Life in the Spirit is the most important aspect of Christianity. Without our interaction with the Holy Spirit, we cannot draw its fruit (see Galatians 5:22-23). All of the graces of our redemption flow into us through the Spirit; and without it, we have neither the Spirit of Christ nor the Spirit of the Father within us (see Romans 8:9).
We draw grace from God by humility towards Him. This type of humility is something that is prior to our religious activities such as prayer, praise, worship, and Bible reading: and is required for receiving grace from God. It is best described in 1Peter 5:5-7 which says: “be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, Casting all of your care upon him; for he careth for you.” See also James 4:6-10, Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs 3:5, Psalms 37:7, 55:22, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 26:3-4, and 55:7-9.
Initially, I found these Bible passages when I wanted to see if the Bible had any instruction on arriving at inner peace. It did. When I decided to experiment with what they were telling me to do, I had the most life-changing experience in my life. There was not only inner peace but also inner strength as well: more than I could have ever imagined.
The Bible is specific on how this comes about. God needs to impart them to us; therefore, we cannot have them before going to God by using other methods. They are fruits of the Spirit. In my search for inner peace, and unbeknown to me, the Bible’s instructions invariably pointed me to how to receive the Spirit because that is where peace and strength from God reside (see Galatians 5:22-23).
Because I had not been taught of this in any church that I had attended, it motivated me to see if there was more in the Bible that I may have been missing. I felt that this was knowledge that had lain dormant for many centuries even though it has always been in the Bible. It is still lying dormant in much of Christianity. Christian denominations usually emphasize other things in place of this for drawing close to God. It can get complex.
I always wondered if its simplicity makes it easy for it to be overlooked (see James 3:17). Doing it did not require me to perform any ritual in a church building. I did it while I was walking down a street. There was no other place that I knew of that taught this; therefore, it didn’t occur to me that I should wait for any other time or place. I was in uncharted territory: or so I thought.
Understanding what had happened has been a learning process for me. There is a lot of theology surrounding this; and lots of preliminaries needed to be in place in order for us to have the inner peace and strength from God for overcoming the law of sin or human weakness that we are born with (see Romans 7:14 thru 8:2). Because they fruits of the Spirit, they initially became available at Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit needs to be within us in order for us to have them. Christ sent the Holy Spirit after He completed His mission on earth: He needed to die by shedding His blood, resurrect, and ascend (see John 16:7).
Christ needs to be the object of our faith and trust in God. All of the fullness of the Godhead resides in Jesus; and when we have His Spirit within us we are complete (see Colossians 2:8-10).
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