Just Say Yes!

A few years ago we were told to “just say no” to our bad habits. Although this advice sounds easy enough, it is difficult for us to say no to our nature when it wants something. Unfortunately, Christians also seem to have a hard time saying YES to what God wants us to do. We have not developed the habit of saying yes to the Spirit of God that lives inside of us. The entirety of a real believer’s life is contained in the phrase “just say yes to God.” Every Church should be selling shirts with bold letters reading “just say yes to God.” When believers fail to listen to God and obey Him, it is the same as saying NO because the result is the same. We are not making the effort to say yes. People would gladly shout YES to every instruction if they could simply understand the great privilege a person can occupy in the body of Christ. It is impossible to over state what God has provided his people even if we made a list that took one whole year. Many people do not have such a list because they do not have the habit of saying yes to God.

The “privilege” we need to understand, is what the Holy Spirit can do in our life. God sends all of His gifts to us through the Spirit and understanding this is essential to our Godly life. Paul spent a lot of time and effort teaching people how to yield to the influence of God’s Spirit. He also gave a reason for spiritual gifts; Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor 1:7-9 (NLT) God’s gifts are the only way we can be successful in our partnership with Jesus. We all should be able to understand that by saying no to the gifts can cause great damage to the relationship that we must acquire to face eternity. The gifts are the reason that we always hear believers say “no one can work their way into the family of God.”

 The family of God is made of believers who say yes to the Spirit as He leads us with gifts. When Paul talks about this “yes” he writes; For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. 2 Cor 1:20 Why does our “yes” have any meaning? Paul continues by giving us the answer; 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 Cor 1:21-22 (NLT) This is where we are told that we have been given the task of allowing the Holy Spirit to show Jesus real in our life. This is our commission, to “just say yes” to God’s Spirit. There are at least two important reasons given here for our strength to carry out this assignment. The word for the phrase “he has identified us” in the original is “sealed us” and the word for “first installment that guarantees everything” is the word “earnest.” These two words are a great comfort.

The word sealed is very important to every Christian. It is the reason our hope in the Lord can take a huge leaps forward. When we realize the Spirit is “the seal” for our eternity with God our spiritual strength increases intensely. The Bible says; And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Eph 4:30 (NLT) In this verse we see the words “identified you, as his own” which mean sealed by the Spirit. This is our guarantee of salvation upon our meeting with the Savior someday. There is unbelievable comfort that comes with “the sealing of the Spirit.” When Paul was talking about the truth he said; when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. Eph 1:13 Our “sealing” today was promised long ago in the Old Testament. The old time prophets did not know what the Lord was promising us but the power of sealing our souls is one of the most precious things that God has done for us.

As this passage continues we see the connection of “sealing” with the “earnest” of the Spirit; The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. Eph 1:14 (NLT) Remember that guarantee is the word for “earnest”. Because we are purchased and sealed we now have the earnest of God which is His Holy Spirit. God not only promised us a fantastic inheritance but has given us the down payment as our most precious helper here on earth. How wonderful that God’s plan for us includes all the help we will ever need. As a “spirit filled” believer looks forward in life they find great hope in verses like this one; While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. 2 Cor 5:4-5 (NLT) To be swallowed by eternal life is guaranteed by the Spirit because He is the one who makes our partnership with the Savior possible.

Every Christian wants to live in Heaven for eternity. The Spirit makes this possible as the Word says; 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 (NLT) The Spirit raised Jesus Christ out of His death so He can certainly save us from our own death. Many church people are trying to live for God without the help of the Spirit and they think they are doing a good job. Imagine how disappointed they will be when their time comes to travel to Heaven and they don’t have the Spirit living in them. Our eternal life is only possible if the Spirit lives in us. When we are certain of our sealing and earnest our Christian life is full of peace and joy. But while we live on earth we must show our righteous life to the world because it is valuable to God. It also helps us to be certain that we are one of His children. This is why, as a member of God’s family, it is important that we have as our slogan “Just say Yes!”.