Finished with the Spirit?
Our series on the Holy Spirit is now finished but that does not mean that our focus on the Holy Spirit can stop. Only through the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit can we fulfill our vision to raise up a new generation to change our city.
We need the Spirit
No matter how much we organize and plan, without the Holy Spirit we will not succeed. The reason is that God's purpose is not to bless our efforts, but to do his work through us, and that requires cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
I am not saying that God will not bless some of our efforts, because he loves his children and appreciates what they do, but in the long term as we mature, he has to teach us that we are called to be his representatives on earth, not his substitutes. So let us commit ourselves to learn daily how to walk by the Spirit.
Paul's problem
In Romans 6-8 Paul deals with the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. Without a proper understanding of these chapters we can become discouraged when we find in ourselves the same evil thoughts and feelings continuing year by year. Shouldn't we be different the longer we live as Christians? Obviously yes, but we need to understand Paul's teaching carefully.
What is the flesh?
In each of us there is an evil program, which is the source of the evil in us. Paul calls it "the flesh" or "the old nature". That flesh will never get better no matter how long we live as a Christian. It will always be a source of evil thoughts and feelings in us.
We are called to ignore the flesh and "tune in" to the Holy Spirit. With the help of the Spirit what we say and do will become more and more like Jesus.
Thus, seen from the outside, we should get better as we mature as Christian disciples, because the fruit of the Spirit increasingly shows through us. But inside there will always be the battle between the flesh and the Spirit until the wonderful day when our old body dies and with it, all the old programming.
Updating the computer
It is like when a person gets a new computer. All the junk is left on their old computer and they only transfer the valuable information to the new one.
Similarly, that which has been formed by the Holy Spirit in us will be transferred to the new body. Then, and only then, we will know peace from the inner struggle. Until that time the flesh remains as a source of evil thoughts and feelings in us and we need to be constantly on the alert not to give it space to control our words and actions.
Don't be discouraged
So let's not be discouraged by the inner struggle we all face, but let us persistently follow the Spirit and make sure that only what comes from him is expressed in our words and actions. Those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. Romans 8v14.
Graham Turner
