Yesterday, I shared this verse about the message our lives are communicating…

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (ESV)

What you can not miss is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”

It doesn’t take long to realize that there are a lot of unhappy and unhealthy Christians in the world who are trying their hardest to follow all of the instructions of Jesus on their own power. The Bible has become a legal document that must be followed to the last letter and as we all have discovered, it is impossible. Disappointment paves the way for discouragement. Discouragement opens the door for guilt. Guilt moves us to become bitter, angry, and often times give up. Was this what Jesus promised to His disciples if they followed him? A self defeating path of never ending discouragement? Absolutely not! You were never meant to become a new creation by the power of your own will. When you become a child of God, you were empowered by God.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:15–17 (ESV)

The Holy Spirit lives within every disciple of Jesus teaching us, interceding for us, empowering us, and recreating us. We often are tempted to take the role of the Holy Spirit but it is only He that can truly make us new.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 (ESV)

Did you catch that? In those few verses we see that we are definitely to follow the instructions of Jesus, but that our success lies in the empowering of the Holy Spirit. He not only prays for us, but intercedes for us, teaches us, and works according to the will of God in our lives. Our weakness is universal but through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can be strengthened. What do you need to trust the Holy Spirit to do in your life that only He can do? As the Holy Spirit works in your life, are you becoming more in tune with what He is doing?

Truth: The Holy Spirit is my teacher and my source of strength.

Question: What is God trying to do within me to help me become more like Jesus?