Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

a daily ritual. Too many still have Jesus, the man of sorrows, on the cross. His sorrow, pain and suffering lasted an extended weekend. And that weekend changed the world forever. Our purpose is to live like him, not die like Him. Yes, we follow Him in death thru baptism, but it is an event. A onetime act of obedience and submission that becomes a doorway into a whole new life. I'm not saying that we will never experience suffering. But our life flows out of living, not out of denying or dying. Jesus came to give us abundant life, not abundant death. That life is in the following! The key to true freedom is a life lived in the Holy Spirit. Lasting transformation is not accomplished by focusing on what you should or shouldn't do. Life by a list of rules is not what Jesus meant by abundant life. We must surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit within. Jesus told His disciples it was better for them if He left so that the Holy Spirit could come. He was saying that an inward influence is better than an outward requirement. The Son of God had spent over three years with them, but they were still struggling. Even at the last supper they got into another argument about who would be the greatest. When the Holy Spirit was poured out there was an immediate change in the disciples. Just look at Peter moments after being filled. He preached his first message under the internal influence of the Holy Spirit and 3000 people were saved. We do not produce fruit by our own efforts. Fruits ripen and mature due to the work of God in us. We cannot purchase it from another. It is not a reward for doing good deeds, like a merit badge or a blue ribbon. Fruit will appear in our lives as we surrender to the inward working of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.