What an amazing reality to know that the very Spirit of God can permeate everything about us and we live out of his presence and reality. When we read of the "Fruit of the Spirit" in Galatians 5 we don't try to gain those character traits we allow them to come out of us because we have the Spirit of God. As Oswald Chambers said, "The most wonderful secret of living a holy life does not lie in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfect qualities of Jesus exhibit themselves in my human flesh."
How have you witnessed that in your life? What difference does it make when we move from just trying to act like Jesus, to allow him to live through us?
In taking your suggestion to read Ro.7&8 over and over, I was reminded of the struggle I had in seeking personal holiness. I thought that our church presented "sanctification" as a separate "work" and I struggled to receive that gift from the Holy Spirit and it seemed that the more I desired to live like Jesus, the more I failed [7:15] I felt so defeated and discouraged and wondered if I could ever really live a Christ-like life. But it is a battle!-old habits die hard! And there is a process to learn to give control to the Holy Spirit and live in His leading and power. I want new Christians to understand that our victory over our sin nature takes practice and time and we truly can't do it by ourselves. But it does get easier and it IS possible!I love what God told Joshua."Be strong and courageous and obey Me-you will be successful in everything you do!" Christ has won the victory for us!Now I believe that we receive the Holy Spirit and His power when we receive Christ as our Savior. We just have to learn to surrender our lives to His control. It is true that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps wanting to crawl off the altar! May we be faithful in prayer for each other in our pursuit of holiness! Katy
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