The Apostle Paul says something both so powerful and truthful in his letter to the Romans in chapter 8: “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” Romans 8:2. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the Holy Spirit of God, the very presence of our loving God in our life, and it is God Himself, the Spirit of life, who sets you and me free from sin and death. This is such a clear statement about God’s presence in our life. We are assured beyond doubt, we are promised as only God can promise, that He will never leave us orphaned (see John 14:18). The Spirit of God, the very actual presence of God Himself, lives within us every moment of our life, before our birth, during our life here on earth, and in the eternal life to come. And this presence of God is an undeniable and actual necessity for us all, for without the presence of the Holy Spirit of God we are condemned to a life of sin and eternal death. The presence of the Spirit of God imbeds into our hearts the Law of God, while the absence of the Spirit of God leaves us alone capable only of embracing the law of sin and death.
Yesterday in Sunday worship our Pastor baptized a young girl, named Anna, and in this moment the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life, filled this young child with His presence. It was such a moving moment to witness once again. I could feel the love and the presence of God, and there was such joy that filled the church. When I lived for years in Africa as a Missionary I saw time and again many people who knew intellectually just a bit about God and His Spirit of life, and yet I saw in their hearts a hunger for and a desire to be baptized, a hunger and desire that could only have come from the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life! Then I could feel the mighty presence of God, as I felt again yesterday. It is not how much we know intellectually, cerebrally, about God that matters, but it is how much we desire God, how much we hunger for the very Spirit of God, the Spirit of life, that matters in our life. It is true, is it not, that the greatest journey of our life is the shortest journey of our life, the journey from our heads to our hearts.
So take some time today and sit with, meditate on, think deeply about these words from the Scriptures, these words of promise from God Himself: “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” Romans 8:2.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Fill me with Your Spirit today. Guide my steps today, and direct me in every way how I live this day. Have mercy on me and fill me with Your presence with Your Spirit of Life!
From the Bible:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” Isaiah 61:1.
“You know the Spirit of Truth, for He dwells with you and will be in you” John 14:17.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
2 Corinthians 3:17.
“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2.
“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.
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”
2 Timothy 1:7.
Jesus said: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” John 14:16.
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