It has been a wild couple of weeks in my life. Not necessarily for me personally but for many people I know and love. It seems like this is a season of turmoil and chaos. For many it's marital chaos. Some just family chaos. And others just seem to be hurting and not really finding answers.
Last weekend we celebrated Easter. We celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It is the celebration of His triumph over sin, death, and Satan. After Jesus rose from the grave Scripture teaches that he appeared to Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James (Mark 16:1), Peter, the other disciples, and over 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:6). He reminded them of why He had to suffer and die. Jesus walked the earth in His resurrected body for 40 days after He was raised. He then ascended back to heaven. (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:8-11)
The ascension is a huge but often overlooked event in Christianity. Thankfully some in Christianity actually celebrate the ascension as a monumental holiday. The ascension was important to Jesus. He talks of it's importance in the Gospel of John: "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." John 16:7-8 NIV Ten days after Jesus ascended, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church (Acts 2).
Billy Graham writes:
"Man has two great needs. One is forgiveness. The other is goodness. Consciously or unconsciously, his inner being longs for both. There are times when man actually cries for them, even though in his restlessness, confusion, loneliness, fear, and pressures he may not know what he is crying for. God heard that first cry for help, that cry for forgiveness, and answered it at Calvary. God sent His Son into the world to die for our sins...God also heard our second cry, that cry for goodness, and answered it at Pentecost. God does not, want us to come to Christ by faith, and then lead a life of defeat, discouragement, and dissension. Rather, He wants to "fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you" (2 Thess. 1:11-12). To the great gift of forgiveness God adds also the great gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the source of power who meets our need to escape from the miserable weakness that grips us. He gives us the power to be truly good...the work of the Son of God is for us...the work of the Spirit is in us." (Billy Graham "The Holy Spirit" 1978)
God, through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has given us everything we need for the desperate cries of our heart. Jesus answers our need for forgiveness and the Holy Spirit answers our need for goodness. Both are gifts from God to be received by faith.
We need to daily think on these truths. When life gets chaotic and stressful we have the Holy Spirit living inside us to lead and guide our thoughts, decisions, and actions.
Galatians 5:16-25
"So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." NLT
May each of us live in the power of the Spirit and depend on Him as we follow Jesus together.
