Tag: God

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The Shield of Faith

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Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Ephesians 6:13-18a

In this series on Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God, we have already looked in depth at the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and what it means to have the readiness of the Gospel of Peace as shoes for your feet. These three have been foundational layers to our armor, for our ability to “stand firm.” Now, in this post, we turn our attention to the pieces of armor which Paul commands us to be armed with “in all circumstances,” so that we can win in the daily battle with the enemy. We will begin these pieces of armor with the “Shield of Faith.”

What is Faith

As believers, we talk a lot about “the Christian faith” or “having faith in Jesus,” so it seems like the word should be simple to define. However, we could be talking about many things when we say “faith.” 

There is the simplest definition of faith, being “belief.” There is the active view of faith being “belief in action;” or “because I believe ______, I do ______.” This would go hand in hand with James’ teaching that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).

We could also be talking about “the faith,” which can mean either the complete set of teachings of the Christian religion (Jude 3) or your personal adherence to a particular creed or set of beliefs (1 Timothy 6:12).

Possibly one of the most simple explanations of “faith,” which we hear preached often is found in Hebrews 11:1.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Honestly, though, that explanation of faith is still a pretty confusing concept to grasp. Trying to add clarity to this definition, one Bible handbook says that faith is:

Confident trust in the promises of God, centered in His provision of spiritual life through a sacrifice (which would be the sacrifice of Jesus); it is the sole condition of salvation and is not a work, but, in fact, a gift of God… synonymous with belief.

Paul S. Karleen, The Handbook to Bible Study: With a Guide to the Scofield Study System (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 324.

I really like that definition, and within it I see three ways in which our faith is built, which then merge together to form the “shield” we carry into battle.

1. Faith Comes from God

Firstly, faith is a gift from God. It is not something we create within ourselves, and biblically, it is not something we can even choose to step into. Jesus is the one who creates faith in us. Even our choice to get saved is something He initiates in us, through the power of the Holy Spirit! This is why Hebrews 12:2 calls Him “the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

If He is the one who put faith in us, and He is the one who will see that faith through to completion, then one way we tangibly grow our faith is to stick close to Him in life’s journey. In fact that is exactly what the Passion Translation of Hebrews 12:2 says,

“We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.”

2. Faith Comes from God’s Word

The second way our faith grows is through God’s word. The Bible teaches that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The Greek word used here for “word” is “rhema.” This literally means “that which is spoken.” We must therefore include the written word of God in the Bible, by which God has spoken to every generation of believers, as well as the inner voice of the Holy Spirit which continually speaks to us intimately and personally.

The Written Word of God

From the scriptures, we can see who God has revealed Himself to be, and know the plans He has shared concerning human history and the establishment of His Kingdom. As we learn what the Bible teaches, we can then have a clear view of the world around us, judging what is in accordance to His plan and what is not. We will discuss this more when we look at the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” but for now, me must understand that the Bible is the foundation of everything God will speak to us personally.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

The Spoken Word of God

Beyond just the Bible, however, we must also be seeking to develop a deep relationship with the Spirit of God, who is always with us and speaking to us. 

As miraculous of a gift as the Bible is, the complete thoughts and intentions of God cannot fully be contained in a book. In fact, Jesus told His disciples that even after His three years with them there was still so much more to speak, but the time was too short and they wouldn’t be able to take it all in. He therefore promised the Holy Spirit who would continue to speak and reveal the things of God.

““I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:12-15

The Holy Spirit will take the scriptures and make them real to us. He will apply them to our lives, personally, and He will further reveal the plans and intentions of God over us. 

As we hear God’s Word – in the Bible and through the Holy Spirit – our faith will continue to be developed and strengthened.

3. Faith Comes from Our History with the Lord

The third way our faith grows comes through experience of the Christian life. We know that faith starts as a gift, and is built as we continue to hear God speaking over us, however, our faith will begin to grow exponentially as we experience God’s faithfulness, first hand. It is inevitable that we will develop more and more trust in Him, as we experience His continued faithfulness to us.

We must learn to keep a personal record of His continued faithfulness to His promises. I would suggest that it is a good idea to write them down. This is the same testimony of faith that was commanded to the Jews as they walked through life with the Lord. 

In fact, 21 times in the book of Exodus, God gave some teaching on how the testimony of His faithfulness was to be kept. In the books of Psalms, the musicians reference either the command to, or the blessings of, remembering the testimony of God — 23 of those references are in Psalm 119 alone.

Your testimonies are righteous forever; (they) give me understanding that I may live.

Psalm 119:144

One of the ways believer’s overcome the enemy in the book of Revelation is by keeping the testimony of Jesus!

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

Revelations 12:11

So faith comes as the Lord initiates it inside of us and as we choose to walk closely with Him. It develops as we hear the Word of the Lord, both written in the Bible and spoken by the Holy Spirit. And it grows all-the-more as we learn to keep account of His faithfulness to us. This faith, then, which is fully-established and growing, becomes the shield we carry which puts out the flaming darts of the devil! So what are those darts?

The Darts of The Enemy

The enemy’s goal is to discredit God and bring doubt into our minds concerning His Word and His intention. He wants us to doubt God’s goodness and His faithfulness to us. From his first attack on humans in the garden of Eden, this tactic was evident.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…”

Genesis 3:1

His goal was to bring doubt to Eve’s mind regarding the Lord! 

He did the same thing when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, urging Jesus to distrust what God had already spoken over Him. The last voice we hear before Jesus goes into the wilderness is that of the Father:

The Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:22

The next thing we hear is the devil challenging that word:

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God…”

Luke 4:3

 Our daily encounters with the enemy are no different. He wants us to doubt who we are in Christ; he wants to convince us that we lack what God says we have, and if possible, he wants to destroy any relationship we have to God through our salvation in Jesus. These attacks are why we must hold our shield of faith, boldly, and resist these blows.

Holding Our Shield

As we know God intimately, hear His Word, and establish a personal record of His faithfulness to us, our shield of faith is forged. We are then readily equipped to discern God’s plans by faith, and to extinguish the power of the enemy’s darts.

The shield of faith — that “confident trust in the promises of God, centered in His provision of spiritual life” — gives us the ability to break down every doubt the enemy tries to create in us! We must not forget, however, that Paul’s command is to carry this shield “in all circumstances.” We never know when the attack will come, so we must not allow ourselves to be caught unarmed. The Apostle Peter reminds us of this same thing:

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…”

1 Peter 5:8-9

We must always be growing in our faith, so that no flaming dart of the enemy can land a blow!

Let’s Connect

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, and testimonies in the comment section. 

In the next post we will look at the Helmet of Salvation. You can make sure to never miss a post by signing up for my weekly roundup newsletter, below. It would be my honor to have you, and I promise never to spam you or share your information with anyone!

You can also join me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Parler, to continue the discussion on this post and more!

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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The Anatomy of an Encounter with God (Part 1)

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Since the days when Adam walked face-to-face with God in the Garden of Eden, people of faith have been moved and led by encounters with the Lord. Over and over again in the Old Testament, “the Angel of the Lord” appeared to men and women, and spoke prophecies and destiny to them. The New Testament carries on this expectation that encounters would be normal for believers. We see angelic visitations, open visions, trances or “ecstasies”, and even personal encounters with Christ, after his ascension. The Christian life is not supposed to be simple, religious activity. It is supposed to be a personal relationship with the Lord. In view of this reality, I want us to look at the anatomy of an encounter with God.

Saul’s Encounter

As an example of an encounter with God, I want us to look at Saul’s travel on the Damascus road, when God showed up. 

If you know Saul’s background, you know that we first meet him at the stoning of Stephen. As the men were trying to get their best shots in to kill Stephen, there was a young man named Saul standing by, holding their coats, and encouraging them (see Acts 7:58; 8:1). After Stephen was dead, Saul took it upon himself to lead a great persecution of anyone in Jerusalem who were followers of Jesus.

Apparently, it was effective. Most of the disciples had fled from Jerusalem, or went well enough into hiding to escape. Saul, then, decides to take the persecution on the road. The Bible tells us:

“But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice…”

Acts 9:1-4; English Standard Version

The Timing of the Encounter

Saul was on his way to Damascus to destroy believers, just as he had been doing in Jerusalem, when suddenly God shows up. “Suddenly.” This is the first point I want to look at as we discuss how an encounter with God happens. You do not get to determine when it comes.

From my limited human wisdom, it seems that if God had come to Saul much sooner, it would have saved the church a lot of heartache and struggle. He didn’t. Instead, He waited until Saul was out on the road. He was separated from the comforts and connections of home, and had nowhere to turn for help. That is when God decided to step in and meet him.

This seems to be God’s standard mode of operation. He alone will determine when our encounter happens. We can pray for an encounter, and seek to meet Him. We can (and should) ask Him to break into our lives, but He will be the one who ultimately decides when it happens.

The Sovereignty of Suddenly

We cannot miss, however, that when God breaks in, it is always a holy moment. As we will see in part 2, we are always left changed by these encounters. One reason we cannot dictate when these moments come, is because God has to prepare everything at that moment, to contain the weight of the glory He will bring.

I have had a handful of encounters with God over the years. Still, I want more. I wish they would happen regularly and on demand, but they don’t. However, when they do happen, it is always a holy moment (or hour, or day…). I think God has to determine when the encounter comes, because He alone knows what the encounter is going to bring into your life.

So don’t give up. You should be pursuing God for an encounter. Yet you must also be patient in the anticipation of Him showing up.

The Method of the Encounter

The other thing about an encounter with God, which we cannot control, is how God shows up in our life. For Paul, it was a bright light and a voice from heaven. It was the burning bush for Moses. Isaiah took a vision-trip into Heaven. For Mary, it was an angel coming to meet her with good news.

As we desire encounters from the Lord, it is easy to see the experience of others, and decide that we want our experience to be the same. Once again, however, it is the Lord who knows what He wants to bring to you in the encounter, and He will show up in the exact way He sees fit to deliver.

The Glory and the Fire

Some encounters are beautiful and glory-filled. Think about John’s vision in Revelation, and all the amazing things he was shown. Other encounters are fearful and even painful, just like Saul being knocked from his horse. Todd White recounts his own “baptism of fire,” where he was in excruciating pain, convinced God wanted to kill him. Many other personal encounters in history have been the same

I, myself, have received both of these versions. In an encounter in 2012, when Dr. Randy Clark of Global Awakening prayed for me, I slid down to the floor, and peacefully rested in the presence of the Holy Spirit, as His glory washed over me. What followed immediately was clear evidence of an impartation for healing. It was an amazing, holy encounter with God. 

Just a few months later, however, in March of 2013, I was prayed for by Dr. Tom Jones, of Global Awakening. This time I was violently thrown to the floor, where for the next 3 hours my shoulder was continually slammed into the cement that was covered by only a thin veneer of carpet. I was bruised and sore for days. And the truth is, I am not sure what exactly was imparted to me in that event. Nevertheless, I know that God was meeting me.

God’s Perfect Plan

We know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). As we seek for an encounter with God, we must learn to wait for him to determine the perfect time and method to meet us. Again, these are holy moments. We don’t want to settle for a cheap imitation. And we certainly don’t want to get shortchanged in our rush for an experience with Him.

What I would encourage you to do is to look back over the encounters you have had in the past. It doesn’t have to be anything big. It may simply be the moment He called you to Himself in salvation. As you reflect on that encounter, I want you to take note of how only He could have put that moment together for you, and how He worked it out exactly as it needed to happen for you to receive.

As you pray for another encounter with God for your life today, hold on to the promise of His faithfulness to you, and trust that He has more He wants to give you when the time is right.

What About You?

In part two of this post, we will continue to look at Saul’s encounter with God, as we look at what happens during those holy moments. Although every encounter will be different, there are certain elements that we can expect from them all.

In the meantime, I would love to hear from you, with any stories you have of your own encounters with the Lord. It may be dreams, visions, angelic visitations, or even a face-to-face encounter with Christ. If the Lord allows you to share, I invite you to do so in the comments section below.

If you want to read more about personal encounters with the Lord, and how they can shape your life, I would like to recommend the book, “Defining Moments: God-Encounters With Ordinary People Who Changed the World.“

As always, if you are enjoying what you are reading on my blog, I would also be honored if you would subscribe to my weekly email below. You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for regular blog updates, and other ongoing #ChristianLife and #GospelLeadership advice!

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4 Vital Prayers for Discipleship

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(This is Part 3 in our series on Discipleship. Click here for Part 1, Part 2.)

As we saw in our last post, the Holy Spirit is the Chief Disciple-Maker. He calls, convicts, saves and sanctifies the believer. With all of that resting on His work, it seems there is little left for human action in the process of discipleship. Biblically, however, that is not the case. God clearly puts the job of making disciples on the church; on every believer, not just the leadership.

Since the Holy Spirit has the primary role in disciple-making, and we too are a vital part of the process, then it should become obvious that our first step in making disciples is to make sure and do so in partnership with the Spirit! For this reason, prayer is the most vital step in our own disciple-making efforts.

With this is mind, here are four prayers we should all be praying for discipleship:

Pray for Fruitfulness

Jesus very clearly taught us that the fields are ripe for harvest, and that we are to pray for Him to send more workers into the fields (Matthew 9:37-38). Once again, however, as we discussed in our first blog of this series, the call to the harvest field goes beyond “soul-winning.” We cannot just pick the ripe fruit, and leave it laying in the field. We must obey the fullness of the great commission by making disciples of every person the Lord gives us. Therefore, the first thing we must be praying for is our own efforts to be fruitful.

We do this by asking the Lord for clear instructions on what He is already doing in the world around us. God is already working. Likewise, every person we meet has a divine encounter with Jesus waiting for them. As we pray for fruitfulness and give the Lord the opportunity to use us, it will be through us that the Holy Spirit releases those experiences to people. We should be seeking to be the hands, feet, heart, and mouth of Jesus to those around us, most especially those the Holy Spirit reveals to us are ready.

More so, we must realize that every interaction we have with the believers in our life is an opportunity for growth, both in us and in them. We must be praying that our fellowship will be a fruitful time for sanctification, “as iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). When we become intentional about praying for fruitfulness in every relationship, in every conversation, in every meal or cup of coffee, we will see our level of discipleship rising.

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Pray for Wisdom

Most of us fear “discipleship.” It is a big, scary word, that requires something of us to build up others, and yet we don’t know what it is, exactly, that we are supposed to do. Even the most experienced disciple-makers run into this challenge because every person is different and has different life-experience and expectations. The good news is that the Holy Spirit knows exactly how to transform the lives of all men back to the image of Jesus, and wants to empower us to do so.

We have such a great promise in scripture that in our serving the Lord and others, we are not left to figure it out on our own. James writes:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 1:5, English Standard Version

Make it a priority to be praying for supernatural wisdom and divine revelation for every discipleship encounter. Even as the conversation moves along, make sure you are listening to the Holy Spirit and asking for wisdom relevant to the things being discussed and how they impact the person’s life. You do not need to be a professional counselor. You simply need to be in tune with the voice of your Father for guidance.

Pray for Receptivity

Up to now, we have been praying for our own ability and effort in the discipleship process, but we also must be praying directly for the ones we are discipling. Most especially, we must pray that they will hear the truth God wants to reveal to them and make life-changing applications according to His will.

Now, this is not praying that they will listen to us and do what we say. It is praying that they will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through our time together, and do what He says. Even when we are not perfect in getting the point across, the Holy Spirit is more than capable of filling in the gaps where we are lacking. Just as Paul writes:

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13, English Standard Version

We must pray for the person to have an open heart, sincerely desiring growth in the Lord, and their ability to receive the truth. We must pray for a willingness to be vulnerable to the process, and to repent where necessary. We must pray for their active attempts to apply the life-giving truth the Holy Spirit is wanting to share with them. These things are their active participation with the discipleship process, and without it, growth will be stalled and our efforts useless.

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Pray for Impartation

Finally, we must realize that for true discipleship to take place, we must be engaging more than just the mental life of the believer. We must pray for God to give an impartation to the person spiritually, which releases righteousness into them as their new identity in Christ, and enables them to stand as a new creature in this world.

Paul said:

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5, English Standard Version

This means that the evidence of true discipleship does show up when it is demonstrated in the person’s mental understanding of a truth, but it is even more evident when there is a demonstrative experience of life-changing power that bears tangible fruit in their life.

The scripture is full of examples of impartation, where a mature, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led believer lays hands on and prays over the one being discipled, and in a release of God’s power, the one being discipled is supernaturally transformed in some way. This may be being filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time or being “baptized by fire” for cleansing and holiness. It may be the reception of new gifts of the Spirit or another kind of supernatural release. The point is, it goes beyond human ability, as it comes directly from God.

Paul reminds us that the Kingdom of God is not only in talk, but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20). We, therefore, should pray for and expect the power of God to show up in our discipleship efforts. We are not only teachers, but we are the conduit through which the Holy Spirit can touch the person. 

The truth is, without impartation we are simply filling the new believer’s with head-knowledge, instead of raising them up as supernatural Children of God, endowed with “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). We must pray for divine impartation to come.

(Click here to continue to Discipleship Part 4.)

If you’re enjoying the content I produce, a little caffeine to keep me going would be appreciated!



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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2019. All Rights Reserved.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Please note that I do get a small kickback from Amazon for any purchases made using the links on this post. Should you choose to purchase from them, I just want to say thank you for further supporting my work in ministry!

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The Holy Spirit and Discipleship

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(This is Part 2 in our series on Discipleship. Click here for Part 1.)

In part one of this discipleship series, I shared why discipleship matters, and must be a priority for us in order to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus. We need to feel the weight of Jesus’ command, and change our priority from just “soul-winning” to “disciple-making.”

While not removing that responsibility from believers as those who received the Great Commission, what I want to look at now is the fact that it is the Holy Spirit – not us – who is the chief disciple-maker. Without His direct involvement in both the life of the individual being disciples, and in us as the disciplers, we will never finish the work.

The Bible says,

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 

1 Corinthians 2:12–14; English Standard Version

With that in mind, I want to look at just a few of the things the Holy Spirit does in the process of discipleship.

The Holy Spirit Regenerates

It is the Holy Spirit is the one who gives new life in Jesus. Without His influence at the moment of hearing the Gospel, no one would accept to turn and follow Christ as Lord and Savior. 

Jesus said,

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me…

John 6:44–45; English Standard Version

This obviously does not mean that everyone who is born again hears an audible voice from heaven leading them to get saved. Yes just as supernaturally, God the Father draws people to Jesus through the influence and leading of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Convicts of Sin, Leading to Repentance

From the initial decision to get saved, the Holy Spirit begins the process of redirecting a person’s life out of their sinful activities of the old man through the conviction of sin. 

Jesus said,

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 

John 16:7–8; English Standard Version

As the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin and righteousness on a person, the natural response is repentance – a changing of the mind, leading to a changing of actions.

Early conviction in a new believer will be of the “big” sins in their life. For me, this was my teenage alcohol addictions, testing of various drugs, and sexual promiscuity. However, once the big sins are removed, the Holy Spirit will continue to root out more and more from the believer, helping them conform to the image of Christ.

As Martin Luther said in his Ninety-Five Theses which he nailed to the doors of the church at Wittenburg,

 “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ He intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”

Repentance isn’t only for new believers, but as a disciple stays tuned to the Holy Spirit, seeking to have a clean heart before the Lord, the Spirit will always open up new areas of false belief, negative attitudes, and unrighteous deeds.

The Holy Spirit Sanctifies

If I were to walk through all of the scriptures concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, it would be obvious that His role is to fully renew us according to the image of Christ in a process called sanctification. He is the one who draws us to Christ in the beginning. He causes us to be born again (John 3:5-8); and He continues this work within us until we are perfected in Christ for eternity. Of course, that does not happen this side of eternity, but the goal is to get as close as possible before then!

The Holy Spirit’s active work in the life of believer’s after salvation has historically been viewed in two general categories. The Pentecostal Revival in the early 1900’s revived the power gifts of the Holy Spirit – such as prophecy, healing, and tongues – which had long been neglected by the church after the rationalist worldview took hold post middle ages, and has become a strong focus in the church on the work of the Spirit. However, a few hundred years before the Pentecostal Revival, there was another great movement of God called “The Holiness Revival” in Europe (this became the Second Great Awakening when it moved to the U.S.). 

Under leaders like John Wesley and George Whitfield, people were encouraged and sought a powerful, personal encounter with the Holy Spirit which they called “full sanctification.” This was a tangible experience with the Spirit that inevitably led to a higher desire for holiness in the person, and a complete rejection of sin and self. We now refer to this experience as “being baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit.” Nevertheless, before this experience was viewed as an impartation of power, it was viewed as an impartation of holiness. I contend that we should be pursuing both.

This impartation of holiness makes sense to the character of the Holy Spirit. If He is active in your life, He will inevitably seek to make you like He is. We have the choice to surrender to His transforming power and be made holy, or we may willfully refuse His power, continue in sin, and ultimately “grieve Him” (Ephesians 4:30), suppressing His sanctifying work in us.

As I stated before, this work of the Holy Spirit should continue in every believer, becoming more like Christ, until we enter eternity and gain our complete transformation into Christ’s image.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure… No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God…

1 John 1-3, 9-10; English Standard Version

It should be evident – and trusted! – that the process of discipleship depends on the Holy Spirit’s working in the life of every believer. It is not initiated, nor completed by man. It is wholly upon Him. However, that doesn’t change the fact that we are also called to partner with Him in the process of discipleship in the world. That is what we discuss in the next post.

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