09-02-24-DAILY READING-ENG.

EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT

                                          HIS GIFT TO GIVE

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high — LUKE 24:49 God has kingdom work to do on earth, and He is looking for believers through whom He can do His work. We're looking for better methods; God is looking for better men and women. When it comes to serving God, total dependence is better than talent and determination. Our best efforts will always come short of what God could do through our lives if only we would learn to trust Him. When we talk about God's work in His people, we're talking about the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, the critically necessary element is our relationship to Jesus Christ—because Christ is the one who sends the gift of the Holy Spirit to shape and mold us into His image.

JESUS EXPLAINS You'll notice that Jesus didn't take much time to explain the Holy Spirit early in His ministry He was busy just doing the assignment the Father had for Him. But there came a time when He needed to teach the disciples about the Spirit. He knew they would need the Spirit's equipping for their assignment from the Father. The disciples had seen many miracles through His life, and they needed to understand that the same power demonstrated in His life would soon be available to them. The mystery of Pentecost is that the living, reigning Lord of the universe would now come to dwell in the life of every believer. How does one explain that? In reality, no one can fully understand it; it's something you just have to experience. And yet you can prepare and ready yourself to receive that gift. So in John 14—16, Jesus began making incredible statements about the enabling that heaven would bring to the disciples. He was preparing His followers for Pentecost, which was God's provision for them to fulfill their assignment. Jesus said to the disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). That phrase another Helper doesn't mean another of a different kind, but another of the same kind.

The Helper will be just like Christ. According to the Scripture, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct in person but always function together: one God in three persons. When you encounter one, you encounter all. One of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit is that He always exalts Christ. So as you experience the Holy Spirit, you'll at the same time experience the Spirit of Christ. That's why Jesus could say to the disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you” (John 16:7). For if the disciples had the Holy Spirit within them, they would have all there is of Jesus as well. While in the days of His flesh, Jesus could only be in one place at a time. But after the Spirit came at Pentecost, He could be in every believer around the world at the same time. That was a totally different experience from what the disciples had previously known. When Jesus spoke to the disciples in the upper room that night, He knew He would soon be arrested, beaten, crucified, and buried. He also knew He would then be resurrected and ascend back to heaven to reign at the right hand of the Father. That's why this teaching on the Holy Spirit was crucial for the disciples to understand. So listen to what Jesus said about the Helper: The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:17-18)

Though the disciples didn't fully understand what Jesus was saying at this time, He was foretelling what was about to happen: the Holy Spirit who dwells “with you” will soon be “in you.” A dramatic change was about to happen in their relationship to the Lord. They'd experienced the Holy Spirit “with them” through the life of Jesus. They'd seen the Spirit's power in the miracles of Jesus and His wisdom in the teaching of Jesus and His fruit in the character of Jesus. The disciples had even known the privilege of experiencing the Spirit's borrowed power, as it were, when Jesus empowered them to go out and minister in His name (Luke 10:1—20). They had known many wonderful times with the Holy Spirit—but nothing would compare with the gift of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would dwell in them. When Jesus said, “I will not leave you…I will come to you,” He was talking about the gift of Pentecost. He would come to the disciples through the gift of the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with Christ. Don't let anybody tell you that once Christ ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, we no longer relate to Christ but to the Spirit. That's just not true. The Spirit brings Christ to be real and personal in our lives. Paul said that the eternal purpose of God is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). He went on to say that “in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9—10). Christ is our life. But we experience our relationship with Him through the presence of the Holy Spirit. With Paul's statements in mind, let's go back to John 14 and review how Jesus described His new relationship with the disciples: A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:19-20) What was Jesus talking about? He was talking about Pentecost. That radical moment purposed by God was about to take place. Pentecost was the event that would take everything Christ accomplished while on earth and apply it to the life of every believer for all time. His relationship with the twelve disciples would be multiplied many times over through the presence of the Spirit. In essence, Jesus was saying to the disciples, “I need to go back to the Father and reign from on high. So I'll send My Spirit to dwell within you, so He can implement My will concerning your life.” Jesus is the one who gives the gift of the Spirit because He's also the one designated to be Lord of our lives; it's Jesus we're to obey. Our relationship with Jesus is the key to experiencing the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. If we're not walking in a love relationship with Jesus and obeying His will for our lives, there's no need for the Holy Spirit to enable our lives. We don't need the Holy Spirit's power if we're in rebellion against Jesus Christ. Pentecost was heaven's gift to enable those who would obey the Lord.