On some occasions, God simply heals by a sovereign act of His will unrelated to anything in us (see John 5:1-9 re: the healing at the pool on the Sabbath). However, in the vast majority of cases, Jesus healed people because of someone’s faith.

John Calvin argues that Jesus’ gifts for his people are not experienced by so many of them. That enjoyment, he says, can happen only through “communion with Christ” and “the secret energy of the Holy Spirit, by which we come to enjoy all his benefits.” - Timothy J Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, Dutton | NY 2014, pg 165

When we come to believe the Gospel, God Himself dwells in us, energizing our souls, illumining His truth to our minds, infusing power in our wills and working His sovereign and gracious purposes through us. Join us as we take a look at what the Bible has to say about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

When we are united to Christ, we are transformed by the Spirit into his likeness and bear his image

When we come to believe the Gospel, God Himself dwells in us, energizing our souls, illumining His truth to our minds, infusing power in our wills and working His sovereign and gracious purposes through us. And God’s presence is like a fire that warms, that we shouldn’t put out.

In John 20:22, the followers of Jesus are being given the opportunity to spring to life with a new spiritual vitality by the same breath of God that created humanity, the same breath that brought dry bones to life in Ezekiel’s famous vision.

To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Here at the end his letter to the church in Rome, Paul shows us three things:

That there is a true Toast of Advent, there is a Standard for that Toast, and that there is a Result of that Toast.

The Joy Of Advent - 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

The Nature and Opportunity for Patience

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

The story of the Christian life, has a shape, and Jesus is its shaper at every point. He shapes your past story -  v2 called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…He shapes your present story - v5-7 ...that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He shapes your future story - v7-9 as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.