Powered By Jesus

[Jesus said,] “When the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

John 14:26

Jesus said that it is through the Holy Spirit that the life of Christ is operative in you. He is Christ’s life transfused into you and flowing through you, and he makes the thoughts of God known to you.

Jesus lived his earthly life in the Spirit’s power. He was full of the Holy Spirit after his baptism and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil (see Luke 4:1-2). After his time of testing, he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (see Luke 4:14). He opened his ministry by declaring, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me” (Luke 4:18). He offered himself to God as our sacrifice through the power of the eternal Spirit (see Hebrews 9:14).

The same Spirit in whose power Jesus lived on earth is the Spirit he has poured out in us. When the Spirit of Christ, the life of Christ, begins to flow through us as a vine’s life flows through a branch, a progressive transformation is in process. We begin to recognize and cooperate with the indwelling Christ in the form of his Holy Spirit, and we learn that we can draw on him for every need. He will reveal to us the mind of Christ in every situation and will also reveal it in us and through us. The Spirit changes us from the inside out and empowers us to live out the call of God.

Jesus, let your Spirit flow into every corner of my personality, transforming me until you are exactly reflected in my life.

When God redeemed you through the precious blood of His dear Son, He placed . . . a powerful engine under the hood—nothing less than the resurrection life of God the Son, made over to you in the person of God the Holy Spirit.

Major W. Ian Thomas(1914–2007), English writer and theology teacher