Awaken your spirit. Activate what belongs to you. Ascend to supernatural interaction with the God who loves you and chose you to be in relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit dwells within us to connect us to the Lord. We need an awakened spirit to hear what the Lord is saying when He chooses to say it.

Jesus speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Mark 4, Jesus explained why He spoke in parables as the disciples came to Him asking about this teaching method.

“And Jesus said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.” Mark 4:11

Jesus shares His secrets with the twelve who are close to Him. They chose to be close to Him. Their spirit welcomed Him. Their hearts believed in Him.

When Jesus is everything to you, He will tell you secrets no one else can see. Jesus wants to share details with His people. He shares details about the Kingdom of God and the beauty awaiting them for eternity.

Jesus explains this to His disciples after He shares a parable about four kinds of seed falling on four types of ground in Mark 3. Jesus’ words will reach people in different ways according to the spirit they host inside. Spirits who wants Jesus listen to His words and abide. Even now in Mark 4, there are many surrounding Jesus who want to hear what He will say. His words have power to transform their souls and they want this transformation.

So Mark 4:10 says, “when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parables.” What do you ask Jesus when it is just you and Him? That is the time to ask Him what you want answers to. Jesus responds to them.

Jesus responds to you when come to Him asking for answers.

Jesus takes time to explain details with the disciples despite the attacks from the scribes. In Mark 3, Jesus faced persecution from the scribes but He refutes it all with truth. Their attacks revolve around the spirit by which Jesus acts to heal and perform miracles, accusing Him of being demon-possessed. Yet, the scribes reveal a crack in their own beliefs and discernment here, and reveal their own disrespect of the Holy Spirit when they attack Jesus.

Jesus refutes their argument with logic, and then goes on to talk about how the Holy Spirit will be honored and revered.

“And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.” Mark 3:22-27

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit blinds a person to the Lordship of Jesus and prevents a person from receiving Jesus as Savior.

Jesus talks about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Mark 3 as scribes were describing Jesus’ power as coming from an unholy source. How could Jesus’ power be unholy? It can’t. Jesus is God. But when others refuse to let Jesus be God, they blind themselves to His own Spirit’s power.

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mark 3:28-30

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is an indication of rejecting Jesus and every revelation of Him. Anytime Jesus reveals Himself, He does so through His Holy Spirit as He has done since Genesis and did all the way through Revelation.

Jesus utters truth about Himself through the Holy Spirit.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in His name because this Spirit it a part of His trinitarian identity. The Spirit belongs to Him and the Father, and the Father belongs to the Son and the Spirit and the Son belongs to the Father and the Spirit. They all have equal presence in their identity.

The Holy Spirit tells you everything Jesus wants to tell you. He is the messenger. He is the spokesman. He is the constant voice of God that leads you, guides you, comforts you, teaches you, and inspires you onto greater.

As Jesus taught the disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 14, Jesus said in John 14:17 that the Holy Spirit was already dwelling with them. How can this be?

“Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:17

If you receive Jesus, you receive the Holy Spirit too.

Jesus brings the Holy Spirit. When He came to earth, He had the Spirit. In many instances of people’s eyes being opened to see the truth, Jesus said it was by the Holy Spirit that they could understand. Thus, the Holy Spirit is needed in order to hear from God and encounter God. It makes the natural man or woman experience a supernatural exchange with God, who is supernatural.

Jesus said the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because they do not know Him. When the Holy Spirit speaks, they reject it and deny it and therefore cannot get to know it nor become familiar with its voice. But those whom the Holy Spirit “dwells” in, have the capacity to hear from God.

The Holy Spirit connects us to God.

The Holy Spirit awakens your spirit so that your flesh no longer is in charge of you. You start to think with the Spirit instead of the flesh as Romans 8:6 says. Then your decisions are supernaturally motivated to choose the Lord’s way. You begin to act according to God’s ways. You journey with the Lord and over time, this relationship with Jesus grows fruit in your life as a result of being so close to Jesus.

“But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.” Psalm 73:28

When you are with someone closely, it impacts you. Jesus’ closeness to you affects you. You absorb His holy fruits of the Spirit when you let Him be close to you and when you seek Him closely.

Change comes from being close to Jesus.

Thus, the Christian life is not so much about trying hard to overcome, but it is about living with Jesus day in and day out, spending time with Him that makes His role in your life affect your life for the better. You become pure because of Jesus being in your life. Seek Jesus with all of your heart and any difficulty you have will find its solution in the middle of you being closer to Jesus.

Paul’s discourse on the fruits of the Spirit highlight the beauty of closeness with Jesus. These fruits are supernatural qualities of the spirit that Jesus cultivates in us by His own perfect spirit indwelling us, rubbing off on us:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Goodness
• Faithfulness
• Gentleness
• Self-control

Your spirit awakens with vitality when these attributes are active in you. We need every single fruit of the Spirit in order to see our daily lives become more enriching. Our relationships will improve as we treat others with the pure heart of Jesus embodied here. Our workplace will become a place of life change as we see people changed as a result of the fruits of the spirit in our lives. Our families will grow and become healthier as these fruits are present in every interaction. We as people made in the image of God were designed to live with an active, vibrant spirit that blossoms as a result of being connected to Jesus.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Jesus is the secret.

Jesus is the answer.

Jesus is our lifeline.

Jesus is our lifeblood. We abide in Him and find our spirits awakened to vitality in the process. Jesus promised that you would “bear much fruit” as a result of abiding in Him. If you want to see these pure attributes growing in your heart and the way you interact with people, abide in Jesus. Get to know Him. Learn from Him. Spend time with Him. We need Jesus in every way. The gardens of life grow abundantly because of His presence with us.

“You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

Psalm 16:11