Never the Same

Pentecost is upon us, the time we celebrate the original dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit to signify God was no longer content to be present with his children as a cloud or a pillar of fire or any other external way, but had to live inside each one of us, collectively, within his bride.   In every way, when Jesus was in human flesh, he perfectly modeled the life of our original design. The way God purposed us to live can be seen in Jesus. In humility he was baptized to model for us the need to die to our independent and old ways of thinking and perceiving what we thought was true of God, ourselves and others. Jesus knew we would have no way of doing this on our own, but that God would miraculously include us in Christ’s death on the cross. This is why Romans 6:3 reminds us, “when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death.”   Then, when Jesus came up from the waters of the Jordan River, he was immediately filled with the Spirit, a gift from God. Jesus’ life was never the same after that. Once again, Jesus was modeling for us God’s purpose and design for our lives. Jesus, always the forerunner, experienced what his disciples were to encounter on the Day of Pentecost and what countless followers of Jesus have experienced to this very day—a dramatic and powerful encounter with Holy Spirit’s infilling of love and power, never to be the same again!   Alive on the earth fully as a human, Jesus could not have released his Father’s Kingdom with love, forgiveness, signs and wonders without being filled with God’s Spirit. If he could, then we would not need Holy Spirit. That simply isn’t true.   From the time Jesus was filled with the Spirit, he also modeled complete dependence and showed us what the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life looks like for us to walk in the same.   Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was tested in the desert, a test of whether Jesus would listen to the lies of the enemy regarding his true identity, or whether he would trust his loving Father and rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit within him to declare the truth of his being the way God knew it to be. He passed the test and showed us how to do the same.   Upon his return from the desert, Jesus declared the purpose of his life as designed by his heavenly Father. By declaring this Old Testament prophecy as his own life’s purpose, he was inviting us to do the very same. As you read this, I encourage you to be aware of how the Spirit you are speaking of vibrantly lives within you. I encourage you to yield to the sweet, tender and powerful Holy Spirit within to brilliantly lead you to live out your life’s true design. I encourage you to follow Jesus’ example and declare what is true of yourself:   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to announce glad tidings to a starving people; he has commissioned me to announce the freedom of forgiveness to those held captive at spear-point by their guilt and shame; also, the blind may now look up and be restored in their sight. I am anointed to send out those who are bruised and traumatized, into the freedom of their redeemed innocence. I announce the Jubilee year of the Lord has come. This is the liberation celebration of the Lord, embracing humanity.”  (Luke 4:18-19 in The Mirror Bible)