“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24 ESV
The christian faith isn’t just about being born again but also transformation and development(Growth) as citizens of the kingdom. It’s not just about fellowship with other believers, serving in ministry or helping the poor but rather a life that ought to be lived in the spirit. We exist spiritually, we have to learn to develop our spiritual senses by engaging with the Spirit of God who dwells in us in a way that leads to our transformation . The power of the Holy Spirit will break us from a religious mindset void of the life of God. Many believers know the scripture but are shut down from the spirit of the scripture. As we journey through this series we will be animated and enabled to discern between false and true spiritually.
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Romans 8:9 ESV
Paul was speaking to human beings and emphasizing the spiritual as the most important aspect of life. If someone isn’t born again they don’t and can’t have the spirit of God, this isn’t about false practices of spirituality but the spirit man being made alive to God.
“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:10-11 ESV
As a child of God you’ve been activated into a life where you can desire to please the Lord and please him. When you get born again your spirit man is made alive to God, so you can hunger for God because you’ve received the spirit of God,the spiritual companion to every believer . God gives us his own spirit to ensure compliance to the spiritual life he wants us to live.
“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” Romans 8:12 ESV
Paul is making a distinction between the life you’ve lived before and the life you ought to live now. God has made an investment in us which makes us debtors not to the flesh but to the Spirit.
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 ESV
If you are born again and you don’t learn to live by the spirit you will experience death and your life won’t differ from the average unbeliever. A lot of christians get born again but never develop in their spiritual existence. Their life remains carnal and they never experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Their worldview and perspective is still worldly and lacks any spiritual inclination. They are born again but their eyes are still shut and this is not the will of God. As you journey in the spirit, you will begin to see the beauty of the Christian faith.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:14 ESV
A lot of believers are born but they haven’t been taught how to be led. They are led by their minds and they confuse this with the leading of the Holy Spirit. They don’t know the Holy Spirit nor know God, so they can’t engage properly. For example if you were to migrate into a new country, you can’t engage the new life with the rules and regulations of your country of origin.
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" Romans 8:15 ESV
“Fear” in that verse refers to the separation between you and God. We’ve been made alive to God and we have the spirit of boldness to approach the father anytime and anywhere.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:16-17 ESV
If it’s not with him you can’t live the life. To suffer with Christ is to die to the flesh and submit to the Lordship of Christ. Our focus is on the development of the new creation. It’s not enough to be born again but to develop your spirit man. You shouldn’t walk in assumptions.
Three key things to remember
1. Your human spirit has been made alive to God. By accepting Christ you have passed from death to life.
2. Your spirit man is born again and no longer dead to God. That’s why your spirit gravitates towards God and hungers for him. Prior to this your conscience would tell you if you did wrong but because of the state of death you always couldn’t say no to the devil.
3. You’ve received the Holy Spirit, those who believe in Christ have his spirit.
You have Passed from death to life to have a spirit to spirit relationship. If a person is born again and doesn’t have a relationship with the Holy Spirit the person will produce the same results as someone who isn’t born again.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
Paul had keen insights into the things of the spirit. A lot believers know the grace of our lord. Jesus Christ, the love of God but most don’t know nor understand the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It’s not just an expression of the emotions or feelings. Sometimes we confuse the emotions we feel with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Your fellowship with the Holy Spirit will make you familiar with his presence, it’s not something achieved with a snap of a finger. You can be born within one hour but development is a lifetime process. Don’t celebrate your born again experience for far too long and neglect the pursuit for the development of your spirit man. As you expose your spirit to the influence of the Holy Spirit your spirit will burst forth producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit . Your spirit will become accustomed to the nature of the Holy Spirit.
We will talk about the different operations of the Holy Spirit:
1. The Spirit of adoption
2. The Spirit of worship
3. The Spirit of life
4. The Spirit of truth
5. The Spirit of holiness
6. The fruit of the Holy Spirit
7. The Spirit of power
8. The Spirit of prayer
9. The Spirit of unity
10. The Spirit of guidance
11. The Spirit of authority
12. The Spirit of faith
A lot of believers come into the kingdom and remain idle and irresponsible. They engage in religious activities but void of true fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no kingdom because he is the administrator of the Kingdom the one in charge of the Kingdom. In the flesh Jesus had to submit to the Holy Spirit and in the same way we have to submit to the Holy Spirit as we engage life.
Your Relationship with the Holy Spirit
“You’ve been activated to have a spirit to spirit relationship with God”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
The Holy Spirit is a person that you can fellowship with. The Holy Spirit makes spiritual realities real and tangible, equipping you to walk in the ways pleasing to God.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” Romans 8:14-16 ESV
It’s not everyone who professes that they are christians or come to church or serves in church that are believers, but rather those who have made him Lord and live governed by his authority are the sons of God.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Everything that you are and do in God stems from this revelation .
Witness of the Holy Spirit
This is within you and not external at all. The journey begins in you when you receive the conviction of the Holy Spirit . When you got born again it was your spirit man that got born again . Your Christian journey begins with the Holy Spirit . In order to be sustained in the journey you need to continue in the Holy Spirit. When the spiritual connection is dead you experience stagnation and dryness. When you are born again, your ability to experience spiritual realities is not developed yet. You have the spirit of God in you but it takes yielding to the Holy Spirit to make these truths a reality for you . When you read the book of acts you can see that when the Holy Spirit came they started living out the promises that Christ had given the church.
Being led by the Holy Spirit is not something that happens automatically. It’s something that happens when you consciously and delicately submit yourself to the Holy Spirit. When you are not established in being led by the Holy Spirit and producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit you will abuse the gifts of the Holy Spirit . If you don’t have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and the devil speaks, you will easily fall victim to his deceptions because you’ve not been trained to know how he leads. In this journey of faith learn to relate with God (the Holy Spirit) in you.
The voice of the Holy Spirit comes like a still small voice because he is inside you. If you get born again and still expect to hear God externally you will easily fall victim to deceptions. Your spirit is within you and if the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit it means the witness is inside you. The conviction is within you . Every witness of the Holy Spirit that you are not conscious of will not benefit you. You have to be sensitive enough to pay attention diligently to the influence of the Holy Spirit in your spirit.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:33-34 ESV
“For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:8-12 ESV
Knowing in the Kingdom is by the Spirit
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV
If you will know God it has to be by the Holy Spirit. All your inheritances in God can only be discovered by the Holy Spirit . If you lack insight about the provisions of God in Christ it’s a sign that you are deficient in your relationship with the Holy Spirit.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13 ESV
If you don’t have fellowship with the Holy Spirit you can’t know the things that only he can reveal to you. A lot of believers stop at having fellowship with other believers but they don’t have a relationship with the Holy Spirit . They are ruled by the lusts of the flesh, sight the pride of life etc. This journey is meant to be lived by the spirit, it is a spiritual journey and engagement . God has made a new covenant where he brings himself inside of us so we engage internally not in the outer courts. Those who have fellowship within will bless the body of Christ. Those who have no fellowship within give problems to the body because they are carnally ruled and inclined to worldly concepts.
If you have lost the joy of salvation and have left your first love . You can’t live in the flesh and fulfill the dictates of the Holy Spirit. If you are born of the spirit you need the spirit relationship .
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 ESV
You function through his spirit who dwells in you
“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:12-13 ESV
The prompting of the Holy Spirit is not just to excite you but the empowerment to live the life and when you start responding to him you grow in intimacy with him. The more you respond to him by practice and repetition, the more you are conformed.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 ESV
“But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.” Job 32:8 ESV
It’s easy to live the life without struggle. The Holy spirit bears witness with your spirit and he will nudge and draw you into a deeper walk , it is your responsibility to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will give you the hunger and the desire , these are promptings that you ought to respond to . It’s a relationship and the Holy Spirit gives you the access to have intimacy with him. You have to be conscious of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will prompt you but you deny his love and never respond to him. The more you respond to the Holy Spirit you will be accustomed to him. Everything that your flesh knows came by practice and repetition until you became an expert . This is how we ought to engage in the spirit, we have to learn and practice. The more of his instructions you obey, the more you will become accustomed to spiritual life and spiritual living.
“"Ah, stubborn children," declares the Lord, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.” Isaiah 30:1-3 ESV
These were carnal people who had no desire to live by the spirit. They lived like worldly people, and engaged life like unbelievers because they didn’t understand their spiritual nature and heritage in God. Many believers die and fall because they engage the kingdom life like a religion void of the life of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 ESV
Once saved always saved has no basis in scripture and it’s purely demonic a tool of the devil to make the church weak. Don’t abort the process for a born again experience that ends at the altar.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV
If you are in bondage of any kind, you should ask yourself if you regard the Holy Spirit as Lord. When you regard him as Lord there is liberty .
Is the Holy Spirit your Lord.?
If he isn’t Lord you can’t enjoy this life, because he is the one who can make this life a reality because there is no kingdom life without the Holy Spirit.
No Holy Spirit No Life!
