Identity

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. [2 Corinthians 1.21-22]

Paul covered a lot of ground with this little passage. But what I want to focus on is the identity we find in the Holy Spirit.

If we fail to understand the role and function of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are destined to fail to identify with God. Yes, I just said that.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us like Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that led Jesus to every work He did. 

The Holy Spirit is our direct connection with God as He was for Jesus. When Jesus said He did the things He saw His Father do, it was by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Everything Jesus is on record of having said or done while on earth was done by the direction and power of the Holy Spirit.

So what does that mean to us?

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. [Romans 8.11]

The Holy Spirit is our way to look and act like Jesus Who looked and acted like God. The correlation here is mind-blowing! The Holy Spirit identifies us as God's.

Father, help me to stop all my human reasoning and begin to think and live by the mind of Christ - Who thought and lived by the Holy Spirit!