Are you living by the energy of the Spirit?

It is heartbreaking to see believers living in frustration, anxiety and even resignation over sharing life with their indwelling Lord. People shrink back from stepping out in their gifts. Often they just can’t get over their own perceived inadequacies. They may feel as if God is far away. Some Christians view the Spirit as only a token Presence ensuring their passage into heaven.

How far this is from the life Christ died to give us! Though we all experience moments like this, we are not meant to live there. Being stuck in this place usually comes from ignorance or unbelief about how God’s Spirit works in us.

First, God characterizes our life with him as entering rest.

Put that on your refrigerator, fellow pilgrims! Entering His rest is the goal. Not striving, or being perfect, but living at rest in His power.

How does that work? What does that look like in everyday life?

Well, it doesn’t mean doing nothing, or living a passive life in relation to God. We easily default to that when we assume things like, “If it’s God’s will, he will do it.” Nope.

What it looks like is relying on the Spirit for the wisdom, strength and even ability to live life God’s way.

The life of power that feels like rest is a partnership of you and the Spirit.

Entering God’s rest actually covers all aspects of living and being a human-who-knows-God. The Bible is salted with the concept. One major aspect of that life is God’s provision for you to walk in His strength, His power, His ability.

How did He provide that?

He sent His Spirit to live with you. The same Spirit who empowered the resurrection of Jesus, waits daily for you to tap into a lesser voltage of that same power. The Bible calls it His energy.

If you have received the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit, here is what you can expect, according to Peter:

You will learn to walk in the energy of the Spirit.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2 Peter 1:2-3, NIV

It all begins with GRACE. But understand, grace is not merely God’s unmerited favor. Grace also comes in the form of God’s ability to do what we cannot do on our own. Paul refers to this in the next verses, where he speaks of God’s divine power as “everything we need for life and godliness…”

I suspect the word “power” feels like it overshoots your everyday life. In other words, we expect power for the big stuff, but not for the everyday ability to walk with and know God. Paul referred to this ability when he said:

For it is God who is at work in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:13

God’s divine power = energy and ability

The word translated in Philippians 2:13 as “at work” is the Greek word energeo — a precursor to our English word energy. In the Greek this word is defined as “to be active and efficient in.”

Paul is identifying God’s divine power as God’s energy! The Message translates it wonderfully:

“That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.”

Philippians 2:13, The Message

The Holy Spirit’s presence in you means you’re not on your own. When you want to step out in obedience to some nudge from the Lord, don’t shrink back in fear that it is all up to you. Simply believe in His presence and His willingness to give you his ability to do what you desire.

What God calls for, he empowers.

We usually don’t feel that enabling until we take a step into it, but once we do, it comes, faithfully. And the funny thing is, it won’t feel “supernatural,” it will feel natural — like it is you doing it. Only, you know better.

I have experienced this enabling in matters large and small. From praying for a miracle of healing, to having a wise answer to a tough question, to knowing how to order my day for productivity and joy. A friend said to me once, “I entered God’s rest yesterday when I met a young woman I needed to counsel, and didn’t have a clue what direction to take, and after I prayed, a simple question came clearly to my mind. When I asked her the question, everything else unfolded between us.”

That is what the energy and enabling of the Spirit looks like in daily life. I’ve experienced it too many times to count. As you walk in faith, believing the Spirit is present with you, and ready to provide His strength, wisdom and ability to help you live with and for God, this happens.

The Holy Spirit seems such a gentle, quiet presence in you

But don’t underestimate his power, his energy waiting for you when you want to step towards God or step out for God. This applies to seeking God in private as much — or perhaps even more than — public works.

A lot of what we struggle with in trying to obey God’s will, happens because we’re trying to do it all in our own power. Which is to say, our powerlessness.

Weariness, anxiety and frustration are signs that you are probably not leaning into the grace (the real ability to do that thing) of God. The energy and enabling of the Spirit is crucial if we are to enter God’s rest.

Tonia

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You can learn more about Entering God’s Rest in Tonia’s devotional series, which you can subscribe to here; and in her book, They Will All Know Me.