I’ve been talking a lot about repentance, and I know it can become a weighty topic, to say the least. But I feel like God has empowered me in this area recently, and I just have to pass this along.
I’ve been feeling convicted lately about several sins in my life. And maybe it’s just me, but do you ever feel like you need to repent but you need to wait for the empowerment of God to do so? [Tweet that]
Well, this is where I found myself last week.
During my quiet time with God, I decided to begin reading Romans. I opened it up, read the first paragraph, and that was just about enough for the day. I needed to digest what I read, so I read it again. And again.
Toward the end of that paragraph, Paul says, “through [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name…” (Romans 1:5).
We received grace to bring about the obedience of faith. We received grace. Past tense. It’s a done deal.
I love what the ESV Study Bible footnote says. It says, “Obedience is required, but it is an obedience that flows from saving faith and is always connected to ongoing faith” (emphasis mine).
We Are Empowered
Here’s the thing: The moment we are saved. The moment we bow our knee to Jesus, accepting Him to be Lord of our lives and Savior of our souls, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:8).
The Spirit is power. He is all the power we need to live out this Christian life. [Tweet that]
Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”
Romans 8:11 tells us that “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
We have been given life. We have been set free from sin and death through Jesus. And we are now free to live a life of power through the Holy Spirit.
So, why do we, at times, feel so impotent to live out godly lives? What takes the wind out of our sails? [Tweet that]
Deception.
Truth tells us we have the power of the Holy Spirit to live out our faith.
Satan tells us we have no power within us or we need to wait for empowerment.
There are times we need to wait on the Lord for sure, but we never need to wait to repent. We never need to wait to feel empowered to do that which we are called to do. But instead, remember that we are empowered to follow Jesus.
So, here’s the bottom line: You don’t need to wait for the ability to live out your Christian life, you already have the power within. Now live like you believe it.
Question: Do you ever feel like you need to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit? Share in the comments.
