SCHOOL

But the Helper, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He will TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you – John 14:26

Life in the Spirit demands training in the SCHOOL of the SPIRIT. Are you enrolled and actively participating in this School? Learning is imperative if you must grow up, develop or mature in any aspect of life: physical, mental or spiritual. The little baby growing up into childhood has to learn, first to crawl, then to walk, before he or she can attempt to run. If you were born in Spirit, then you must be prepared and equipped to live and walk in the Spirit. You must consciously enrol and be actively engaged in the School of the Spirit. Learning in this School is an exciting adventure when you submit to the Teacher of teachers, the sweet, gentle Holy Spirit, as He takes you through the wonderful experience of spiritual growth. This is one of His special ministries to believers: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will  speak; and He will tell you things to come” (Jh.16:13).

The Holy Spirit grooms ‘baby-kings’ into ‘reigning kings’: “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father”  (Gal. 4:1-2). Being born of the Spirit begins our education in the School: “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jh.3:6). We are to then live and walk in the Spirit: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh...If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal.5:16,25). It takes being trained in the School of the Spirit for you to learn how to be led by God’s Spirit moment-by-moment: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom.8:14). The School of the Spirit is not optional; it is mandatory for every Believer!

One thing that distinguishes Believers from the Old Testament saints, is that a very special blessing was given to us that they never dreamed possible: the very Spirit of God came to dwell in us: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom.8:9). The divine power that spoke the universe into existence now indwells human spirits. Filled with God’s Spirit, the early christians “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6b). Alas, our generation of believers seem so weak and powerless in comparison! Spiritual laziness seems to have crept into the Church. Conditioned by our quick-fix, drive-through, instant-everything culture, we have come to expect automation in the Christian life. Many have even convinced themselves that any type of spiritual labor is unnecessary, turning grace into a licence for ease. They sit back, sending half-hearted prayers to nowhere and waiting for the miraculous to zap them into supernatural realms.

Life in the Spirit is serious business; God doesn’t treat it casually. We need to go back to school – the School of the Spirit! The Lord of the Church is ringing the bell, calling all who desire more of Him to: “Come to Me…learn from Me…” (Mt.11:28-29). Jesus never intended that we live powerless lives. Yet, many christians are operating on carnal, substandard levels, relying more on sense knowledge and fleshly feelings than on the Spirit’s leading. We need to be trained and re-trained: to eat the Word of God to fullness; to push in prayers past our comfort zones; and to be built up in our “most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20); until living and walking in the Spirit become our perpetual ways of life. Welcome to the School!