- John 15:4 KJV
The Holy Spirit came to fulfill the ministry of Jesus Christ. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus said (John 10:10b KJV). He indwells so that He can reproduce the character and likeness of Jesus Christ within the born again believer. He continues to do and teach all that Jesus began to do and teach when He was here on the earth (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-17).
He longs for us to respond to His love and make ourselves available to Him to live His life in and through us (1 Cor. 3:16-17).
What does the Spirit find in the temple of our body? Too often the temple looks like a desecrated shrine, unkempt, unclean, and perhaps even defiled.
We grieve Him, and quench His fiery presence by our attitudes and behaviors. The Holy Spirit is always ready to use us, and longs to make us His instruments of grace and mercy to a lost world. How tragic when we deny Him His rightful place in our hearts?
We have each learned again and again that our God is the God of a second chance. How grateful we are that He “will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). “This is the everlasting mercy,” says Fitch. “He gave us another chance of doing what we have failed to do” (p. 125).
We abide in Him as we die daily to self-love and reckon to be dead unto sin and alive to God.
Jesus told His disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23).
We usually treat ourselves as if we are the only ones of significant value, the most important person in the world. Instead of Jesus being our most valued person, we make ourselves the priority. Jesus said we must die to self-love and make Him our first love.
The apostle Paul applied this great truth to the believer when he wrote, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11).
As we daily die to sin and self and reckon upon Jesus we abide in Him. This is the vital ministry of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. This is an important aspect of our spiritual growth.
God is with us and in us by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to make ourselves available to Him. He will take us and cleanse us and use us to fulfill His eternal purpose in and through us.
The Holy Spirit has come to fulfill the ministry of Jesus Christ. He does that in those individuals who have believed on Christ and who make themselves available to the Spirit without reserve. Allow the Spirit of holiness the freedom to apply the blood of Jesus to keep on cleansing us daily, moment by moment from all sin. Permit Him to apply it to your conscience daily and serve the Lord with the fullness of His Spirit. We walk in the light with Him and abide in His presence, as we allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all sin. As a result the Holy Spirit strengthens our conscience and deepens our faith in Christ. In doing so we give Him the freedom to use us to His glory.
When we are cleansed and restored daily we keep short agendas with God and the Spirit keeps our hearts tender to the slightest whisper of His will. The Holy Spirit gives us a sensitivity to the disquiet when we are tempted to sin or not walk by faith. He makes us hate sin as God hates sin, and realize that sin breaks our fellowship with God. As Charles Wesley wrote, “Ah give me, Lord, the tender heart that trembles at the approach of sin.” And may He constantly remind us that the only way to restoration of that abiding fellowship is the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Keep your heart tender toward Him and He will abide in you and you in Him.
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