Daily Encouragement: Day 341

Adapted from Handbook to Spiritual Growth

WALKING IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

The Spirit bears witness to and glorifies Jesus Christ—spiritual experiences, whether personal or corporate, should center on Christ and not ourselves. The tendency of some people and movements to glorify the gifts of the Giver more than the Giver of the gifts is incompatible with the biblical portrait of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, many believers attempt to live the Christian life in their own power instead of the power of the Spirit. This level of living is not only difficult but impossible on our own.

The Christian life is really the life of Christ in us; it’s a moment-by-moment reliance on the Holy Spirit. It’s a life not about following a set of biblical propositions and theological inferences, but about devotion to a living Person who cannot be boxed in, controlled, or manipulated by our agendas. To understand this better, it’s important that we think in terms of God’s people in Scripture (and across history) and not only in terms of our own limited experiences.