Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
It has always blown my mind, the significance of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit after He ascended into heaven. He said it would be better that He go so that He could send the Helper. That word "helper" is such an interesting one to me. Growing up, I was always told that as a believer I have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside me and that He was going to help me in life. But I didn't really understand what that looked like. What did it feel like when the Spirit was moving in me? How would I know when He was guiding me? How did I actually know what He was helping me to do? I would pray, God, should I do this? God, should I do that? Yet I never felt like I got an audible answer. I said, Holy Spirit, You're supposed to help me—what are You actually helping me to do? Well, our Verse of the Day keys in on one of the greatest ways that the Holy Spirit helps us.
It comes from Philippians chapter 2, verse 13. Paul writes, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him."
The Epistle of Joy
Paul's letter to the Philippians is so good. I have personally been sitting in this epistle for months because there's just so much to pull out of it. Philippians is so beautiful because we know from his other writings and from the book of Acts that Paul is a pretty straight shooter—he doesn't beat around the bush when something's wrong. With a lot of his other letters, he makes it very clear: "Hey, I'm writing this to you because you really need to fix some things in the church."
But Philippians turns that on its head. There's a reason why it's called the Epistle of Joy, because Paul has this deep affection for the Philippians that starts from the very beginning of the book, saying just how much he loves them—and for good reason. This church was near and dear to Paul's heart, first because it was the first church planted in Europe on his missionary journey. Beyond that, by this point in time Paul is actually in prison with Timothy there to help him. The Philippian church wants to do something more, so they actually send one of their own with a financial gift to support the apostle, to go and encourage him and share everything that's going on in the church. Paul writes this letter back simply to thank them—pure gratitude for brothers and sisters in Christ who are actually living out the Gospel.
The Literary Center of Philippians
Philippians chapter 2 is my favorite chapter, because it's sort of the literary center of the book. Paul thanks the Philippians and encourages them to continue to live as citizens of heaven. Then he says, "Take on the attitude of Christ." In those first couple of verses of chapter 2, he writes this beautiful poem in the original text—all about the life of Jesus—and everything else in the letter keys back into this poem. Then he encourages them here: just as Jesus was being led by the Spirit to accomplish the will of the Father, obeying God, we too are supposed to obey God—but not by our own power or our own strength. Because we have God working in us through the Spirit, He gives us new desires to pursue the things of God. He gives us the power to do what is going to please Him, to fulfill this great mission we have before us.
More Than Daily Decisions
Of course, the Spirit is there to help us make decisions throughout the day—Lord, should I go to this school? Should I leave my job? Should I take this job? Lord, is this the person I should marry? Lord, is it time to have kids? Lord, what do You want me to do? He's there helping with all of these daily decisions that are an opportunity to honor Christ.
Even more than that, the Spirit is there to help us become more and more like Jesus. It's almost like we need to flip the whole system on its head. Rather than thinking the Spirit is going to help us do these little things and by the end they'll stack up to make us look more like Jesus—we need to flip that and say: the Spirit right now is my guarantee of salvation. When God looks at me, because I have that Spirit, He sees the righteousness of His Son. Day by day, from that reality, it's going to pour out into everything that I do—the way I think, the way I talk, the relationships that I build. All of these are ways that we can please God.
Embrace the Work of the Spirit
I want to encourage all of us to embrace that work of the Spirit. Build it into our schedules. It's not just going to happen by chance. We need to actually be pursuing it, going, God, today I want to be more like Your Son. Holy Spirit, come work in my life so that others might see that character of righteousness and goodness and gentleness and faithfulness—all of these fruits of the Spirit, all of these ways that Jesus lived—in me, so that they might come to know Him and glorify Him above every other name. Let's embrace that work of the Spirit together, so that we can enjoy life as new creations that look like Jesus.
