Scripture teaches that God hears and answers when we make requests according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). Although our Father is always faithful to guide us in specific situations, He also wants us to know His big goals for us, which are described throughout His Word. Today’s passage from Hebrews 13 is one such example.
With regard to both character and deeds, God’s purpose for believers can be summed up in these two requests from Hebrews 13:21:
• His goal is to “equip [us] in every good thing to do His will.” He wants us to depend fully on Him to accomplish the good works He planned beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). These include righteous living in obedience to His Word as well as fruitful service in His name and to His people.
• God is “working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.” As the Father shapes us into the image of His Son, He is transforming our character so we’ll have a heart bent toward pleasing Him. Otherwise, all our good works are useless.
When you ask God to accomplish these two things in your life, you can be sure He will.
Jesus promised us His joy, but at times it can evade us. There are some important things to understand about this spiritual fruit. As we saw yesterday, the Holy Spirit is its source. And being supernatural in nature, divine joy exists independently of our circumstances. Happiness, on the other hand, comes from external causes, is an earthly in character, and increases or decreases as events change.
Holy Spirit-developed joy comes when we:
• Focus on our relationship with the Lord. Because of Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we are forever His. Nothing can separate us from our Savior.
• Observe His transforming work in others. Notice what God is doing around you: rescuing people from bondage to sin and transforming them into His likeness.
• Serve those He sends to us. Our obedient, loving care for others brings spiritual joy.
• Meditate on God’s living Word. Through Scripture, we receive an outpouring of His love and precious truths on which to build our lives.
Take a few minutes to contemplate the wonder of your new birth, share someone’s spiritual joy, obediently serve another person, or receive guidance from God’s Word. Then check your emotional barometer. Are you singing hallelujah yet?
We all fail. Many of us don’t always live as Scripture teaches—and we miss out on the joy and peace that Jesus promised. The reason? We don’t recognize the need to live in the Spirit, so we try to live each day in our own strength. On Pentecost, God’s Spirit came to indwell believers. He is a gift, blessing us in many ways. Let’s consider some of the work He does. The Holy Spirit ...
• Convicts us of sin so that we can repent (John 16:8).
• Regenerates us. As believers, we’re new beings, alive in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
• Seals us forever as a child of the Almighty (Ephesians 1:13).
• Teaches, guides, and empowers us for the rest of our life (John 14:26).
• Gifts and enables us to do the work God has planned for us (Ephesians 2:10; for a list of spiritual gifts, see also 1 Cor. 12:1-31).
• Bears fruit through us (Galatians 5:22-23).
As we are obedient to what God calls us to do, we get to watch Him work in mighty ways. All these benefits are available to everyone who follows Jesus, but we can miss out by attempting to live in our own meager strength.
Remember, the Christian life is this: Christ living His life in and through us by the power of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit.
Do you remember the book The Little Engine That Could? A small engine keeps repeating the words “I think I can. I think I can.” By using sheer willpower, she pulls an entire train over the mountain. That’s a nice children’s story, but the truth of the Christian life is very different. In the real world, our efforts and determination often fall short. Only by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit can we live a godly life.
In the Old Testament, God’s Spirit would temporarily come upon saints for a particular work. However, after Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the Spirit to dwell within each believer (Luke 24:49). Consider what this means: If you’re a Christian, God is living inside you, available to help throughout life by providing guidance, comfort, and empowerment.
Obedience to Christ is impossible for anyone relying on his or her own strength. For some reason, though, Christians often try to live life by depending on themselves. Defeat and failure are unavoidable without divine power in our life.
Do you recognize your need for God? Begin each day confessing your dependence on Him. Ask to be filled with His Spirit so that all you think, do, and say will be an overflow from Him. Then trust Him to work in mighty ways through you.
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid for all our sins, but believers are still susceptible to temptation and disobedience. Therefore, we must understand what to do when we yield to our sinful desires. Knowing our struggle, God has graciously given us a way to receive cleansing so we can continue to grow in holiness. We’re to …
• See sin as God sees it. Our Father is absolutely pure, and to Him, every sin is an offense that violates His law, grieves the Holy Spirit, and belittles Christ’s sacrifice.
• Take responsibility for it. Trying to soften sin’s heinous nature by calling it a mistake, weakness, or shortcoming is unacceptable. We must acknowledge our guilt and disobedience rather than make excuses or blame others.
• Confess it. Agreeing with God about our wrongdoing is a blessed privilege because He then washes us clean of the guilt. And what’s more, He empowers us to turn away from that sin in repentance so we can begin walking afresh in holiness.
Although John explained how we are to deal with sin, his main purpose was to encourage us to turn from it and walk in obedience to God. The longer we are Christians, the less sin should characterize our life.
