Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
(Colossians 2:6 NASB)
To enter the Christian life, a person must begin at the right place: conversion. That means we must be rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ by coming to Christ in faith, accepting His sacrifice on the cross as sufficient payment for sin. Then, to live the Christian life, a person must continue under the control of the right power—the power of the Holy Spirit. To enter these new dimensions of the spiritual life, we must be rightly related to the Holy Spirit.
We become Christians because we “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” We become empowered and filled with the Spirit as we “walk in Him.”
Both are essential if we hope to enjoy all the benefits of the Christian life, for it is possible to be converted and yet not live on a spiritual plane. It is one thing to become a Christian. It is another thing entirely to become a Spirit-filled Christian. The tragedy is that so many are converted and so few Spirit-filled. When this happens, a person misses the best God has to offer us on earth.
What fuel is to a car, the Holy Spirit is to the believer. He energizes us to stay the course. He motivates us in spite of the obstacles. He keeps us going when the road gets rough. It is the Spirit who comforts us in our distress, who calms us in times of calamity, who becomes our companion in loneliness and grief, who spurs our “intuition” into action, who fills our minds with discernment when we are uneasy about a certain decision. In short, He is our spiritual fuel. When we attempt to operate without Him or to use some substitute fuel, all systems grind to a halt.
Establish this dual truth once and for all: If you are a Christian, you have the Spirit living within you at all times; if you are not a Christian, you do not have the Spirit.
The wonderful part of all this is that by having the Spirit, you and I have all the “fuel” we need. Since He indwells us, He is there, ready to energize us and empower us at any time.
Taken from Flying Closer to the Flame by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1993 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
