This same Spirit...
50 Days of Transformation has begun in the Tennessee Valley...church that is. We have embarked on a journey that will do just as the title suggests - Transform us. And I will testify that the transformation is certainly in progress in the one who writes here. And what a great place to begin! In the pastor's heart!Day 2 of our 50 Days devotional (you'd think we could have at least gotten past the first week! But Nooo...day 2!) reads,
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12-13 (NIV)Simple enough, right? Right! Then came what speakers know as the gotcha; you know, the clincher - it seals the deal. And seal it did as I read,
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" Romans 8:15 (NIV)Did you get it? Maybe you had already grasp the depth of the reality of those verses. But honestly, until I read them together I must admit, I'd missed the full impact of what God was trying to get me to see. First, I am His son. I knew this, right? And if you've professed Christ as Lord & Savior of your life, you are His son or daughter too. But then the full import of this profound truth hit me: The same Spirit...by Him, the selfsame Spirit, The Holy Spirit, is the same Spirit who gives me the right to say and live and breathe, Abba Father.
I knew this! And probably do you as well. However, the power and reality of my standing with and in my Savior, providing me full access to and rights to Abba Father, will never be the same to me again. I am truly, through and in the Spirit, at one with Christ, my elder brother. And in Him I have full access! It is my prayer that you do as well.
