We are spiritual beings, created in the image of God when God breathed His His ruach breath or spirit, into us, giving us our own spirit. Our spirit is the essence of who we are, the emotions, personalities, character traits, thought process, etc. that give us our own unique identity.
The problem is once our spirit’s became corrupted by sin, the rest of our lives starts to show the results of that corruption, becoming cracked or utterly destroyed. The only way to regain wholeness is through a life with Jesus, allowing Him to transform and heal us through His Holy Spirit.
I mentioned last week how this corruption is especially noticeable in how we interact with others. We saw how sin causes relationships both with God and others to be cracked and even completely shattered. On the other hand we also saw that God wants us to learn how to be like Him through the story of the Prodigal Son. The only way for that to happen is if we allow Him to step in and heal us and our relationships and teach us how to have healthy interactions with others.
THE RENEWAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
He can and will restore the broken relationships in our lives if we let Him.
Today, we’re going to take a look at a specific principle in Scripture to see how God can restore our relationships if we turn to Him. I’ve actually mentioned this principle in the other episodes as well.
When we submit our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and makes our lives His dwelling place and begins the work of healing, cleansing, and transforming us so that we no longer have to be broken and corrupt. Paul calls this process “the renewing of our minds” in Romans 12:2. The Holy Spirit takes the corruption in our minds and hearts that causes brokenness, cleanses it from us and healing us from all its effects, and then teaches us stay pure and holy.
As we walk with Jesus, following the leading and the voice of the Holy Spirit, He helps us to walk the way He wants us to walk rather than following our corrupt human nature. Paul emphasizes this principle in Galatians 5 where he talks about the fruit of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit. As we follow the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to renew, our character begins to be changed.
Where before we let hatred control us, we now walk in love
Where before we let sadness and depression control us we now have joy.
Where before we let fear and anxiety control us we now have peace.
Where before we let impatience rule us we now have longsuffering
Where before we were arrogant and mean we now walk in kindness.
Where before we were immoral and evil we now walk in goodness
Where before we were dishonest and unfaithful we are now faithful
Where before we were violent and brash in everything we did, we are now gentle.
Where before we did what we wanted, whenever we wanted, we now walk in self-control.
The fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit are particular noticeable in our relationships with others.
FRUIT OF THE FLES
The effects of each of these on relationships should be pretty obvious. Each of these is going to result in brokenness, division, anger, hatred, violence, abuse, and possibly even murder in relationships.
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
On the other hand each of the fruit of the Spirit, when seen within a relationship, can only result in healing, transformation, and further growth. When all involved in the relationship follow Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to transform and lead them, the relationship will always represent Jesus and demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like I mentioned last week, the father in the Parable of the Sower is the perfect illustration of someone who follows the Holy Spirit.
The father didn’t give in to his hurt, his anger, possible bitterness, hatred, or distrust of his son. He also didn’t allow what his other son thought about the situation to influence how he approached his relationship with his prodigal son. Instead, he allowed love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, self control, etc. to be what he based his decisions off of. As a result the relationship was restored.
RESPONSE
Paul challenges us in Romans 12:2 saying:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
So many of us in today’s society look more like the world than we do Christ, and it is especially noticeable in our relationships with others. We see division and disunity, racism, Christian nationalism, political tension, children being raised without a father or mother, child abuse, workaholic parents who neglect their families, etc.
Even as Christians, we are so quick to do things the worlds way of doing things rather than submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We fight, argue, murder our “brother” in our hearts, lust after and give in to sexual pleasure, pursue entertainment rather than God’s presence, and other things that lead us down a path that Jesus doesn’t intend for us. Even pastors and church leaders are susceptible to falling into a worldly pattern of sin that affects their relationships. They neglect their families in pursuit of their “calling,” they pursue riches and fame rather than a life centered on Jesus, they fall into emotional, financial, physical, and relational chaos and decay because they neglected their own walk with Christ in pursuit of building their own kingdom.
As a result of the influence of the world on us, our relationships DO NOT REFLECT CHRIST.
So, how can our relationships be restored?
Let’s look again at Paul’s challenge in Romans 12:2.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
The answer is simple: be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Allow the Holy Spirit to transform you, getting rid of those fleshly things within you that affect your relationships negatively, and giving you His character traits so that the fruit of the Spirit and His overflows into your relationships, healing and restoring them.
We have three responsibilities in order to be renewed:
We have to be aware that we can still be tempted to fail and that there is an enemy who wants to destroy us and see our relationships with God and others fall apart.
We have to learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He leads us.
We have to learn to obey and follow the voice of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to prune and renew us, as He reveals truth and transforms us.
As we stop doing things the worlds way, stop giving into the lies of the enemy, and start allowing Him to renew us, we start to see areas of our lives heal mature and our relationships start to become more and more healthy.
As we continue this series this week we are going to look and see how the Holy Spirit can renew us in each specific areas of our lives, continuing with our finances as we dive into what Scripture says about how to THRIVE in the area of our financial life tomorrow.
Are you struggling in your relationships/marriage?
If you need help in your marriage or relationship , I am available for counseling and coaching. I have a masters in pastoral counseling and would love to help you thrive in this area. Schedule a time with me by sending me a message or going to my website thewethriveinitiative.com (currently being built at the time of posting, but will be available soon).
Partner with The WeTHRIVE Initiative.
If you are encouraged by what you read/watch then would you consider partnering with this ministry? We are in the launch phase of this ministry and are looking for partners so that we can accomplish the mission that we have to make disciples who THRIVE in every area of life!
Check out who we are and what our mission is on our new website which is being set up this week!
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Until we can set up a donations portal on our website, here are some ways you can support this ministry:
upgrade to paid membership on Substack.
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