GROWING AS A DISCIPLE

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"When the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, 'Abba, Father.' Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir" (Gal. 4:4-7).

"We know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love" (Rom. 5:5).

"No one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).

When I read the Galatians passage, it put me in mind of the two other verses quoted. Why? Because I was thinking about the evidence for the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, in terms of our intimacy with God and our experiencing his presence. God sent his Son to buy freedom for us so that he could adopt us as his very own children and bring us into a relationship that is the best and closest possible: the perfect Father with his favourite child. (Each of us is his favourite.) His objective was not simply to set us free from Satan's prison and the curse of the law in order to fit us for heaven, but to actually adopt us as "his very own children". What a wonderful truth!

On top of that, He "sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, 'Abba, Father.'" Our desire to know God as Father and our yearning for his presence is the work of Holy Spirit referred to here as the Spirit of his Son, Jesus. In context somehow, for me, that makes it all the more awesome. We are enabled to relate to God in the same way that Jesus related to his Father. We have become Jesus' siblings. And our desire for intimacy with the Father is evidence of the Spirit's presence. This surely means that whether we constantly feel him or not the Spirit lives within us and will never leave us or forsake us.

It is the Holy Spirit who fills our hearts with God's love which brings such comfort to our souls and enables us to love God so very much and to love all others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what their colour, denomination or theological persuasion.

And no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. This is surely a declaration of loving devotion, profound trust and appreciation, heartfelt worship in spirit and truth, awestruck wonder and joyful delight; not one of academic consent. To say Jesus is Lord is to recognize that he is God and to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

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