Taken Up with Christ

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27)

If we would please the indwelling Spirit we must be all taken up with Christ. The Spirit's present work is to honor Him, and everything He does has this for its ultimate purpose. And we must make our thoughts a clean sanctuary for His holy habitation.

He dwells in our thoughts, and soiled thoughts are as repugnant to Him as soiled linen to a king. Above all we must have a cheerful faith that will keep on believing however radical the fluctuation in our emotional states may be.

The Spirit indwelt life is not a special deluxe edition of Christianity to be enjoyed by a certain rare and privileged few who happen to be made of finer and more sensitive stuff than the rest. Rather, it is the normal state for every redeemed man and woman the world over.

Is the glory of God the great end of your being? Is your love to God supreme? Does it rise superior to the attachments of flesh and sense? What, whom do you love more than the everlasting God? Supreme love to God is decisive evidence of the renewed heart.

~A. W. Tozer~

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The Holy Spirit Is In the Details

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:20)

God has given each of us an individual temperament and distinct characteristics. Therefore it is the office of the Holy Spirit to work out as He will the details in Christian experience. They will vary with the personality.

Certainly we can be sure of this: whenever a person truly meets God in faith and commitment to the gospel, he will have a consciousness and a sharp awareness of the details of that spiritual transaction. The experience may have been brief, but the results will be evident in the life of the person touched as long as he or she lives.

We can always trust the moving and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our experiences. On the other hand, we cannot always trust our human leanings and our fleshly and carnal desires.

Are you sure you want to be possessed by a spirit other than your own? even though that spirit be the pure Spirit of God ... even though He be wisdom personified, wisdom Himself? That Spirit, if He ever possesses you, will be the Lord of your life!

~A. W. Tozer~