Most Christians leave the gospel at the door of the Christian life. They see the good news about Jesus as the key to getting into the Christian life, but then struggle to see how the gospel is also the engine that drives the Christian life. As a result, they end up running on fumes and living the Christian life like a non-Christian.
It’s hard for some people to believe in heaven because they can’t touch it or see it. It can feel too far to grasp onto and too distant to find assurance in. Other people hope in heaven but go through life uncertain that they’ll ever get there. The doubts are too strong and the promises too abstract. Wouldn’t it be great if God gave us a down payment on heaven, here and now? Wouldn’t it help if heaven came with a guarantee for those who had truly put their faith in Jesus? Amazing at it sounds, the Bible says that, in the Holy Spirit, God has done exactly that.
Christians have been taught some strange things about the Holy Spirit over the years. There were some who taught you had to “tarry” to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, based on the King James rendering of Luke 24:49. By tarry, they meant that people have to wait, often in hours-long prayer meetings, for a sign of the Holy Spirit. Many people found the wait exhausting and never experienced what they were told to wait for. There are others who have so tied speaking in tongues with the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit can take a backseat to speaking in tongues and God’s power is missing in people’s lives as a result. Others have been so freaked out by horror stories of “tarrying” and fiascos related to tongues that they want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit altogether. None of this is helpful. Over the last several weeks we’ve been looking at who the Holy Spirit is, why He’s just what we need, and what He seeks to do in people’s lives. Today, let’s consider three basic ways Scripture gives to connect to His power in our lives.
Last week, we considered Jesus’ amazing claim that the disciples were actually better off that He was leaving them because it meant that they would receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is just what we need but misunderstanding about what He actually does in a person’s life can cause confusion and frustration. There are at least four things that the Holy Spirit does in a person’s life.
