It is the Spirit that give life

Your Alive

If you are reading this, you are alive.  Your heart is pumping, your lungs are taking in oxygen, and your blood is circulating.  And yet something far greater is going on in you than circulation and respiration.  Life is at work in you!  God’s Holy Spirit is giving you a share in his divine life – today and every day.  It is a life that will endure long after your heart and lungs give out.  It is the gift of eternal life, which can give us hope and a sense of mission and purpose.  Because the Spirit is in us, we can devote our lives to serving him and building up his Church.

The Spirit give life to the words

The Spirit give life to the words of Scripture too.  Our own understanding, great thought it might be, can take us only so far.  God’s word contains depths that we can not grasp only by our intellect.  We miss out on so much of what god has for us if we limit what we read in Scripture to the realms of history, literature, or philosophy.  Jesus said his words hold life, and he means for them to bring life to you today.

Jesus wants you to experience a taste of eternal life every time you read or listen to Scripture.  That is why he has given you his Holy Spirit as your helper and teacher – to enliven the Scripture passage, to reveal and explain God’s thoughts, and to fill out your understanding of them.

Ask the Holy Spirit

Ask the Holy Spirit to do this!  As you read a passage, perhaps a verse will resonate in your heart as true or meant especially for you.  Or maybe you will see  a new deeper meaning in words you have read a hundred times.  That is the Spirit giving life to those words.

So pay attention to your thoughts as you read.  God has much to say to you!  Then, as you go about your day, think back to this Scripture passage, even if nothing particular about it struck you initially.  Look for moments when the Spirit might be teaching you – at work or during lunch, while folding laundry or walking the golf course.  Keep looking, keep listening, and keep expecting to hear more.  Expect to experience life today!