This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17
I’ve always loved music and singing. I grew up an active brownie in the Girl Scouts, and I remember learning songs all the time and singing our little hearts out whenever we got together. As it turns out, a lot of these songs were actually songs of praise to the Lord. I had no idea, and it really didn’t matter to me at the time, did it? I wasn’t so much interested in the lyrics as I was in sing-songing with my fellow scouts.
I gave my heart and my life to the Lord as a teenager some 3 or so years later, and I remember one day thinking back at my days as a girl scout. As I remembered all the songs, you can imagine my surprise when those songs took on an entirely new meaning. They came alive….
“Give me oil for my lamp, keep it burning (burning, burning), Give me oil for my lamp I pray (Hallelujah!)…
Give me mountains to climb, keep me climbing (climbing, climbing), Give me mountains to climb I pray (Hallelujah!)…
Sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna, sing Hosanna to the King of Kings”
When I realized what I actually had been singing as a child I was wondering how I could have missed such a powerful prayer that we were singing every week. The truth is without Christ in our hearts we can’t really understand these spiritual matters, can we? It’s only when I was a new person that these words came to life and became a powerful prayer – by the power of the Holy Spirit! So before my spiritual life began, these words were empty. Now that I was born again, they were full of life. When I gave my life to Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit ignited my faith, my life, my walk, my journey, my words, my spirit! Simple words now come with such power!
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives your life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
~Romans 8:9-11
I would like to encourage all believers in Christ to live with the understanding of the power that the Lord has placed in us. The Bible calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit, which means He lives in us. Let us go through our lives speaking idle words, going doing things half-heartedly, not really caring what fruit comes out of us. Be intentional about doing everything with your whole heart, understanding that as we abide in Him, the Holy Spirit living inside of you will bring your words and prayers to life by His power, according to His word. So choose to do everything you do with your whole heart, that you may be a blessing to the people around you.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
~2 Corinthians 6:19
