Now Is the Time to Be Adopted
If God’s Spirit has taken residence in your heart, then you can be thankful that you are not an orphan. Jesus said in John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless [orphans], I will come to you.” This promise, made by Jesus to His apostles, would be forgotten — until the Holy Spirit descended upon them with power. At first, after Christ’s death, they felt a painful loneliness, making them feel like orphans; however, Jesus did not intend that they should remain as orphans. He said that He would come to them through the Holy Spirit.
How is it with us? Have we spent time to receive Christ in our hearts, or are we still orphans today? Christ desires our relationship with Him to be a permanent one; He knocks on the door of our heart each day, but we still must allow His Spirit permission to come into our daily lives. Too many of us pray so little. When the Spirit prompts us to pray, let us not stifle the inner urge. Stifling that inner urge quenches the Spirit. Neglecting prayer will eventually lead to spiritual suicide. He who does not pray is at the greatest risk of committing the “unpardonable sin” — attributing the working of God’s Holy Spirit to that of the spirit of Satan. Eventually, Jesus said these people will kill you while thinking they are “serving God” (John 16:2 ISV). Without the Holy Spirit, man can become so self-deceived!
The Bible offers no substitute for the “fellowship of the Spirit” (Philippians 2:1 ISV); after all, “the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9 NCV). As Dewitt Osgood said on page 29 of his book, The Promise of Power, “Fellowship involves more than a ‘touch-n-go’ relationship. There should never be a time day or night when we act or think without an awareness of the Spirit’s presence. And when we heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, this awareness awakens new and holy motivations.” God desires to work through us, but such can only become our reality through His Spirit. Ultimately, complying with the promptings of the Spirit will lead us to receive “the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Meanwhile, Luke 10:19 says, “ I give unto you power…over all the power of the enemy.” And when we receive authority and power in Christ, we have ALL power to use for His honor and glory.
Only the Spirit can make God’s word clear to us. Proverbs 1:23 states, “I will pour out my Spirit upon you, I will make known my words to you” (ISV). Only the Spirit can rightly interpret the meaning of God’s word for our individual lives.
Call to Action
Therefore, let us be adopted each day into Christ through the Holy Spirit in prayer, thereby avoiding self-deception and rather employing His power and authority to honor and glorify God.
Unless noted otherwise, scripture taken from the King James Version
Scripture noted NCV is taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
