Relying on the Spirit

1 Peter 1:10-12

10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

Today Peter is giving us a bit of a history lesson.  He is telling us to look back to thousands of years before Christ when Jesus was predicted.  The interesting part is that he says that the coming of Jesus was predicted by His Spirit!  This is yet another part of the bible that reveals the relationship between the three elements of the Triune God. The Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Christ, and The Spirit of God are all the same Spirit.  Jesus foretold His own coming.

Before the coming of Christ, God revealed His truths through the indwelling and pouring out of His Spirit on certain individuals throughout time.  Now, however, we are able to receive His Spirit as a guide for our lives.  We don’t need to consult a prophet to tell us what God says; we can have His Spirit living inside of us.  Jesus foretold this in John.

The Holy Spirit, this inner guide from God, the Spirit of Truth (as Jesus calls Him) is what we can rely on for discernment, guidance, and strength to overcome the brokenness inside us.  God’s word, The Bible, is what we use as a litmus test to discern the difference between the guiding of the Spirit and the provocation of anything else.  You see, Peter here is explaining that the scriptures were written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit.  It is not to say that other writings are not, rather that these writers relied fully upon the Holy Spirit for discernment.  They knew what it was like to listen to and follow the Holy Spirit in whatever they did.  With many writers in different cultures and countries spanning thousands of years, what else can explain the continuity of the bible’s contents?

It makes me wonder, why don’t I rely on the Spirit this much?  It is the power and breath of God in us.  I’m not concerned with the power to speak tongues, cast out demons, or heal the sick until I get the little things taken care of: eliminating the power of sin over my life.  Let’s face it; sin might be enjoyable but it never satisfies.  That’s why we do it over and over again, because we want to recreate that first “high” but never do.  Then we are always looking for something better but its side effects are just as worse.  But we have the power to break free from this downward spiral.  The Spirit of God has been given to us for sanctification; we have been given the ultimate tool to cleanse us from everything that keeps us back and holds us down from becoming who we were created to be.

It’s hard for us to trust that this is possible, isn’t it?  We cannot learn to trust the Spirit, however, without putting our trust in Him.  Without activating our faith and without putting yourself in a position of vulnerability we will never get to experience His faithfulness.  Yet how many times have we driven home drunk, consumed a drug that we weren’t 100% sure of what would happen, go into a stranger’s house or let a stranger into yours?  We trust all the time, but then hold God accountable when others let us down.  Maybe it’s time we start to trust The One who actually is trustworthy.



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