The Second Birth: New BelieversSample

The Holy Spirit—Your New Best Friend 

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit His “representative.” When you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. He is your constant companion, comforting you and guiding you into all that God has for you. He is the presence of Jesus with and in you.

Your born-again spirit lives in a body that will continue to be susceptible to sin, so you must stay filled with God’s Spirit. This is a continuous action in which we cannot fill ourselves. Rather, we must stay hungry and thirsty for Him, asking Him to fill our lives with His grace and truth. The Holy Spirit wants to teach you how to live. This means we, like students, must listen intently, take notes, and do the reading assignments. 

We spend time in God’s presence building a relationship with Him in order to carry His Word to those hurting around us. Like any relationship, your bond with the Holy Spirit requires commitment and communication. That means having Spirit-controlled responses and making Spirit-led decisions. Some of us want to obey the Spirit, but we’re not sure that He’s really speaking to us. Spiritual guidance is learned one step at a time. Even the most mature believer will get it wrong at times. The Bible says, “The Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).