What drives you?

¹⁷ Now The Lord is The Spirit; and where the Spirit of The Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the Glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of The Lord (2 Corinthians 3).

God is Spirit. He manifested Himself in human physical form, when He came as The Lord Jesus, fully Man and fully God; born of The Holy Spirit. His Life exemplified the life we were created to live as children of God. When He created us, He made us in His Image and Likeness—physical yet spiritual beings. We are made for God and not the other way round. He created us for Himself—for His Glory and Purpose. God exists independent of our existence; we depend on God for every breath we draw. God is our Heavenly Father and we belong to Him, as we abide in His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ defined the life of One who is one with The Father, by a loving, submissive relationship. We must learn to relate to God, not just physically, but spiritually. This is how we are able to know Him, have an unbroken fellowship, and live according to His Will for us. 

“The Wisdom of God is revealed to those who yield to The Holy Spirit.” 

11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except The Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of The Spirit of God, for they are foolish to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of The Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2).

No one knows the things of God, except The Spirit of God. Just as no one knows the thoughts, emotions and desires of anyone, except their spirit. Those who have given their life in submission and surrender to The Lord Jesus Christ, have the life of The Spirit of Christ, The Spirit of God, in mankind. They have not been given the spirit of this world. By God’s Spirit in them, they are privy to the God’s Ways and spiritual matters, which can not be humanly deciphered. Those who have been born-again of The Spirit are taught by the Spirit, not by human wisdom; but through spiritual revelation and understanding. Godly men, women and children are enlightened into spiritual knowledge by having the mind of Christ. The natural man can not grasp spiritual things, because they are not of this realm. The Wisdom of God is revealed to those who yield to The Holy Spirit. 

No one can rightly judge those who live by The Spirit on spiritual matters. Unbelievers are not qualified to judge those who walk after The Spirit. Their Judge sits High above the Heavens. He instructs, corrects, rebukes, condemns, and upholds them by His Spirit in them—He is their Law and Judge. There’s treasure trove of wisdom, knowledge and understanding given to those who are privileged to receive from God because they have the mind of Christ.

Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of The God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel: 2  “The Spirit of The Lord spoke to me, and His Word was on my tongue. 3  The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God’.(2 Samuel 23)”

When The Spirit of The Lord speaks to you, you won’t be able to keep mum. His Word will fill your mouth. David, the chosen king of Israel, filled with The Spirit spoke what The Spirit revealed to him, before his death. As a king, he had learned many things, but this time he submitted only to what The Spirit spoke. Those who rule must rule with God’s Wisdom, fear God and do what is just. Those with influence and authority in any society will only be effective when they listen to God and do what is just. David had spent much of his life seeking and worshipping God. He curved out time from his duties to pray, sing and play skillfully to God. He communed with God and died filled with God’s Spirit. All his life he gained what he could only take with him—God’s Word. David left his successor, his son Solomon, with only what was most valuable—God’s Wisdom.

“True worship is an appreciation of Who God truly is.”

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship The Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for Salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship The Father in spirit and truth; for The Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4)

It is not where you worship that gives credence to your beliefs, but it Who you worship. Some don’t know why or who they worship. Others consider places to be sacred because of the rituals or religious practices done there. God is not confined to any space or religious practices. Understanding Who God is will define our worship. For the Jews, God is worshipped in Jerusalem, for others like the Samaritan woman, He was worshipped at a mountain. The Father is no respecter of persons. Salvation was of the Jews because The Messiah heralded from Israel; but The Savior came for the Jew, Samaritan and anyone who desires a relationship with Him. True worship is an appreciation of Who God truly is. Worship is not about the people or place. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must access Him in their spirit, not by physical means. Those who worship God in spirit will do so in truth; acknowledge their weakness, sin, and need for Him. No outward, stellar performance of worship earns us brownie points. God is sought in spirit and humility. Those who come before His Holy Presence must seek Him in reverence, adoration and a true desire to worship Him. The truth is, they have a longing to worship, without anyone else’s influence.

“We are holy, because the Holy One dwells in us.”

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Corinthians 3).

You are not just a living being; but you are a habitation of God’s Spirit. You are the temple of the Spirit of God, Who resides in you. We can now worship God anywhere and at any time. We are the place The Lord Jesus was referring to: Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship The Father.  As a temple is sacred, our bodies are sacred places for God. He will destroy those who willingly and knowingly continue to defile themselves with sin. We are holy, because the Holy One dwells in us, by His Spirit. Those who are sanctified by Him honor Him with their lives.

I, therefore, the prisoner of The Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Ephesians 4).

We gather with other believers in church or other places of worship, because together we make up the Body of Christ. We are still individuals who are temples of The Holy Spirit, but in unity with others, we become one people, God’s children, The Body of Christ. We do so in our homes, church and friendships with fellow believers. In one body, one Spirit, faith and Father, we learn to bear with each other, love as God intended, and live in peace, with one hope and calling of our Salvation. It doesn’t matter our careers, income, nationality, race or gender; God lives through us all. So we humble ourselves as one body of believers, chosen, saved, and justified by His Grace.

“Loving God and loving others is godly perfection.”

3 Blessed be The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His Will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His Grace, by which He made us accepted in The Beloved (Ephesians 1).

It is no coincidence that we gave our life to The Lord Jesus and now abide in Him. We were chosen in The Beloved, before we were even formed in our mother’s womb. God was pleased to adopt us as His children according to the good pleasure of His Will. He was elated to make us His Own. He was so pleased that it was the intended plan. We are truly blessed in God our Father. So blessed that we have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. What an inheritance for our souls to live off! Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is not small fry. To be spiritually-endowed is to utilize every spiritual blessing accorded in the heavenly places. It’s inconsequential what your earnings are, how much is saved in your bank account, or what you lack in material needs. Every spiritual blessing in Christ will keep you in good stead in every circumstance; you are kept in the Kingdom’s resources.

We are chosen and predestined to be holy and blameless before Him. How can we achieve such a high standard? By love. Loving God and loving others is godly perfection. Every spiritual blessing enables us to live up to God’s Standards. Christ The Lord is The Fountain of spiritual blessings. We have His Righteousness, Salvation, The Holy Spirit, His Presence, Strength, Grace, Truth, Peace and Mighty Power. If we aim to love, we will not lack in all that we need to do so. If we love God, we will love others, and love is never wanting.

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in The Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3).

Those who worship God in The Spirit allow The Spirit to fuel their worship. Their worship is not determined by a sermon, instruments of worship or the melodious singing of others. They rejoice in The Lord and not in the arrangements. They put no confidence in their own performance, or all that they have done for God. Put aside confidence in yourself or others, and let The Spirit move you to rejoice in The Lord. If you can rejoice in all that The Lord has done for you, you are capable of worshipping in The Spirit. 

“Every spiritual blessing enables us to live up to God’s Standards.”

17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6).

Obedience is the ticket to our freedom. In order to be set free from sin, we must commit to submit to God. Subservient to One, we become as slaves to God to attain His Righteousness by obedience. We have been unshackled from the clutches of the sins that were destroying our souls, to live forever in Christ our Lord. The Lord Jesus is the Only One Who kept God’s Law and obeyed God even to His death. The work of obedience is not passive, but intentional acts of doing what is pleasing to God. Righteousness yields holiness, which in turn rewards us with Eternal Life. We now present ourselves daily as servants or slaves, if you will, to righteousness by obedience, repentance, and set free from sin. The Lord Jesus is the Authority and Power in us to do God’s Will. He works in us to will and do what is well-pleasing to The Father. 

“Those who live by The Spirit are free from the law.” 

4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the Body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of The Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7).

The law exposes our sinful propensity, as those who fail to meet God’s Standards. When Christ died, we were set free as subjects to the law; He crucified the flesh, and the requirements of the law that governs it. Those who live to fulfill the lusts of the flesh are under the law. Those who live by The Spirit are free from the law. We are now dead to our sins and the requirements of the law, when we become one with Christ in His death. He rose again to give us new life in His Spirit, so that we can live by Him. We are now under the Authority of The Spirit and not of the law. Those who live by The Spirit of Christ are complete in Him. We have been betrothed to Christ, just as in marriage; one body, in a covenant that will never be broken by any law. We now bear fruit to God, by newness in The Spirit.

As the very temple of God’s Spirit, we take on the divine nature—God’s Design for us, when He chose us before the foundations of the Earth. We have been given the mind of Christ, by the indwelling of The Holy Spirit, to receive the deep things of God. Let The Spirit of God fill your mouth with His Word. Furnished from above we have every spiritual blessing in Christ to do The Will of The Father, by love. Love makes us holy and blameless before God. We are sanctified, forgiven and made holy by His Presence in us. As those who live by The Spirit, abiding in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are not under the law, but complete in Christ. By repentance, obedience and submission to God, we live up to our calling to be holy, by loving God and loving others; fitted with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We are taking on the likeness of God, by becoming more like The Son of God, partaking in our divine nature. We worship in spirit and truth and rejoice in Christ. God was pleased according to His Plan to make us His children. Live as one who will has attained Eternal Life in The Lord Jesus.

Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His Divine Power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1).