But those who are led by the Holy Spirit will display the following characters.
- They aspire to set their minds on what the Spirit desires.
- They can live in victory.
- They have life and peace immediately and ultimately.
- They have no obligation to the old nature.
- They live in entirely new sphere and his mind is fixed on the things of the Spirit.
Holy Spirit gives empowerment to our bodies: (8:9-11): When we are born again, every Christian receives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also witnesses that we are the children of God (8:16). Then our body becomes the temple of God (1 Cor.6:19-20). Even though the body is destined to die over the time, the Spirit gives life to that body today so that we may serve God. If we should die, the body will one day be raised from the dead, because the Holy Spirit has sealed each believer (Eph.1:13-14). If we are waiting for certain feeling that we are filled by the Holy Spirit, we may not know it. But the Lord has promised us. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes us to believe that:
- Jesus Christ is the Son of God and eternal life is with Him to offer to everyone.
- We will find help for our every-day problems.
- We will know God’s will and serve Him.
- We will be in His plan for the extension of His Kingdom.
“Many sincere people are yet spiritually under John the Baptist’s ministry of repentance. Their state is practically that of the struggle of (Rom.7:14-24), where neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit is mentioned, but only a quickened but undelivered soul in struggle under a sense of ‘duty,’ not a sense of full acceptance in Christ and sealing by the Holy Spirit.” (Newell)
D.L. Moody, the evangelist described his conversion experience: “I was in a new world. The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter, the old elms waved their branches for joy, and all nature was at peace.” Life in Christ is abundant life.
Every believer has the Holy Spirit. It is a misnomer to divide Christians among the “Spirit-filled” and the “non-Spirit-filled.” If a person is not filled with the Holy Spirit, they are not a Christian at all.
However, many Christians miss out on living a consistent Christian life because they are not constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph.5:18). They have no experience of what Jesus spoke about when He described rivers of living water flowing from the believer (Jn.7:37-39).
The important question is that how does one know that they have the Spirit? If the answer is yes to the following questions we can certain say:
- Has the Spirit led you to Jesus?
- Has the Spirit put in you the desire to honour Jesus at every time?
- Is the Spirit leading you to be more (conformed) like Jesus?
- Is the Spirit at working in your heart?
Although we are dead to sin or our bodies are aging due to the sin seed, the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, we will live out of His Salvation until the time of resurrection. What makes difference is not our dead body but the Holy Spirit living in us. Because God cannot live in a sinful home, the body had to die when Jesus came in. The Holy Spirit gives a new dimension to our physical faculties too. Even though our body is subjected to death because of sin, the Holy Spirit gives life because of Christ’s righteousness. The Spirit of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in us, Our bodies will be raised like Christ’s immortal, incorruptible and glorious. The Holy Spirit plays an essential role in our salvation.
Our obligation to live in the Spirit of God: (8:12-13):
Every believer’s responsibility is to live each day in the control and power of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit has convicted us, revealed Christ to us, and imparted eternal life to us when we trusted Christ. At the same time every Christian must refuse to follow the inclinations and desires of his sinful nature. We are not under the obligation of flesh but under the Spirit of God. We must deny the efforts of sinful nature trying to impose its lifestyle on us (Tit.2:12). Because the sinful manner of life results in death (6:23a). This does not suggest that a believer who sins will face eternal death in hell but it means that he will not enjoy his spiritual life. He will seem like an unsaved person (1Cor. 3:1-4) and will be unable to enjoy the indwelling presence of the Spirit. “You will die” (8:13a) is literally, “you are about to die,” or “you are at the point of dying.”
On the other hand, if by the Spirit, we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh or body, we will live. Only by the help of Holy Spirit’s a believer can put to death the sins of his life. This is what Paul referred to when he said “count yourselves dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11). Paul tells us that not only are we saved by the work of the Spirit, but we also must walk by the Spirit if we want to grow and pursue holiness in the Lord. We cannot be like some people among the Galatians church, who thought they could begin in the Spirit but then find spiritual perfection through the flesh (Gal.3:3).
This is a general arsenal too (8:13). When the Apostle Paul says to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, we have one such weapon from the Spirit’s armour which is used to kill which is nothing but the Word of God (Eph.6:17). Whenever the body is about to crave for a sinful action either by fear or sinful craving, we are to take the sword of the Spirit and kill that fear or craving. By this way, we are attacking the root of sin by the Spirit’s armour. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt.5:8).
- It is so wonderful to see God more clearly from an undefiled conscience. It would be a superficiality and oppressive if we try to taste God’s pleasure with sin in our lives.
- It is a beautiful thing to use God’s Word for wielding power to kill sin.
- This is a tailor made promise of God for all those who want to get rid of their temptation. Psalmist says: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps.119:11).