Are you following Jesus? #16

When we follow Jesus many fail to realize the power they have through the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the power that we are given to make the radical changes in our new life (in Jesus) over our old life (without Jesus). Remember God told us way back in Ezekiel that a new heart and new spirit He would give us:



Ezekiel 36:26-27

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.



Then Jesus tells us:

John 16:7

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.



The Helper is the Holy Spirit. Why was it to our advantage that Jesus leave and send the Holy Spirit? Because in human form could do live inside us but if He left and sent back God in the form of the Holy Spirit, He then can dwell in us and give us the power we need to follow Jesus! Give a shout of praise!!!!!!



In reality when we die to self and give ourselves to Jesus, Jesus then dwells inside us, He is our life:



Galatians 2:20



20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.



Again, the Holy Spirit is our power, our life:



Romans 8:10-11



10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.



This is the overwhelming message of our faith...Jesus dies for you so that He might live in and through you! YOU ARE IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE!



So when we are following Jesus, everything of Him in now in us...His righteousness, His love, His joy, His mind, His desires, His will, His purposes, and His power. So if we win the days battle it is because we have surrendered to Jesus today, if we lose today's battles it is because we decided to take the reigns back into our own hands and quenched the power of the Holy Spirit.



Oh God as a follower of you, may we always follow you and depend on your power for today's battles. Help us to not try to lead ourselves, but to recognize we have the power of the Holy Spirit to live victoriously today through our risen Savior Jesus Christ. May you receive all the honor and glory through our lives as we live for you! Amen.



Tom