ReceiveSýnishorn

Once upon a time...

Before you gave your life to the Lord, you had no real ability of your own to please God. But now that you’re free from the binding power of sin, you can please God!

The Holy Spirit dwells in you, guiding you into a closer relationship with God. Now, you can actually want what God wants because He lives in you.

You've been given a new power—the power to do what brings God joy! And God is busily developing power within you all the time.

Philippians 2[:13] says that God is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. We can do everything without complaining, without arguing. We can live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

Wow, that is amazing! Our old, crooked desires are melting away, and the Holy Spirit is growing new ones in our hearts!

God is pleased when we do things differently—more lovingly—than the world offers. This makes us stand apart from the crowd, like lights in a dark place. God wants to make us the vessels through which He shows His love to hurting people.

We couldn’t do this without Him, but with God’s Spirit empowering us, we can!

Jesus demonstrated the greatest love in the world...

When He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He calls us to follow His example of love by loving others. Even the people who seem unlovable, and even our enemies.

This might seem simple, but it’s so difficult—loving people is hard! Maybe even impossible!

But it’s so important. God’s love within us is the very thing that makes us stand out from the world. In the Bible, when asked which of the commandments was the most important, Jesus answered this way:

“'...you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." [Mark 12:30-31, NLT]

Jesus even said that loving God and neighbor sums up the whole law and the prophets! Do you remember why we needed Jesus to come? It’s because we were unable to please God through the law. So just like we weren’t able to lead sinless lives, we aren’t going to be able to love people well without God’s help.

The Holy Spirit working in us is the only way we will be able to love as Jesus loves.

By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit is actively working, empowering us to love God and people in a humble, Christ-like way. This is a type of love that affects everything we do and say—it colors our whole lives!

It’s a world-changing, lie-breaking, life-giving love.

How amazing that we get to be a part of it!

Let’s pray…

Thank You, Holy Spirit of God, that You are working within us. You are changing us every moment, aligning our desires with God’s, and empowering us to love with real love! Amen.