Topic: BEGIN: A Faithful Presence

The Holy Spirit will glorify us when we appear with Christ in “glory” (Col 3:4), as Christ is glorified in his holy people, as all things are ushered into the glory of the sons of God (Romans 8). But what does it mean for the Spirit to be a present sign and seal of our future glory? The final installment in our series “this present strength.”

Sin is a master. It isn’t just an infection; it’s a disease. Romans 8 says whatever we yield our bodies to is our master. So don’t yield your bodies to sin. Instead, yield them to God’s Holy Spirit. Why? We know why. Because the Spirit represents abundance. Fulness. It is God’s good and best gift. And the Spirit is the overwhelming power that can change how we think, how we act, and (on the day of Jesus) how we look (1 John 3:2). We know the Spirit works in us and for us. But I wanted to highlight an important corollary: He empowers us.

When Paul tells husbands to be like Jesus toward their wives, he says husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy (Eph 5:25-26). That is truly significant. We spend a lot of time talking about what we are saved FROM. We are saved from sin; we are saved from our past; we are saved from our guilt and shame.

But it is equally important to talk about what we are saved FOR. As Paul says “he has rescued us out of the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” God wanted a people—a people who would conform to His image, who would showcase His likeness—so he saved us FROM our self-focused unrighteousness, and he saved us FOR a new life in Christ Jesus.

He died to make men holy.

The Holy Spirit not only lives in you–He is at work in you. This is the great teaching of Romans 8:1-11, that, empowered by the Spirit, the righteous requirements of the law may be fulfilled in us as we walk according to the Spirit. Part 2 in “This Present Strength” series.

The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit means presence. The Holy Spirit means power. And the Holy Spirit is a producer. In this series, we explore what it means to have access to this present strength. In this first lesson, we see that being plunged in God’s Spirit or receiving God’s Spirit means to be in the presence of God and for God’s presence to always be with us.

Beginning is tough. Starting over is harder still. But Paul says he is confident that the same God whose voice shook the earth, that rouses the dead from slumber, and brings salvation from heaven is at work…in you!

Sometimes we hear grand conversion stories and wonder if our story is too boring to tell. The truth is that God often displays glory in the ordinary.