It is primarily in the discussion of living by faith that we need to say a
few things about the Holy Spirit. When we believe in Jesus' life,
death, and resurrection as the means of forgiveness for our sins,
several changes occur in our lives. These changes happen primarily
through the work of the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for us to
once again live in a faith relationship with God.
Before we discuss some of the things that the Holy Spirit does
in our lives, its important to describe Him. The Holy Spirit is as much God
as Jesus or God the Father is. This is an important point because
we saw that God was to be the only one who could provide our
salvation. In fact, once we understand God the Father, God the Son
(Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit's work in salvation we see that
all of salvation is of God. God the Father has authored our
salvation, God the Son has accomplished our salvation, and God the
Holy Spirit actualizes our salvation.
The Holy Spirit makes our salvation real in our lives in a
number of ways.
The Bible tells us that before we believed in Jesus we were
spiritually dead. The Holy Spirit gives us the new resurrected life
of Jesus when we trust in Him. So, in a very real sense, the Holy
Spirit transforms us from death to life.
Additionally, the Holy Spirit empowers us by giving us unique
abilities so that we might please God through our actions. He
teaches us through the study of the Bible so that we might please
God through our thoughts. He gives us guidance and assurance so
that we might please God through our decisions and emotions. He
intercedes for us through prayer and strengthens our faith so that
we might please God through our spiritual life. As you can see,
there is not a part of our life that the Holy Spirit will not
transform so that we might be able to once again live in a faith
relationship with God.
We recognize that this is not perfectly completed in this life.
However, the transformation between our lives before the work of
the Holy Spirit and afterwards is so distinct that
one writer in the Bible says that we have become 'new
creatures' and that the 'old creatures' that we used to be are no
more. We have been changed from enemies of God into His children;
we have been given a mediator in Jesus that makes possible the
forgiveness of our personal sins; and, through the Holy Spirit, we
are once again able to live a life of faith with God. That's the
Good News (or, as we call it, the Gospel) that we want everyone to
know about!
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