How do I live in God’s Power?

Ok, so I know that Jesus loves me and wants to help me change. But how does he do it? How can I start to really feel God’s power in my life? 

Jesus not only wants to help you live the life you were meant to live, but can empower you to make this a reality! How does he do it? Through the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Who is the Holy Spirit?
When Jesus told followers like you about the Holy Spirit, he said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is also called “the Helper” (John 14:26). He guides you to understand the deep interior of God’s purposes (1 Corinthians 2:6-10, MSG). In other words, He is a person who guides you as you live the way Jesus wants you to live.

What does the Holy Spirit want to do in my life?
A whole lot! Let’s start with an analogy: the Holy Spirit is like a gardener who wants to grow beautiful fruit in your life. Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” If your heart were a garden the Holy Spirit was working on, his role would not be to make you do all the work. Instead, he would guide you as he grows fruit in your life. When others look at this garden, (or, practically speaking, at your life) he wants them to see that you are a Jesus-follower who loves well, demonstrates peace, patience, and kindness, and is known for being faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. 

How do I experience the Holy Spirit?  
But how can you start experiencing the Holy Spirit’s work in your life? And what about the times where you sin and do the opposite of what he wants you to do? As we said in our previous blog on first steps for new believers, sin is when you do something Jesus doesn’t want you to do or don’t do something he wants you to do. When this happens, you can pray in a way that we like to illustrate as exhaling and inhaling:

Exhale: Tell Jesus that you messed up but thank him for the fact that he forgives you and loves you unconditionally.

Inhale: Surrender and admit that you’re powerless to change on your own. Trust that the Holy Spirit can and will do this change in you. He will use his power to turn your life into something greater than you could imagine (Ephesians 3:201-21). 

Is living in God’s power really that simple?
Sometimes as believers, it’s hard to accept that we can’t change on our own. We want to flex our spiritual muscles and somehow prove to God that we got this whole faith thing. But what he really wants us to do is to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. By praying to and relying on the Holy Spirit, we begin to change. We start seeing situations the way Jesus sees them (see 1 Corinthians 2: 6-16). 

We want to challenge you to start experiencing this type of faith for yourself. Confess your sin to Jesus, thank him for his forgiveness and love, and trust the Holy Spirit you walk together on this faith adventure. As you do this, you may start to see your relationship with Jesus deepen, which is what our next blog is all about!