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What Do You Need From Him the Most?
Yesterday we showed how the Holy Spirit, who now lives in you, is fully capable of meeting any need you might have. After all, He is fully God in every sense of the word. So it would stand to reason that as God, the Holy Spirit is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and ever-present (omnipresent), among the other attributes of the Almighty. So whatever your need, I think He can handle it. Don’t you?
Remember, He is all you need. So there is never any reason to look elsewhere for self-worth, confidence, purpose, protection, power, deliverance, love, acceptance, or any of the other myriad of needs that keep us up late at night. Because only He can meet our deepest needs, and He meets them in Himself, by simply being who He is.
I know He can meet all my needs, but exactly how does the Spirit do that? And what specific needs does He fulfill? Let’s look at just a few.
Holiness – Do you need to find the key to living a life of holiness or sanctification before the Lord? And do you find yourself falling flat on your face, again and again, every time you try? No surprise. The only One who can live a life of holiness through you is One whose primary attribute is holiness— and that is the Holy Spirit. Not the Merciful Spirit, the Loving Spirit, or the Longsuffering Spirit, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness. As in One who is primarily defined as holy.
When you yield your life to Him in surrender and allow Him to live His life through you (which again is the way to experience the Higher Christian Life), you will find His presence rubbing off on every area of your life. And the result? Holiness.
Power over Sin – Do you feel somewhat powerless to stand against the attack of the evil one and the lust of your own flesh? Again, no surprise there. Welcome to living as a light in the darkness (Matt. 5:14-16). The Christian life is always a battle. But the battle is not fought in the flesh, nor can it ever be won that way (see Truth One). It is a battle waged in the spirit, by the Spirit, equipped with spiritual armor (Eph. 6:11), for fighting spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12). Consider the following.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh – 2 Corinthians 10:3.
Even though we are simply flesh and blood on the outside, on the inside, we are mighty in God because He lives in us. In fact, we no longer belong to ourselves since His presence has made us a “temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Cor. 9:19). So when we rely on His Spirit, we become powerful weapons in the hands of a mighty God that brings fear in the quaking heart of the evil one. Again, consider the following:
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh) but mighty (able, strong, powerful) in God for pulling down (to cast down, demolish) strongholds (fortress), casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ – 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.
Spiritual battles are fought in the spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit now living in you, there is no need ever to fear defeat. So if you need the power to stand against temptation, know you already possess all the power you need. Rest easy. The Holy Spirit lives in you.
You Got a Need, He’s Got the Solution
But there is more.
Christ to Become Real (the Higher Christian Life) – Finally, if you need to have Christ become real to you, to become more than a distant relative or a historical Biblical figure, the Person delegated to make that happen is the Holy Spirit. He was the One given to replace Jesus in our lives (John 14:16). But He doesn’t stand beside us or around us or near us like Jesus did His disciples. Better yet, He lives in us.
Before departing, Jesus promised His disciples He would not “leave you orphans” but would “come to you” (John 14:18). And this promise followed His promise of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said would “dwell with you” and be “in you” (John 14:17). In other words, since Jesus was departing from them and His disciples were obviously sad and worried, Jesus then promised to replace Himself in their lives with the Holy Spirit. He then went on to say it was actually better for them for Him to depart because only then would He send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). That’s quite a big promise.
Remember, the Holy Spirit was tasked with revealing to us all about Jesus and bringing to our memory everything He ever said and did (John 14:26). So the more we know the Spirit, the more we get to know Jesus, whom the Spirit will reveal. And the more we know Jesus, the more we know the Father (John 14:7), whom the Son will reveal. And for us, this chain of blessing all begins with knowing the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Or surrendering our lives to Him so He can live His life through us (Rom. 12:1-2). Surrender to the Holy Spirit is the essence of the Higher Christian Life.
One last thought. The apostle Paul said the One who reveals to us all God has promised to those who love Him, yes, to you and me, is the Spirit of God. It is the One living in each of us who shows us how blessed we are in Him.
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” – 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Then how will we know what God has prepared for us?
But God has revealed them to us (how) through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except (who) the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, (why) that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God – 1 Corinthians 2:10-12.
How can it get any better than this? What do you need that you don’t already have?
In closing, whatever your need or prayer or request, Christ has already pre-positioned the answer to your problem or desire or longing in the Holy Spirit who lives in you. All you will ever need you already have in Him. So what is there to worry about? What need do you have that is so great God is unable to handle? What joy and happiness do you crave that He cannot provide? What? That’s right. Nuthin’.
Again, rejoice for what you have in Him. And rest easy as our world gets darker.
