Week 4 – Day 4

“PRESENCE / TRANSFORMATION / POWER”

Have you ever noticed how few people are truly content? Everyone is searching for something. 

We’re looking for peace, rest for our weary souls. We want to change, to become better versions of who we are. We long for impact, the opportunity to make a difference in our world and be remembered when we die.

Everyone is searching for something.

In an April 2020 podcast interview, worship leader Brooke Ligertwood said, “I wonder if often times we are quick to discard the gift of dissatisfaction.” (The Grove Podcast – Friend of Jesus :: Brooke Ligertwood) 

What if these longings, these deep dissatisfactions, are God-given? What if God designed them to direct us to him?

THREE WAYS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS US

Our theme this week and next is that God is far more committed to us than we are to him. This is proved by the gospel. We couldn’t reach God, so he came to us to save us.

But there’s more. God also gave us the Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us as we follow him. Today, we’ll discover the three ways the Holy Spirit empowers us:

  1. The Presence of God
  2. Transformation from God
  3. Power to walk in God’s mission

1: THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Our world is filled with distractions that choke out spiritual growth. One of the primary jobs of the Holy Spirit is to continually redirect our minds and hearts back to Jesus.

Jesus describes this truth during his teaching on the Holy Spirit: 

  • He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)
  • He will bear witness about me. (John 15:26)
  • He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14)

God desires for us to be in continual awareness of and connection to his presence through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

“The first and most basic thing we can do and must do is to keep God before our minds.” -Dallas Willard

Dallas Willard puts it like this: “The first and most basic thing we can do and must do is to keep God before our minds… This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls.” (from the article: “Personal Soul Care”) 

We have been learning to “keep God before our minds” every day on our North Star journey through our practice of Solitude. What comfort to know that while we seek God, the Holy Spirit is working deep in our souls to draw us closer.

2: TRANSFORMATION FROM GOD

When God shows up, things change. Resurrection happens. Light abolishes darkness. When the Holy Spirit moves into our lives, we will be changed.

The goal of this change is radical. God wants more than “good people” who “sin slightly less”. He wants us, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19 ESV). His goal is that Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19 ESV). He desires for us to be transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

God wants our lives, inward and outward, to look exactly like Jesus because we have fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s vision for our souls. 

God wants more than “good people” who “sin slightly less”.

This slow and (often) painful process happens as the Spirit gradually transforms our character. As we die to ourselves daily and receive the life of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we will discover that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control flow from our lives. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV).

R.A. Torrey writes that God “does not demand of us that we imitate Christ in our own strength. He offers to us something infinitely better. He offers to form Christ in us by the power of His Holy Spirit. And when Christ is thus formed in us by the Holy Spirit’s power, all we have to do is let this indwelling Christ live out His own life in us.” (“The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, chapter 12)

3: POWER TO WALK IN GOD’S MISSION

God has big plans for our lives. Part of his vision is inward – to transform our heart, mind, and character. And he invites us outward – to take part in his mission on the earth.

God’s vision is that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14 ESV). He does not want anyone to die without knowing him, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 ESV)

Jesus refused to allow his disciples to step into his mission without the power of the Holy Spirit.

God invites us into this mission. His primary plan is that we would carry his good news to the world in word and deed. We are called to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)

But God has not left us to do this task on our own. Jesus refused to allow his disciples to step into his mission without the power of the Holy Spirit.

He promised them “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV)

GOD’S BEAUTIFUL VISION FOR OUR LIVES

The more we understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the more we grasp God’s beautiful vision for our lives. 

  1. The Presence of God: A continual awareness of and nearness to God through the Holy Spirit
  2. Transformation from God: The Spirit slowly but surely changes us to look exactly like Jesus
  3. Power to walk in God’s mission: The Holy Spirit empowers us to bring his holy love and goodness to the world.

Think about how these gifts from God are the answers to what we are searching for. The presence of God brings us peace. Transformation from God brings us true and lasting change. The power to walk in God’s mission gives us the opportunity for impact.

God desires for us to be in continual awareness of and connection to his presence through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The deep desires of our hearts are given to us by God through the work of the Holy Spirit.

NEXT STEPS

1: Read Mark 9.
2: Spend 10 minutes in Solitude, reflecting on what you learned. Pray using the P-R-A-Y method.
3: Read “How To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit” to learn how to be empowered by the Spirit 
4: Text one friend one thing that you learned

Tomorrow: Week 4 – Day 5 – “A Life That Invites”