New Testament                                        

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Ephesians 4:21-23

KNOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT

"Since you have heard all about Him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus,

throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life,

which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.  ​​

Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. 

You must display a new nature because you are a new person,

created in God’s likeness—righteous, holy, and true."  ​

Ephesians 4:21-23​

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Those verses and others in the Bible are enough to cause any man or woman to say, this Christianity is too hard for me.  I can’t do those things, I can’t be that way.  And you know, they are right.  In just our strength, it is impossible to live pleasing to God.  Paul tells us in Corinthians that He will rejoice in His weaknesses, because when He is weak then God has a chance to work.  What is Paul talking about?  The answer is woven throughout the Bible, but many Christians miss this most important Biblical truth. 

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In Ephesians 1:19-20 we are told that when we become Christians we are given the same power that raised Christ from the dead.  When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, many things happen.  Not only are we given eternal life and forgiven of our sins and accepted into the family of God, but we are given the Holy Spirit. 

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The Holy Spirit is God.  In the Bible you can clearly see that God is triune—there are three parts of Him.  Just like an egg has a shell, a yolk, and the white, but is one egg; God has three parts.  He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  In John 14 during His last night on earth, Jesus told his disciples that He was leaving them, but would send the Holy Spirit as a counselor, helper, and teacher. 

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God planned and created the universe.  He created us.  He designed us to be strong, but yet weak. He gave us weaknesses so that we would need Him.  If we had no needs, we would spend our lives missing the reason we were created.  God created us to have fellowship with Him, and He gave us weaknesses so we would need Him.
 
God made us weak in certain things and He allows the devil to tempt and harass us.  But there is an incredible truth in the Bible—when we humble ourselves to Him, He gives us His strength.  The Bible tells us that by the finger of God He can cast out the devil.  It isn’t a big deal for God to win over the devil—and we have that same power in us, but most of us don’t know it.  Without the power of God we cannot conquer sin—with the Holy Spirit working in us every moment of the day we are more than conquerors.  No sin or addiction can win when we let God’s power fight it.  In Luke 18:27 we are told “What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God.”

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We become truly strong because of the power of God working in us.  Each of us must come to the point in our lives that we will let God work.  Through humility and knowledge of God this power will be unleashed in our lives.  Some of us may hate ourselves and think we aren’t good enough for God’s power to work in us.  Not being good enough will not stop God from loving and working in us.  God loves us—no matter what we think of ourselves.  God wants to give us His power—no matter what our past looks like.  There are others who think they are good enough and are apprehensive of the changes God will make in their lives.  Whatever our inner reason, our resistance will keep God from working in us.  Our unbelief in the power of God and in His willingness to help hinders the Holy Spirit from working.

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Because we western types are strong, determined, and unrelenting in pursuing our goals we may fool ourselves into thinking we can do anything.  In all of our lives, there are things within us that we can’t change.  God wants to perfect those things that concern us.  If you want to stop cussing, with God it is possible.  Do you want to be free from anxiety and worry, with God it is possible.  Do you want to love others, with God it is possible.  Do you have an addiction, God can conquer it.  God will even replace our fears with peace and security.  Don’t become discouraged and quit on yourself, look to the God of the impossible—He will make it possible.  Surrender your life to Him.

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HOW DO WE LET GOD DO THE IMPOSSIBLE IN US?

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but LET God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. (Romans 12:2)  You must become a student of the Bible.  You must know what God wants you to do, then you must LET God change you.  We should never be anxious about the changes God wants to make—He wants the absolute best for each of us.

I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources HE WILL GIVE YOU mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.  And I pray that (1) Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him.  (2) May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.  And (3) may you have the POWER to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.  (4) May you experience the Love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  THEN YOU WILL BE FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF LIFE AND POWER THAT COMES FROM GOD.

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  "Now glory be to God!  BY HIS MIGHTY POWER AT WORK WITHIN US,

HE IS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH INFINITELY MORE

THAN WE WOULD EVER DARE TO ASK OR HOPE."

​Ephesians 3:16-20

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The four things that Paul desired for the church of Ephesus, we desire in our lives and in your life.  We pray that you will be comfortable with God, that you will deeply know the love of God, that you will understand how infinite God’s love is, and we want you to experience the love of Christ.

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With all of those in your life then God promises that your life will be full and powerful.  God is able to do more than we can imagine.

Now may the God of peace MAKE you holy in every way,

and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless

until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

God, who calls you, is faithful; HE WILL DO THIS.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

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Everything of eternal value is accomplished by God’s work in you.  Part of the freedom that comes from God is the fact that we need not be anxious or strive.  We can rest or relax in God and let His power work in us.  When we let His power strengthen us to do and to be what He wants; we will be mighty men and women of God.