Discipling a New Jesus-follower - Part 3
S., may I give you more insight into what belonging to God is like? I wish I could meet and talk personally with you more. But I can’t, not much anyway. Emailing’s the best I can do.
Becoming Alive in the Spirit:
As I mentioned in a previous email, when you turn to God and open your heart to Jesus, something profound happens – a quiet miracle, just like the conception of a baby. You become alive spiritually, like you are alive physically, alive in a way you weren’t before.
The Bible says this in different ways. You’re “born again” (
John 3.3). You’re a “new creation.” (
2 Cor. 5.17). You’re “born of the Spirit” (
John 3.5-6), just like you were “born of water” (that is, physically). A seed’s been planted in you, S., God’s seed, and it’s now alive and growing (
1 Peter 1.23).
This means a new S.’s here, someone we’ve not seen before. Same body, same hair colour, same height… but a new S., deep within. You’ll start sensing this life, btw, like a newborn baby starts to realize she’s alive (by exploring her toes and fingers, lol!).
Maybe I should capitalize “Life”? It's God’s life, his light in you (
John 1.4)! It’s life like you’ve never known before. God says this life doesn’t extinguish at death – you now have eternal life (
1 John 5.11-13) – forever and ever Life! (
John 3.16)
Can I suggest something, S.? Start thanking God for this even if you don’t understand it. Our life should be one continual “Wow! Thanks!” to God…
It’s the best gift ever, this Life. And it’s a gift! (
John 6.39-40) When you turned to God and welcomed Jesus into your life, God gave you this. That’s love, S.!
The Gift of the Spirit:
Here’s another gift: God gives you his Spirit (
Acts 5.32) when you put your trust in Jesus and begin to obey him. He comes to live in you, his Spirit does (
2 Cor. 1.22). It’s a mystery, S. – how can God live in me, when I’m used to having “me” live in me?!!! God says he can and does!
Here’s an analogy – a poor one perhaps? Imagine you meet Mozart or Beethoven, Bach or Brahms, one of the famous composers. And imagine you've longed to compose music with their creativity, to play the piano with their skill. But you couldn’t. He’s Mozart. You’re not.
Then imagine, S.: somehow Mozart came to live within you, or Beethoven, or Brahms (hmmm… it would get crowded inside, wouldn’t it, lol!). And Mozart somehow, from deep within, began to inspire your mind with musical artistry, began to play with his skill through your fingers. People would hear you talk, hear you play, and marvel, “What’s this?!!! This is S. talking but somehow, it’s Mozart talking! This is S. playing, but somehow, it’s Mozart! What’s going on?!!!”
Of course, Mozart can’t do that. But God can, S. – he’s free to do what he wants (
Ps. 115.3). That’s what he did when you become a Christian. He quietly moved in, made himself at home in your life (
Rev. 3.20). Now he’ll begin to live through you, like God’s river pouring out of your life (
John 7.37-39). People will notice. You will too!
Jesus promised his followers, as he prepared to die: “I won’t leave on your own. I’ll send my Spirit to you.” (
John 14.16-18). He’s done that for you, S..
For many years I didn’t know this – didn’t understand it at all. When I was your age, and was opening my heart to Jesus, I didn’t realize what happened to me. So I spent years of my life trying to live for God (and often failing), not knowing I had God’s Spirit in me, to help me, to be my coach and cheerleader and helper. I was like an autistic child: locked up inside myself, bumping into walls, hurting myself, and not knowing what to do. I don’t want that for you!
Even if you don’t understand much (and I didn’t when I was your age), I still encourage you to welcome the Spirit of Jesus into your life. Ask God to become sensitive to his Spirit. And ask the Spirit for help as you go into your day’s activities (
Psalm 143.10). He’ll do that, S..
How does God’s Spirit connect with you to help you?
Here’s some ways:
• he becomes your Best Friend. Jesus calls him a counsellor – that’s something like a best friend/lawyer combination, caring for you and giving guidance (
John 14.26). A great part of this friendship: he never leaves (
John 14.16)! Your friends go home at night, or move to different schools or cities. Not the Spirit. He stays with you!
• God’s Spirit keeps assuring you that you’re now God’s child – “You belong to God! He’s your Dad! You’re in his family! He loves you dearly” – that’s what he will be saying to you, deep within (
Romans 8.16-17). It helps you settle down, relax and enjoy God (
1 John 3.1-2).
• God’s Spirit prays for you (
Romans 8.26-27). I pray for you regularly, S. – that’s my delight and duty. I ask God to make you strong, to protect you, to make you like Jesus. But much better, God’s Spirit prays for you. He’s so smart! He knows everything about you, so can pray the prayers that you need. And he cares for you much, much more than I do, so his prayers are full of love and concern.
• God’s Spirit speaks the truth to you (
John 16.13). He’s like a spiritual Doctor – he gives the truth about your condition within, what’s dark, or bad or sick (sadly, we all have this). When you accept his truth (like telling a doctor, “Ok, I agree. I’m sick! Help!”), then he begins to heal you (
1 John 1.9). And he forgives – he takes away sin and guilt, and cleans our life up to make it healthy inside. I love this about God’s Spirit, S.. Every day I ask God to forgive me, show me dark, damaging things in my life, so the Spirit can clean me up and heal me.
• God’s Spirit fights for you (
Gal. 5.16-18). He’s your Champion! (
1 John 4.4) There are dark forces, spiritual forces wanting to damage us or dominate us – even destroy us! He protects you from them. (Here’s a story, in Jesus’ day, of the awful damage that can happen to a person from these forces –
Mark 5.1-20). Our culture’s full of powerful forces that ruin lives – there’s lots of dark lies in our culture, S.. You’d see this in the youth culture you’re in: the addictions, the savage ways students treat others, prejudice against immigrants, music laced with hatred of women, the way a boy can use a girl sexually then throw her away, despair that leads to suicide, anger and rage that dominates students (and families), Goth girls who hate life and fixate on blackness and death, girls who cut themselves because of inner pain. It’s frightening, dark forces seeking to damage students’ lives! It gives me heartache to see this! God’s Spirit lives in you, S. and fights dark influences like this, and helps you become strong to fight for others (
Eph. 6.10-13). It’s a battle – you’ll discover that as you become grow up spiritually (
1 Peter 2.11-12).
• God’s Spirit delights to guide you, like a wise older brother would. He gives wisdom and “nudges” to help you make good decisions (
Gal. 5.18). How important this is!: we must learn to listen to him, cooperate with him. He doesn’t take over our lives and make us robots. No, he coaches us to grow into spiritual adults (
Heb. 5.11-14), to be free (
Gal. 5.1), and use our freedom to love God and people (
Gal. 5.13)
• God’s Spirit helps form your character (
Gal. 5.22-23). Remember D. saying at Mother’s Day a year ago, how God took her anger away, and made her calm and controlled and content? He’ll help you form your character, if you’ll partner with him.
This is God’s gift to you, S. (to me too!). He quietly moves into our lives when we trust in Jesus. For many years I simply didn’t understand this – I’m so sorry I didn’t! (But sadly, no one taught me!) Now I welcome God’s Spirit, I’m thankful for his friendship, and try to listen to him and obey him. I have great, great friends, but I have no greater friend than God’s Spirit. I’m so spoiled by God, as D. would also say!
Some practical suggestions, S.:
• learn to love God’s Spirit back. Try not to hurt him. The Bible says, “Don’t grieve the Spirit.” (
Eph. 4.30) Grief’s an emotion of deep love, S.. We wouldn’t grieve if our enemies were hurt, or died. God’s Spirit deeply loves you! You’re precious to him! He’s jealous for your love! (
James 4.5) You can hurt him by ignoring his guidance, by shutting him out of areas of your life (I’ve done that lots, S. – I’m so sorry!), by not listening to him.
• learn to cooperate with God’s Spirit. The Bible warns us not to resist the Spirit (
Acts 7.51). Listen for his voice – usually it’s a whisper. Ask God to talk to you as you read the Bible. Ask him to guide you through the day. Tell him you want to obey him. He doesn’t yell, S. – not often, it seems. Mostly he whispers. But you can train yourself to listen.
Here’s an analogy: if you played the piccolo, you could train your ear to listen for the piccolo in an orchestra, while everyone else misses it. So too with the Spirit’s quiet voice… - tell God you want to train your heart to listen for him.
• learn to take God’s Spirit with you into your day. In the Bible, it’s called “walking in the Spirit” (
Gal. 5.16); he’ll show you what’s best for you, and where he’s comfortable, where he’s not. Be prepared though! He hates lies! Remember, he’s called the Spirit of Truth (
John 14.17) . So he’ll react to people and situations that are lying to you. This affects what you do, what you listen to, what you read, what you watch in movies… - it certainly does for me!
• invite him to strengthen your character, to make you like Jesus. The Bible says he’ll make these grow in our life: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, self-control (like
Galatians 5.22-23 says). Character change happens slowly, S. – but he’ll do this, I promise (he has in my life! Daisy’s too…)
• tell him you want to be confident and loving and wise, like Jesus is. The Bible says he’s the Spirit of love and confidence and clear thinking (
2 Tim. 1.7).
• and ask him to help you interact with your family and friends, so that they too can have a new life (
John 15.26-27). He’ll show you how to become like Tracy, who helped you come to God. You’ll do this too, S.! You’ll help others come alive in the Spirit, turn to God and open their hearts to Jesus.
A long, long email, S.!!! I’m sorry! I’m wish I could talk to you face-to-face. This is not as good, is it! Perhaps sometime we can sit down and go through these ideas together.
When I was your age, no one talked to me like this. How I wish someone did! I was mostly on my own, learning to sink-or-swim with God. Sadly, I did lots of water-gulping, lots of sinking and near-drowning, because I didn’t know how to connect with God or have his life work out into my life. I want to save you from that!
Hope this helps, my friend (I could say, my new sister!). Any questions, I’ll be glad to answer, if I can!
Paul