Being Spiritual

“The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:4)

In modern ages, we have a lot of Christians who regard themselves higher than others as they are “Spiritual” and others are not.

But, unfortunately The Holy Spirit is only being portrayed or spoken of while worshipping and not during other times. We really have to understand why this is wrong.

Worship in Spirit

“God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24 KJV)

Please note that the first instance of the word “Spirit” is capitalized and the second one is not. This clearly means that the first instance ONLY points to The Holy Spirit and the second one does not.

We need to understand the meaning of “in the spirit”.

In Hebrews 4:12, we read “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The soul is the portion of us which emotes, thinks and the definition of a person’s characteristics. Remember animals have no soul, but we have. The Sprit is further inside. The words we hear reach the soul (or mind). Only God’s words have the capability of tearing apart the dividing screen of soul and spirit and then reaching the spirit within.

The words in the sprit are actually effective than the words in the soul.

Now, worshipping in the spirit means “Worshipping in our own spirit” which means a worship that does not start at our front level emotions or mind, but from our spirit inside. This explains “worship in truth”. Worshipping in just the outer mind is not truthful, worship from our spirit is.

We should understand that just worshipping while being filled with the Holy Spirit does not make us spiritual. The roles of the Holy Spirit should be understood for that.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s arrival in us.

  1.       We receive REGENERATION

(Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit does not improve us from what we are. We are regenerated. All our old self is completely destroyed so that a new person is born.  If we receive the Holy Spirit and continue being the older person, then either the spirit is wrong or we are controlling Him.

  2.       We receive TEACHING

John 14:26

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

There words are from Jesus Himself. It is so comforting to have a teacher inside right? Who corrects us every time we fall. If we forget the words of Christ which bring life, the Holy Spirit helps us remember them.

  3.       We receive POWER.

(Acts 1:8) We are weak to stand against the world. When we testify Christ, we will face insults and pressure to stop. The Holy Spirit will strengthen us from inside.

We also should understand that our flesh is weak and will make us sin. The Holy Spirit will help us overcome by giving us strength.

  4.       We receive WISDOM

(John 20:22,23) This wisdom helps us decide on whom we forgive and whom we dare not. Yes, we should forgive and love our enemies. But, Christ himself yelled at men who made the Temple a business place. In Mark 9:42 we read that Christ does not forgive those who cause new believers to sin. We get to have a wonderful wisdom of deciding when to show forgive.

  5.       We receive AUTHORITY.

Again from the above verse, Over the devil and enemy, we receive authority when the Holy Spirit fills us. We have the authority to stop the enemy's actions.

  6.       We receive COURAGE.

When Peter , a simple fisherman was questioned by the High Priest and other authorities, He was “Filled by the Holy Ghost” and stood up and directly condemned them.  (Acts 4:8)

It was not just peter, everybody who had the Holy Ghost in them , spoke in boldness (Acts 4:31)

  7.       We receive UNITY

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32). When they were filled in the Holy Ghost, they were in one heart and soul, meaning their intentions were all the same.  The men of that time went to the extent of selling their property, possessions and sharing.

  8.       We see VISIONS

Acts 7:55, when Stephen was about to be killed, the Holy Spirit filled him and make him look steadfastly up and concentrate on Christ. We should notice that the Holy Spirit did all these before the first stone was thrown upon him. How much love our God shows upon us.

  9.       We get INSTRUCTIONS

In Acts 13, we read that the Holy Spirit took care of every action they did. Precise directions and plans were given to the apostles on what they should do. The apostles submitted themselves to the Holy Spirit.

  10.   We get HAPPINESS

(Rom 14:17). This happiness comes to us through the fact that we are made righteous.  It does not stop there, we get Hope to move on in Christendom.

All these experiences should be present to prove the Holy Spirit’s existence in us.

The Holy Bible is very particular about the “Fruit of the Spirit” (5:22,23). All these characteristics will be displayed in a person if the Holy Spirit is present. However, even if the Spirit is present, some trees will be barren with no fruit. They get the treatment of the fig tree (Mark 11:12, 13).

Are we just worshipping God in the Spirit or have we completely submitted ourselves to Him? The word SPIRITUAL means “belonging to the Spirit.” Do we really???

Righteousness

Mathew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Righteousness is a quality or a characteristic which the bible keeps emphasizing upon. If we do not practice righteousness, we are doomed as per the bible. But, what is Righteousness and how do we gain this?

The first thing we know is that one of God’s characteristics is righteousness.

Psalms 31:1 says “Deliver me in thy righteousness” meaning that God, your actions are so perfectly right that you would not want to let me be unsaved. If you count my righteousness to deliver me, it will be a totally failed equation and there is no chance for me to be delivered. Please deliver me as you are good and righteous. Yes, we get to be saved not because we are good, but our God is good.

We understand this very clearly in Romans 3:26. As God was righteous, it was very unfair to let all our sins be ignored. They deserve severe punishment. But, it was his Amazing Grace that made God Himself take up that whole punishment.

Coming to our primary subject, we should understand that God expects us to be righteous. (Mat 5:20).

But, righteousness is not a qualification we attain by some deeds.

The Bible never tells us to attain righteousness. We are expected to give our best in trying. This should not be a mere desire that we want or long for. We desire richness, but need food to live. Righteousness takes that place where we cannot live without it.

For a better understanding, let us see how the Bible describes this…

      1. Righteousness as a PATH

Prov 12:28. “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.” This path definitely does not lead to destruction. A path that gives us life and we escape death if we follow it.

All other paths are just called as “Wandering” in Ps 107:4-7. We can easily see that this statement is very much true in our lives. When we did not know Jesus, we had no motives, useless ambitions and meaningless lives. After Jesus came to us, we got a very wonderful purpose for living – for His Kingdom.

So, this path is not an option, but the only way to the good destiny.

The encouragement is that we are not expected to move alone in this path. God has given wonderful promises.

God introduces this path to us. (Ps 16:11). God directs us in this path. (Pro 4:11). God teaches us with procedures to move in this path (Ps 25:4). He watches over the path (Ps 1:6). He makes the path smooth for us to travel (Is 26:7)

In Romans 9:31, 32 we can see that our works does not lead us in this path, our faith does. We must depend more and more in Christ, humble ourselves and follow him to stay in this path or else we will stumble. In Hosea 14:9 we read that the rebellious stumble in this path. Any display of arrogance or self-acclamation is clearly contradicting to righteousness.

      2. Righteousness as an ACCOUNT.

We can read from Genesis to the epistles that “It was credited as righteousness”. Our deeds and importantly, our “Faith” is saved every time we display it.

This illustration emphasizes that God is counting our righteousness and we are accountable to Him in the end. And we get results out of out this account. The details in Romans 4 which explains Abraham’s faith will explain that God looks at minute details our faith to credit that into our accounts.

Like Abraham our deeds will be credited as righteousness if they display our faith on God. Just obedience on specific verses is not sufficient. Those can be seen at Pharisees and other lawmakers. Our thirst to righteousness will lead to a level where we not just obey the law, but try to please the Almighty in every action we do. 

      3. Righteousness as a Revelation (Rom 1:17)

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed”

Yes. Righteousness was impossible till our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came. The righteousness we pursue is revealed through him. There was no role model till he showed his life. There was no hope for this path until the Savior delivered us.

But, this revelation is not just for us alone. As the previous verse states, we should not be ashamed in revealing this righteousness to everybody so that all men will be in this righteous path.

4.       Righteousness as a Gift (Rom 3:22)

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe”

This gift is for ALL. There is no room for boasting. All of us just believed in him.

      

       4. Righteousness as a Master (Rom 6:18)

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

Verses 15 to 23 gives us a good explanation on how we should submit ourselves, offer our bodies to God so that he leads us towards holiness. Our freedom is from sin and bondage and leads to happiness and peace. This does not give us freedom to perform all our thoughts. The remembrance of being slaves to righteousness at all times, especially temptations will help us pursue in this path.

Jesus compares this longing with hunger and thirst as these two feelings surpass every other need in the human body. If we are real hungry we cannot concentrate in working, reading or even entertainment. The needs are required to be attended immediately. Likewise, when we sin or move away from God, it is necessary to stop everything else and then fix our relationship with the Almighty first and should not prolong.

The righteousness of God is so magnificent and huge for us to celebrate and depend upon. The greatest step in salvation is that God himself helps us grow righteousness in our lives. All we have to do is just believe and obey.

The Greatest Commandment

Our Lord and Savior Jesus himself has suggested us the greatest commandment as (Mar 12:31) ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

1. With all your heart.

All our emotions start from our heart. Be it discouragement, happiness, anger and many other emotions all belong to the heart.

We are expected to Love our God during all our emotions. This means that our emotions should not take over our love for our God. However sad I am, I would never give up my love towards God.

2. With all your soul.

We should display our love towards God in our characteristics, our intentions, our future plans and everything that defines what we are.

3. With all your mind.

In a conscious mind, I am declaring that I love God. This is not just during a worship service where the pianist has driven me towards some kind of emotional sub-consciousness, I am declaring this with my sound mind that I would love God with all my soul. There is absolutely no love for anybody or anything that God hates. 

4. With all your strength.

I will love God bringing all my strength together, however weak situations may make me. If I am strong enough, I will use all my strength not for boasting myself, but to Love my God.

Let us remember that this is not just a recommendation. This is the greatest commandment God expects us to obey without questions or doubts.