God the Spirit Makes us Able

by Laura Springer, Th.M., Ph.D.

 

Key Passage: Ephesians 3:14-19

 

“…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…”

 

The world seems out of control. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of whatever issue, there are those whose beliefs and actions seem to mess everything up. It's hard to find stable ground. But all is not as it seems, for God is always in control: he is always right here with us, in us, and among us.         

         

On-mission. Whatever is happening, the Spirit helps us remain steadfast and on-mission. As we rely on him, we can follow Jesus in the messiness of the dailies. As the Spirit strengthens us, we can carry out God's mission, for he gives our small actions influence and effectiveness beyond what we could ever imagine.         

         

Shining goodness. The Spirit develops each believer's heart, helping each to live faithfully and well. As we trust him, he helps us to shine goodness amid the darkness. He strengthens us and helps us to live out our identity in Christ. Every faithful, Jesus glorifying action that we take or word that we say flows from our Spirit-indwelt hearts.      

         

So, when everything seems out of control, the Spirit reminds us that God is always in control and that he always gives us the ability to trust and obey.    

         

So, let us follow the Spirit as he works within our life together in Christ, helping us to embody Jesus in the context of our messy world. Let us follow him as he helps us to comprehend the immensity of Jesus' mission and the realities of our context. Let us follow him as he helps us to understand and feel God's love for us so we might, in turn, love others. Let us follow him as he makes it possible for us to joyfully obey the Father in all that we do and say.         

         

The world may be out of control, but God is always in control, and we are always in him.

 

The Spirit Renews our Minds

by Laura Springer, Th.M., Ph.D.

Key Passage: Ephesians 4:17-24

 

 Humanity is amazing. Just think about it: pyramids, going to the moon, farming, Shakespeare. The list is endless. Yet these accomplishments can feel insufficient. We can enjoy all the fantastic ideas and inventions of humanity, spend lifetimes with friends and family, enjoy nature, and make a lasting contribution yet still feel like there should be more.

 

The Need. Truth is, without new life in Christ, the human mind is futile. It is burdened by a lifeless soul. It is stretched in too many directions to count. It is pounded by conflicting messages from every side. On top of all that, the human mind is futile because it cannot know anything beyond what it can perceive or conceive. Indeed, apart from Christ, the human mind is both incapable of knowing eternal truth and stubbornly resistant to it.

 

The Solution. Only life in Christ by the Spirit can fill this need. Christ is life, and all begins with him. The Spirit renews the mind, and his renewing work develops the Christian’s capacity for godly understanding, reasoning, and valuing. He gives us the ability to understand the truth that is in Jesus. He enables us to practice eternal thinking and reasoning. He aligns our values with the values of God, reorienting our minds toward God and the good of the other.

 

Our Part. Brothers and sisters, futility of mind is not the way we learned Christ. Therefore, let us submit to the Spirit and put on the new self. Let us partner with the Spirit as he carries out his continuing work within us. Let us cooperate with him by engaging Scripture, reasoning through God’s truth and its implications, and orienting our values and responses accordingly. Let us cast off the dead weight of the old self by putting on the new self. Let us counter the constant barrage of conflicting messages by considering the truth he reveals.

 

As we go forward in the Spirit, let us reject complacency and strive toward what is true and right and good, thinking clearly about God and partnering with the Spirit in the company of our Christian siblings.

The Spirit Makes Us God’s Dwelling Place

by Laura Springer, Th.M., Ph.D.

Key Passage(s): Ephesians 2:11-22

Supplementary Passage(s): Isaiah 28:16; 1Corinthians 3:10-17

 

God’s dwelling place has never been bricks and mortar. He has always dwelt among his people. But once Jesus came, lived, died, rose, and ascended, something changed: where God once dwelt with his people, he now dwells in us. The community of those who trust Jesus is and is becoming the dwelling place of God.

 

This dwelling place is built on the foundation of the good news of Jesus, written down in the words of Scripture. It is held up by and measured against Jesus himself, for he is the cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:10-17). The Spirit who dwells within us also works in and with us to build us from the inside. So, if a church intends to look and act like God's dwelling place, we who are the church must choose to live by the Spirit, tending our lives toward him, submitting to him, and partnering with him.

 

Tend toward the Spirit. Let us tend toward the Spirit by reminding ourselves that he is God with us, forming us to become the church Jesus saves us to be. Let us remember that the Spirit teaches us Jesus through the Bible and our brothers and sisters. Let us learn Jesus with all that we are in the company of our sisters and brothers in Christ. Let us learn to recognize the Spirit’s voice by slowing down to listen and testing each prompting against the Bible and in conversation with our fellow believers.

 

Submit to the Spirit. Let us submit to the Spirit’s tools and methods and set ours aside. Let us submit to his design for the structure of the whole and for how each individual believer functions in the context of the unity that is in Jesus.

 

Partner with the Spirit. If the dwelling place is to be a sound structure, we who are its living stones must submit to the Designer. Let us partner with the Spirit and one another to develop and live out our calling as the dwelling place of God in the world.