Life in the Spirit

Steve Langford

Description

This book describes how the Holy Spirit works to transform our hearts and minds, growing us spiritually into the likeness of Christ. It explores the many references to the Spirit in the New Testament
Do you want to know how to know God? This book is for you. Do you want to know how to grow spiritually? This book is for you. Do you want to know how to live with joy and peace? This book is for you. Do you want to experience God’s power in your life? This book is for you. Do you want to know how to move beyond guilt and fear and shame? This book is for you. Do you want to know how to move beyond emotional wounds and old messages and self-destructive patterns? This book is for you. Do you want to know how to love as Jesus loved? This book is for you. Do you want to know your unique abilities and how to use them to make a difference in the world? This book is for you.
This book explores the many references to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament in an effort to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives and in the life of the church. Understanding the Spirit’s work positions us to be aware of, open to, and responsive to that work so that we can experience its transforming results

Sujets

• Spiritual Growth
• Philosophie et théologie
• Spiritual gift
• Pentecost
• Spirituality
• Holy Spirit
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Trafford Publishing
• Date de parution: 04 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781698711881
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Also by Steve Langford:
Why the Bible Is So Hard to Understand … and Tips to Understanding It
A God-Shaped World: Exploring Jesus’s Teachings about the Kingdom of God and the Implications for the Church Today
The Fruit of the Spirit: The Path That Leads to Loving as Jesus Loved
Discovering Your True Self: A Guide for the Journey
God’s Plumb Line: Aligning Our Hearts with the Heart of God
The Wisdom of the Ancients: Mining the Riches of Genesis 1–11
Life in the Spirit
Reflecting on the Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives
Steve Langford

 
© Copyright 2022 Steve Langford. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
The image used on the cover is an original work by Camille Harmon of Georgetown, TX.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation
Scripture quotations marked “NIV” are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®, © 1973, 1978, 1984, by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]
Scripture quotations marked “NRSV” are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [Website]
 
ISBN: 978-1-6987-1190-4 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-6987-1189-8 (hc) ISBN: 978-1-6987-1188-1 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022908343
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
Trafford rev. 05/04/2022
www.trafford.com North America & international toll-free: 844-688-6899 (USA & Canada) fax: [phone]
Contents
Introduction
 
Chapter 1 The Scripture’s Witness to the Work of the Spirit
Chapter 2 Born of the Spirit
Chapter 3 Pentecost: The Outpouring of the Spirit
Chapter 4 Live by the Spirit
Chapter 5 Keep in Step with the Spirit
Chapter 6 Led by the Spirit
Chapter 7 A Spirit of Adoption
Chapter 8 Freedom From . . . To
Chapter 9 The Mind of Christ
Chapter 10 A New Creation
Chapter 11 The Pattern of Spiritual Formation
Chapter 12 Growing Spiritually: How It Works
Chapter 13 How We Sabotage Our Own Spiritual Development
Chapter 14 Stopping Short of the Destination
Chapter 15 Loving as Jesus Loved
Chapter 16 The Fruit of the Spirit Is Joy and Peace
Chapter 17 Power to Do What I Cannot Do in My Own Strength
Chapter 18 Power to Be a Witness
Chapter 19 Filled with the Spirit
Chapter 20 The Spirit’s Role in Prayer
Chapter 21 The Spirit Intercedes
Chapter 22 The Sword of the Spirit
Chapter 23 Christ Lives in Me
Chapter 24 God’s Earnest Money
Chapter 25 The Body of Christ
Chapter 26 The Unity of the Spirit
Chapter 27 Neither Jew nor Greek
Chapter 28 The Gifts of the Spirit
Chapter 29 A Better Way
Chapter 30 The Spirit’s Guidance
Chapter 31 Beware of Pouring Cold Water on the Spirit
Chapter 32 Life in the Spirit: An Overview
 
Appendix A Summary of New Testament Teachings about Spiritual Gifts
Appendix B New Testament Passages Listing Spiritual Gifts
Appendix C Description of the Gifts
Endnotes
Introduction
T hroughout the history of the Christian Church, the Spirit and the work of the Spirit have lived in the shadows of the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, particularly his death and resurrection, has been center stage while the Spirit has been in the wings, in a supportive role. As a result, the average church member knows little of the Spirit’s work, even though the Spirit is the means by which every one of us experiences God and the gift of salvation. 1
A number of factors contribute to this pattern of overlooking the work of the Spirit. A primary reason lies in the nature of the Spirit’s work. The Spirit’s role is to point us to Jesus and draw us to God. Just as Jesus’s work was to reveal the Father to us (John 1:18; 14:9), the Spirit’s work is to be a witness to Jesus as a means of drawing us into a relationship with the Father. 2 The Spirit’s role is an expression of the self-giving love and servant spirit that lie at the heart of the divine character. Living out of the same character as the Father and the Son, the Spirit is self-giving, not self-promoting. Following the Spirit’s lead, we have focused on Jesus and his death and resurrection, paying little attention to the Spirit.
The scriptures also reflect this primary focus on Jesus. Whereas the four gospels relate the life and ministry of Jesus, there is no single book that focuses specifically on the Spirit and the work of the Spirit. In all of the New Testament, only four passages specifically speak of the Spirit and the Spirit’s work in any detail. (See Chapter 1 below.)
Another factor in our neglect of the Spirit is fear. We humans commonly fear what we do not understand and cannot control. We seek to understand, explain, and define reality in our effort to have a sense of control over life, but the Spirit and the work of the Spirit lie outside our understanding and control, in the realm of mystery. Jesus used the wind to speak of the mysterious nature of the Spirit’s work: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). 3 To embrace the Spirit is to surrender our need to understand, explain, and control. It is to embrace mystery.
As in every dimension of spiritual life, our ego is a factor in our neglect of the Spirit. Our ego-based identity is built on a twofold foundation of achievement and self-reliance. Our sense of self is tied to what we have accomplished, particularly in comparison to others. The motto by which we commonly live is expressed in the words of the preschooler who declared, “I can do it myself.” Living in relationship with the Spirit calls for a spirit of glad dependence. As we live in relationship with the Spirit, we learn from the Spirit, we follow the Spirit’s lead, and we look to the Spirit for power to do what we cannot do in our own strength. Such dependency goes against our ego’s pattern of stubborn self-reliance.
The New Testament writers were clear about the Spirit and the Spirit’s role in our salvation and God’s eternal redemptive purpose. 4 In their minds, the work of the Spirit and the work of Jesus were inseparable. They were two parts of the same reality. What Jesus accomplished in his death and resurrection, the Spirit brings into reality in our lives. In Galatians 4:4–7, for example, the Apostle Paul spoke of God sending both the Son and the Spirit. The Son was sent to redeem us “so that we might receive adoption as children” (Galatians 4:5). The Spirit was sent to nurture the spirit of adoption within us, whereby we cry “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:14–17). This spirit of adoption is a child’s unquestioning trust in the Father’s love. Such a spirit frees us from fear so that we live out of our identity as a beloved child of God and as an heir of the fullness of God. We live with freedom (Galatians 5:1, 13)—freedom from fear, from guilt and shame, from having to earn God’s approval, from slavish obedience to the law. The biblical writers understood that the Spirit actively works to make God’s salvation—the transformation of our hearts and minds, conforming us to the image of Jesus—a reality in our lives.
When we as individuals and churches overlook the work of the Spirit, we fail to experience what the Spirit seeks to accomplish in us and through us as the followers of Jesus. We live with little or no awareness of the Spirit’s movement in our lives. We fail to recognize, much less respond to, what the Spirit is seeking to do in us. In short, we limit what the Spirit can do in us. We limit our spiritual growth and development. In addition, we limit what the Spirit can do through us. We limit how the Spirit can use us in ministry and witness to others in bringing the kingdom into reality on earth.
This book explores the role and work of the Spirit both in our individual lives (Chapters 2–24, 31) and in the life of the church (Chapters 25–30). These meditations draw on the New Testament writers’ teachings about and references to the Spirit. While these teachings and references do not explain the mystery of the Spirit’s work, they do give us glimpses of how the Spirit works. These glimpses position us to be more aware of the Spirit and more responsive to what the Spirit is doing. 5
I offer these reflections with the prayer that understanding the role and work of the Spirit will help the reader be more open and responsive to the Spirit’s work of
• drawing us to God,
• teaching us the ways of God that Jesus taught,
• transforming our hearts and minds into the likeness of Christ,
• nurturing within us an unfettered freedom in our relationship with God,
• teaching us to live out of a spirit of joy a