October 2008 - English

One aspect of Jesus’ ministry was His spiritual life. For instance, we read that Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit (Luke 10:21). Early in His ministry, He showed the desire of the Father to relate to us in spirit when He said … the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (John 4:23). The work that God does in us is a change in spirit, for that is where the ‘fall’ has its roots. We must be careful that our experience of God has not simply been emotional or mental, but that we have allowed Him to work deep within our very being. One of the marvels of this new birth is that God gives us a new spirit so that we can worship the Father in the way He desires, but there are many, many other blessings. Just a few are listed below:

• If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)
• ... the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom 5:5)
• God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Tim 1:7)
• And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom 6:18)

For those that have not been born again these things will seem like a distant dream, but to children of God these are their daily experience and delight!