All We Need

"Emotions leads us astray. Knowledge can fail. The Spirit never will."

OUR LIVES IN CHRIST are not a yo-yo. “Sometimes up. Sometimes down. Sometimes level with the ground,” as the saying goes. We do not confess salvation in order to walk uncertainly, falling in every pothole and continually stumping our toe. But, because the Holy Spirit now lives in us, because we are His temple, we are given access to all of the goodness of God. His eternal life recreates our inner man, His Word renews our minds to think like Christ, and His wisdom brings revelation of truth. The Spirit of God is our teacher and our guide and our friend. He helps us pray when we aren’t sure what to say. He fills us with God’s peace and joy to face every situation. God’s salvation is a complete work, nothing is missing from it, and nothing is lacking. Our Shepherd sees that we have all we need.

“The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough.” (Psalms 23:1 TPT)

This includes our every conversation. Our faith is a lifestyle, a complete change from the on-again, off-again commitments of an unsaved mind to an eager, beloved relationship with the Source of love and truth. No matter who we meet and whatever we need to speak to them, whether it is knowledge for our job or wisdom for our family, the Holy Spirit is our continual refilling. He will give us the words we need. Galatians 5 tells us to WALK IN THE SPIRIT, to be LED OF THE SPIRIT, and to LIVE IN THE SPIRIT. Thie means we are never outside of Him. We are not alone and no longer rely on ourselves but lean in, knowing His voice, aware of His presence at all times.

This awareness does not come lazily. Though He lives in us, in order to grow up spiritually, we must commit our time. We give Him our days. We must lay down our burdens, releasing all those distractions which turn our gazes and fill our hearing, and make a deliberate effort to know the principles of the Word and how to apply them. A student does not graduate with a degree simply because he was accepted into college. He must attend the classes and do the work required. The objective is to go from ignorance of his chosen degree to the correct knowledge that employment requires. A doctor becomes a doctor through what he has learned.

What we have learned, the greatest of which is how to be led by the Spirit, will cause us to speak His words and avoid pitfalls. Emotions lead us astray. Knowledge can fail. The Spirit never will. Many times, I have asked Him to remind me of something I have forgotten, and He always does. But this is a learned behavior. I didn’t start out hearing as clearly as I do now. One day, I pictured Him as being with me, I made Him real in my heart, and we have grown closer ever since. I need never fear tripping up when I speak. I need never have a down moment or feel lonely and confused.

“We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 TPT)

2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us we go from one level of God’s glorious presence to another. We need never look back at who we were and can stop struggling with the same old things. Because where we started when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord is only the beginning image of who we can become. God took the apostle Peter from a fisherman to a man strong enough to give his life for the gospel. He changed the apostle Paul from an angry, murderous Pharisee into the writer of the New Testament epistles. I am not who I was, and these writings only the beginning of what He wants to do in me. But like Peter and like Paul, I have to choose to listen to the Spirit because only what I hear will I, in that moment when I need it, know to repeat.

Our days are filled with ups and downs. Sometimes, we surge ahead and other times, we fall behind and fall apart, but our new life in Christ is the hope and assurance that the God who loves us is there for us, no matter how big the deficit or how small the problem we must face. He is the solution, one prepared for us before we even existed. His life is ours, His wisdom given to us when we need it, even down to the individual words we speak. There is nothing more wonderful than that.

“But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.” (Mark 13:11)

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:6)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com