We’re alive!

Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'" (Ezekiel 37:13-14 NIV84)

Ezekiel spoke of a day that the Holy Spirit would not just be given to people like prophets.  The Holy Spirit would be given to the whole nation of Israel.  It wouldn’t stop there, though.  They Holy Spirit was promised to all people who will call on the name of the LORD our God.

"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' (Acts 2:17-21 NIV84)

The Apostle, Peter, quoted this promise given through the prophet, Joel.  Peter quoted this on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the form of fiery tongues.  He was telling everyone there, and everyone who reads the account in the book of Acts, that the prophecy was fulfilled on that day.  God’s Spirit was poured out on all nations.  Not only that, God’s Spirit is made available in the same way to you and to me.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:37-39 NIV84)

Even to this day, from generation to generation, those who come home to the Father through the Son (Jesus) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We are given the same Spirit who empowered Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Apostles like Peter.  It’s even the same Spirit who empowered Jesus.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11 NIV84)

We have a new life through the power of the Spirit who dwells inside of us.  That life is a more abundant life than we would have had without the Spirit of God empowering us.  We’re alive!  There’s more to it, though.  We are not just given the Spirit so we can have a good life.  We are given the Spirit so we can fulfill our part of God’s plan.  We have a mission.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8 NIV84)

How about you?  Have you repented (turned back to God)?  Have you gone down into the waters of baptism?  Have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit?  Is the Spirit bringing life to your mortal body?  Are you going out and making disciples of all nations?  Are you alive?