New to Faith: Bible Reading PlanSample

Holy Spirit

When we decide to follow Jesus, God’s presence lives in us, transforming our hearts to love God and love others. This presence is the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the first half of the Bible, we read God’s people are incapable of following Him, despite rules and reminders. They continuously wander away from God and bring pain and destruction to themselves and their neighbors.

The prophets, people who God chose to deliver His messages, said that for humanity to follow God, they would need a completely new heart, a transformed heart and that one day, God would give His people new hearts that work properly.

When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, He defeated sin and initiated the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit transforms people in this new reality, empowering them to follow Jesus as their king and radically love others. This new kind of life begins here and now and extends into eternity. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says,

“... by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.” (John 3:16 MSG)

Jesus says again,

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead transforms our hearts to love God and others. A person who lives empowered by God's presence displays traits including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). This life is the kind of life Jesus offers to his followers, a life reborn in the Spirit.

Question: Imagine what it would look like to “keep in step with the Spirit” at home, work, or school. Think of one relationship you have specifically. How might “keeping in step with the Spirit” change the dynamics of this relationship?