Receive

Galatians 3: 13 – 14

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

In the Old Testament when God promised that He would pour out the Holy Spirit He sometimes made the promise to the nation of Israel but more often said that He would pour out the Spirit on all mankind. You see, God already knew the future. He knew that through Jesus and His sacrifice all the world would inherit the blessing of Abraham through adoption into the family of God. It was God’s intent that we would all share in the blessing.

Paul, I believe, demonstrates how important this whole structure is. God put together a plan that would ensure that we received all the best He had. It was an elaborate plan and very expensive. It took the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb in order to extend the blessing of the chosen to those of us who were formerly outside the family. God gave His son as that sacrifice so that He could bring us under the umbrella of His protection and into His family. We are now children of the Most High. It cost God everything but through God’s sacrifice, we receive everything.

That is how important you are to the King. And that is how important the Holy Spirit is that God went through these elaborate measures to get the promise to you. The promise is for you.

Now, what do you do? You invite the Holy Spirit into your life. You ask Him to be a part of your daily life; everything you do. You talk to Him just like you talk to God because He is God. He, being the third part of the trinity, is God with you. Ask Him to come live in you. Ask Him to fill you up with himself. And as Paul wrote in the passage above, you must receive Him by faith. You certainly can study more about the Holy Spirit. There are many more verses about Him. They continue to show who He is and how He operates in this world. Many people in the New Testament received the baptism in the Holy Spirit when someone prayed for them so you can ask a pastor or other spiritually mature person to pray with you if you like. There are also plenty of people who have received Him while alone in their own prayers. There is no secret here. It is all in the scriptures. It boils down to acknowledging Him, asking Him into your life, asking Him to live inside of you, to fill you, and then receiving Him. That is really all there is to it. Don’t miss out on the third person of the Trinity. I believe today’s passage shows how important this part of our relationship with God really is. As Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20: 22).