09-17-24-DAILY READING-ENG.

EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT

                               WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU? 

For the Christian, faith is not asking for what we don't have, but making use of what God says we already possess. It's simply trusting God's Word to be true. Nowhere else is this more profoundly true than in what is given us in God's Spirit. The Bible says every Christian is “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So what's new? Mainly this: you've been forgiven of sin, cleansed of all unrighteousness, clothed in the righteousness of Christ—and given the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within you. To be a Christian is to have a new spiritual life, a new relationship with God, a new authority in heaven and on earth, and a new power to serve. All this comes as we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This spiritual transformation deep within a person is at the heart of God's great salvation. Christians are not mere mortals; we're born-again citizens of the kingdom of God who live in a spiritual realm that the unbelieving world cannot understand. So if there's little difference between one who claims to be a Christian and the unbelieving world, something's desperately wrong.