June 4, 2012
1 Corinthians 2:12-“We have not received the spirit of the
world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has
freely given us.”
Interpretation: This verse brings me to a few other verses:
2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of
power, of love, and of self-discipline.” John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the
Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him not
knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” Romans
8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear,
but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry Abba, Father.” We have received the Holy Spirit of God who sets us
free and guides us in all things. Our power, love, and self-discipline are all
from the spirit of God. The Spirit testifies to the truth for us and confirms
in us that we are indeed co-heirs with Christ. What has God freely given us?
His Son, his word, his promises. In Luke 24 when Jesus reappears to his
disciples, they still do not understand what was happening, but in verse 45 it
says, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” The
Spirit helps us to understand the things of God and have assurance in them.
Romans 8:16 says, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are
God’s children.” We should not look to the world for power or wisdom or
knowledge because all of the help we could ever need was already given to us
freely. 1 John 4:2-3 states, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from
God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is
the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is
already in the world.” We understand what God has given us because we do not
have the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of understanding who is from God.
And that is a free gift!
Application: I am going to spend alone time in the word
today and write out some flash cards of scriptures I would like to memorize.
Amen!
Meg,
ReplyDeleteI just have to say I LOVE this blog. While at first it seems like the average missionary blog complete with bible quotes and summaries, I love how you always end your posts with some kind of real-world application. I've read like... 5 pages of this blog so far, and it's so inspiring to see how you almost become some type of spiritual warrior for your cause. Your passion is seriously admirable, and the "Man Upstairs" should feel pretty lucky to have someone as strong as you fighting for him. =P
Keep up the awesome work! E muja oui!
<3 Heidi