God's Spirit: The Good Gift

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:12-14, NIV).

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God.” What Christians have from God is not common to every human being -- not ordinary!

If you are one of His children, do you really realize the value of what your Heavenly Father has given to you?

God speaks in Ezekiel 36:27, “And I will put my Spirit in you…”

We also read the words of Jesus Christ in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

And the Apostle Peter said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off -- for all whom the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38-39).

According to God’s Word, God gave His Spirit – “I will put MY Spirit in you…” He is giving Himself to us!

While God gave His begotten Son to die for our sins, He gave His Spirit to remain with us forever – “to be with you FOREVER.”

And while Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, the Holy Spirit is the Good Gift – “the gift of the Holy Spirit” – or, as Jesus said in Luke 11:13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

As the Giver is Good – “No one is good -- except God alone” (Mark 10:18) – just how much is the goodness of “the Gift”? How much do we value it?

We read 1 Corinthians 2:12, God gave the Spirit “that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

Others “cannot accept him” – and without the Spirit in them they cannot also understand and even accept “the things that come from the Spirit of God.”

We also read in Romans 8:5-7, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

Now, what are some of those things – the other gifts -- that God has freely given us and, if we don’t have the Spirit of God, we would not understand, we would not desire, and we would not accept?

1. ETERNAL LIFE

Jesus Christ said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

We also read His prayer in John 17:2-3, “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

2. FAITH

We read in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this not from yourselves, it (the faith) is the gift of God.”

And Philippians 1:29 states, “For IT HAS BEEN GRANTED TO YOU on behalf of Christ not only TO BELIEVE ON HIM, but also to suffer for him.”

3. REPENTANCE

Paul wrote Timothy, “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that GOD WILL GRANT THEM REPENTANCE leading them to a knowledge of the truth…” (2 Tim. 2:24-25.)

We read in Acts 5:31, “God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.”