Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (1Co 12:4-6)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Ro 8:11)
I am speaking to our youth tonight about the gifts of the Spirit. I'm looking forward to it greatly. I preparation I have been meditating again upon the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
One simple truth has struck me deeply again - we all have the same Spirit. It seems obvious, and it is, but it is also profound.
Sometimes we can discount ourselves, compare ourselves with others, and think we could never do the same - But we have the same Spirit inside us! No-one has any more and no-one has any less.
This is the point that God seems to labour in Numbers 11 (yes that chapter again!) when God says he will take the Spirit that is on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. It was not some other Spirit to the Holy Spirit, God himself, the third-person of the Godhead, but the point being made is clear. Once they were full of the Spirit, they had the same resources, anointing, and power residing within them that Moses himself had.
But here's the mind-blowing thing. We don't just have the same Spirit within us that is within the men of God we so greatly admire, we have the same Spirit within us as Christ himself! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now dwells within us! Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are participaters in the divine nature.
With that fullness of the life and power of God bursting within us, is it any wonder that it must break forth in sign, and wonder and miracle. The Spirit does not take up residence within us to hide and take refuge, but to be made manifest!
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Ro 8:11)
I am speaking to our youth tonight about the gifts of the Spirit. I'm looking forward to it greatly. I preparation I have been meditating again upon the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
One simple truth has struck me deeply again - we all have the same Spirit. It seems obvious, and it is, but it is also profound.
Sometimes we can discount ourselves, compare ourselves with others, and think we could never do the same - But we have the same Spirit inside us! No-one has any more and no-one has any less.
This is the point that God seems to labour in Numbers 11 (yes that chapter again!) when God says he will take the Spirit that is on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. It was not some other Spirit to the Holy Spirit, God himself, the third-person of the Godhead, but the point being made is clear. Once they were full of the Spirit, they had the same resources, anointing, and power residing within them that Moses himself had.
But here's the mind-blowing thing. We don't just have the same Spirit within us that is within the men of God we so greatly admire, we have the same Spirit within us as Christ himself! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now dwells within us! Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are participaters in the divine nature.
With that fullness of the life and power of God bursting within us, is it any wonder that it must break forth in sign, and wonder and miracle. The Spirit does not take up residence within us to hide and take refuge, but to be made manifest!
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