?You have been made alive by the Spirit?. These are some of the most hope-filled and inspiring words we find in the New Testament. Believers of all ages, backgrounds and cultures have one thing in common.
The Holy Spirit lives in us.
Following Jesus? resurrection and ascension, he poured out upon his infant church the blessing of the Spirit, also called the promise of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption by which God seals our sonship. Just as Jesus heard from heaven, ?This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased?, so we also know that overwhelming sense of affirmation from the Father, by the same Spirit.
In addition to our affirmed sonship, God releases his gifts and abilities through various manifestations of the Spirit in our lives. Spiritual giftedness is linked both to in-reach and outreach. We build one another up by the Spirit and we reach out to those yet to know Christ by our Spirit-inspired witness.
But, perhaps the greatest mission of the Spirit is to flood our lives with the love of God. This ?baptism of love? is central to our lives as Christians, making sure that, as we keep in step with the Spirit, we are not only constantly filled with the joy of God?s love, but are also sharing the gold standard of his love with others.