Building A Spiritual Life

Building God’s House

“Building a Spiritual Life”

{Audio File: https://mega.nz/#!Pc0BAaCK!44_G8C_noIHjYwijz1LiPY4QerOmBOSCl8gZSj5arWk}

When we come to church and hear a message that applies to our lives, we generally get all excited; ready to put into practice the principles we’ve learned from God’s word. The only problem is that by the time we get home and turn on the TV, or computer, the desire and fire are gone, and we find ourselves frustrated and disappointed once again in our Christian walk.

The reason may be because I haven’t done my job. You see, I may have given you all the right information, all the biblical steps and principles, but I may have missed the mark by not getting you connected to the fullness of what it means to build up the house of God within us as a spiritual house.

Without the fullness of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, all of these steps and principles won’t work. What’s happening is that we are trying to put into practice spiritual principles through natural understanding.

As we proceed in our series on discipleship, that is, building up the house of God within us, it seems only logical to build up our spiritual lives, given that within us lays the temple of the Holy Spirit.

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV)

And so today I would like to look at our need to build up our spiritual lives.

The question is how do we go about this process? The answer is we don’t, but God does, as the Lord said through the prophet Zachariah, “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit.” (Zachariah 4:6)

And so the power doesn’t lie within us; rather it lies in God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Consider these biblical passages.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NKJV)

This means that the Holy Spirit residing within us is greater and mightier than Satan and his demonic hoard, along with anything and everything that can be thrown at us.

In Ephesians 3:16 the Apostle Paul says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Paul is saying that within every believer there is tremendous power.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV)

The power that works within us is the power of the Holy Spirit, which enables us to walk on this journey of faith and live in victory.

“I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:16-17 NKJV)

To walk in the Spirit means to continue living life completely dependent upon the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, and when we do our sinful nature, along with the world’s enticements, and Satan’s temptations, will stop dominating us.

Maybe we can say it this way, that the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives allows us to live effective lives for God.

What sort of power am I referring to?

Power to Be An Effective Witness

Why is this important? It’s because of the Great Commission given by Jesus.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a NKJV)

Holy Spirit power allows us to effectively share our faith with others so they can find this life-changing faith for their lives.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Fifty days after those words were spoken, the Holy Spirit came in power, filling the room the disciples had gathered in, lighting a fire over, and, figuratively speaking, under them. Afterwards they immediately hit the streets proclaiming the wonderful works of God (Acts 2).

Power to Help Enter God’s Presence

The Holy Spirit empowers our prayer life allowing us to enter into the presence of God in ways we never imagined.

In Romans 8:26 the Apostle Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”