Ephesians 1:13-14
“It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This down payment from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.”
“And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”
Jesus left but sent a tiny part of himself to indwell each person who believes, the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament faithful didn’t have this privilege and I am amazed at the diligence of their faith without it. Learning to hear and obey the Spirit has been the work of my lifetime. It is a tug of war between he and I with self gradually giving way. It is how I’m learning to truly live. The Spirit has another even more exciting purpose. It is a mark I belong to Jesus for eternity. I carry a part of him in me and he cannot leave himself behind. So death is no ogre to me but only a door to a brilliant future.
Holy Spirit your work in my heart is priceless. Only you can help me live fully engaged, without despair, with faith, hope and love briming over. Continue your work in me. May I ever decrease, giving way to your purpose. May I honor you by my walk and encourage others to come along.