has had to endure in the past can still be endured through God's promise that no temptation is beyond your control. Hence, any friendship with the world can be avoided because it is not beyond what we can bear. We can choose to focus on God's will for us and not on the temptations of the world.

See, Satan wants us to get entangled in our sin and lose track of God's purpose for our lives. On the other hand, God wants us to see our potential through his eyes - and we can only reach it when we allow him to direct us at all times. Again, we must choose him as our guide.

So, how can we avoid climbing in bed with the world?

Romans 12:2 speaks about how we need to think - "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world," it says, "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The rest of verse two is the kicker: "...Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."

When you give God the opportunity to open your heart and mind, he will renew it. Psalm 1 clarifies what will happen to those who are "planted" in the Lord: "...That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither - whatever they do prospers" (v. 3).

Plant yourself in Christ. The true definition of success is not found in the world's dictionary, but in the libraries of Heaven. God wants you to prosper in him! We do not need to fear man (Hebrews 13:6) and conform to their patterns. If you rest in God's love, a love that fears, worries, evil, and even the gates of hell cannot vanquish, you will find an identity that only God can perfect.

Take a look around you. Do you see anything that will eternally give you peace? Wisdom? Love? In Ecclesiastes 1, Solomon is lamenting because he has searched and searched all human things, only to find them "meaningless." Even wisdom and knowledge he found to be meaningless because is all relayed back to the wickedness of man (source: Biblegateway commentary). Evidently, Christ was where Solomon could find true value. No gimmicks, no wickedness, and no flaws. Pure perfection in all things.

Sure, you can take pride in the temporary things of this world, but they will eventually fade away. So, what will be left when all of it does fade?

River of Life

There are two sides to living: your own way, or God's way. You can live the way you want, with no allegiance to anyone but yourself. You are the commander of yourself. You are solely responsible for the type of existence you create, and the consequences that come with your choices are only made visible when you decide to make a big deal of them.

This sounds pretty good. No responsibilities. Eminem, songwriter and rap artist, once said, "I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There's no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it." We can say whatever we want, do whatever we want, and whoever does not like it can lick a frozen flagpole. "Out of my way, I have a life to live," the independent fighter can say. Again, no allegiance to anyone. You rule yourself, and if anyone wants to follow, they can come along as long as it does not intrude on your decisions, choices, and minor responsibilities.

Unfortunately, those who live for themselves are prone to wickedness and deception. They only think about what suits them, and this selfish corruption they file away begins to define them. Galatians 5:19-21 says,

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Paul, author of Galatians, wrote with the churches of Galatia in mind. He wrote to Christians who knew of sin and were aware of who it affected. If you are aware of the sin you commit, yet continue to commit it, who is your allegiance to? Just two verses prior, Paul states, "For the flesh (sinful) desires what is contrary to the Spirit (filled with the presence of God), and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want" (Galatians 5:17).

Slowly, a simple sin turns into a habit, and that habit turns into addiction. As we begin turning over to depravity, selfishness, and some of (if not all of) the sins listed above, we begin to lose the identity God intends to give us. We become unglued and run loose like beheaded chickens.

What do we do in a society like this? God's heart breaks at the rebellious children. We look in mirrors and shatter them with our corrupted identity (James 1:23). Who we are supposed to be gets locked away by the hands of demons, and our selfishness rules like an emperor of a country.

We are choking among thorns, thistles, weeds, and death. Where we sit is a graveyard. Dehydration kicks in, and those who surround us mock in ridicule and evil laughter. Lifeless, our only motivation is the hope of dying sooner than later. 

Yet, from the perspective of David, there lies another source of hope.

Not too far from corruption flows a never-ending river. It is an oasis of rich blue and delicious spring water. On the other side of that stream sits a tree. Its leaves never whither, it yields its fruit every season, and its limbs never grow tired. Here, it rests by the stream because it never thirsts (John 4:14) and never grows weary. Whatever it does, it prospers. This tree never steals, never boasts in itself, and never covets; it never grows impatient, unkind, or wicked. There is no need for this tree to sin because it "delights in the law of the Lord" (Psalm 1:2). Everyday, the tree receives life. It is always joyful, accepting, and at peace. Because it relies heavily on the water and plot of land it is given, it never wanders, but receives life everlasting.

David paints this picture in Psalm 1. In this chapter, David begins to understand how critical it is to stay committed to God and never stray. The wicked, while sitting on the opposite side as the prosperous tree, will always perish in their own foolishness (their decision). But, this tree will always be in nourished. It sits by Living Water, which will never run dry. 

Sometimes, we fall into those storms in life. We begin thinking about our problems, our issues, and our future. We leave God out of the equation, whether done intentionally or unintentionally, and we suffer for it in the end.

Plain and simple: A life without God will eventually perish, and a life with God will prosper like a tree by the riverside. 

Which side of the river do you find yourself on?

Flesh vs. Spirit

Our flesh is filled with sin. Lust, greed, alcoholism, selfishness, debauchery (links with lust), lying, cheating, adultery (again, lust), murder, coveting. When you think about it, sin is pretty abundant in our lives. Mark 7:21-22 says, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice (intentional meanness), deceit, lewdness (lust), envy, slander (bad report, whether a lie or gossip), arrogance and folly.” It comes from within us, yet is a part of our flesh, not the Spirit. In the case of the Spirit and the flesh, we need to clarify the meaning of each. Romans 8:2-3 declares: “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” It is the last part of Romans 8:3 that sticks out the most: “…and so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us…” In this sense, there is a clear separation between our flesh and the Spirit, which comes from God; ultimately, sin is tied to our flesh. Along those lines, John 3:6 says, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit,” suggesting that the flesh is separate from the Spirit, and that the flesh and Spirit cannot coincide with one another. The context of John 3:6 is when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus about being born again. Although we are born in flesh (as sinners), we can receive Jesus Christ through the Spirit, which is something the flesh can have no part in.

With so much sin trapping the very fabric of our being, who we were meant to be comes crashing down and is replaced by a monster we never knew could exist. We are reminded in Galatians 5:16 to “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Along with Galatians, Romans 13:14 tells us to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Again, Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.” The last part of Galatians 5:17 suggests the Flesh and the Spirit are at war.

So, when we think of sin as falling under the following categories – lust, greed, alcoholism, selfishness, debauchery, lying, cheating, adultery, murder, and coveting – we must realize that sin is anything that opposes God, or the Spirit. If you are uncertain this is true, the verses above speak volumes of the two. Do you worry? Are you obsessive over worldly things? Are you prideful? Well, if these things are not of God, then they must not be a part of the Spirit. If they are not a part of the Spirit, they are a part of our flesh. If they are a part of our flesh, then we must not do those things if we are in the Spirit. Unfortunately, worry, obsession, and pride are forms of sin as well. Fortunately, there is a cure. There is a remedy

Yes, our flesh is filthy. Our flesh is gross, and only wants what is opposite of the Lord. So, how can live in the Spirit? Looking at the verses above, it is clear the flesh is in opposition of the Spirit. The beauty of this contradiction is that, out of the Flesh and the Spirit, the latter always wins. As long as we “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Spirit),” we win. As long as we abandon our fleshly desires, we win in Christ.

The next question might be, “How do I ignore such a big part of my life?” Yes, sadly, our Flesh plays a major role in who we are. After all, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 declares.

But, Galatians makes it clear to us. “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, douse yourself with the love of Jesus (remember? The man who took on the sins of the world?) “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:5 says. Everything we do and say must reflect Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to work, and do not give over to the desires of the flesh. Be reminded of who you are in Christ. Commit yourself to excellence from God’s perspective, not your own. And, the best part, God promises he will never leave you or forsake you. After all, with his guidance, what can mere man do to you (Hebrews 13:5)? NOTHING.

It is not easy, but when you begin learning to ignore the flesh, you walk towards the Spirit. You give proper attention to the Spirit. Listen to the Spirit, and it will guide you. All you need to do is clothe yourself with Jesus Christ.