True Happiness Is Life In The Spirit! The Holy Spirit has already greatly impacted your life when you received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord!

You were enlightened by the Spirit of God, and then you were born again by the Holy Spirit. He now lives in you and wants to guide and direct every aspect of your life.

You are able to soar high above your natural instincts and understanding of life because the Holy Spirit now lives in you. You have been quickened and made alive in Christ, and your possibilities are endless.

The Holy Spirit can now lead and guide you in every area of your life in ways that you never dreamed. God’s Spirit has borne witness with your spirit that you are His child, and now you can be led by His Spirit in everything you do as you cooperate with Him and follow His lead.

True Happiness Is Life In The Spirit.....

Jesus Christ, knowing that He would soon lay down His Life for all mankind and return to His Father in Heaven, said this to those who had been with Him and believed in Him:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.

All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

When the Counselor comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning. All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.

I tell you the Truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.

He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you.”

Jesus Christ was present in His earthly body with His disciples on a daily basis for over three years. They learned first hand from Him, and He met all their needs. Therefore, He wanted to comfort, encourage, and assure them that as He returned to His Father in Heaven; God would still be with them, even as He was.

The Bible, God’s Word, teaches us that there is One True God, manifested in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is important that we recognize each Person of the Godhead and develop a proper relationship with each as the Word teaches us.

Your first encounter with the Holy Spirit was when He began showing you your need to have a relationship with your Creator. He opened your eyes to spiritual things, quickening you while you were still dead in your sins. He revealed Jesus Christ to you as Savior, the only way to return to God.

You were Born Again, or Born of the Spirit, when you prayed to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You inherited a Divine or spiritual nature from God, and could begin relating to Him. You are now alive to spiritual Truth and to an entirely new realm of life. vThis new unseen Kingdom is spiritual and Heavenly, not natural and earthly, and is only revealed by the Holy Spirit to those w

ho are born of the Spirit of God. On one occasion, when Jesus was speaking to a very religious man, He said,

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" The man asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, 'You must be born again.'

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Even today, the world is full of religious people who don’t understand spiritual Truth. They cannot perceive or enter the Kingdom of God. All their religious acts, traditions, and good works are futile. They must be born of the Spirit of God by receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.

Always remember what Jesus said about Himself:

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except by Me.” Jesus Christ is the only way to God!

Religious people will also have difficulty understanding you and your new life and lifestyle, and you should not expect anything different. The Bible says:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Therefore, don’t expect anyone, who has not been born of the Spirit of God by receiving Jesus Christ into their life as their personal Savior and Lord, to think the way you do or have the same priorities, or act the same way. Your entire way of life and thinking will probably seem foolish to them.

Also, do not submit yourself to their way of thinking, nor their lifestyle, nor their judgment of things. You now have the mind of Christ, and the Holy Spirit will help you and teach you everything you need to know to live according to the precepts of God’s Kingdom.

Just as Jesus said, “the Holy Spirit will guide you into all Truth”. It is also written, “No one knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God.” And “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit Who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

Believers are instructed in God’s Word to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach them the Truth, not on people. “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the Anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His Anointing teaches you vabout all things and as that Anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as It has taught you, remain in Him.”

The Holy Spirit will always teach you the Truth and how to discern between the Truth and the lies of our enemy, Satan. You must rely on the Spirit of God and not on your own understanding or that of others who don’t have the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit directed the writing of God’s Word, the Bible, and He knows the thoughts of God. He will always direct our minds to the Truth as we acknowledge Him and trust Him completely with the direction and guidance of every aspect of our lives, in the same way that we trusted Jesus Christ with our Eternal Destiny.

We must make a daily effort to develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit, not in an intellectual, emotional, or physical sense, but rather by our spirit communicating with God’s Spirit as we read, study, and meditate upon God’s Word, the Bible. His Word must be a vital and integral part of our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Remember that your enemy, Satan, is the deceiver, and he often operates as a counterfeiter. He makes his lies look like the Truth, and the only way to recognize the lies is to know the Truth. When we know God’s Word, the Truth that the Holy Spirit has inspired, we can then discern lies from the devil as we compare them with the Truth.

Therefore, the Word of God is important in knowing when God is speaking to us by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes from what is Christ’s and makes it known to us, and all that the Father has belongs to Jesus. So when the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirits, He will be speaking the mind of God, which aligns perfectly with His Word, the Bible. His written Word and His spoken Word are One.

If we think that the Holy Spirit is guiding us in something that is contrary to the written Word in any way, we know it is not God. It may be the devil trying to mislead us, or our natural intellect, our feelings, or just our natural desires wanting their way.

It is written, “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The Word of God is our safeguard in every situation. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. God’s Word will always reveal and confirm His Mind to us, and His good, pleasing and perfect will for our lives. His Word can separate the spiritual from the natural in our hearts, minds, emotions, and desires.

However, to receive God’s direction and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives each day, we must completely surrender our will to His. We must want that which God wants for our lives. We must desire for ourselves that which God desires for us, and we must desire it for the same reason that God desires it for us. The Holy Spirit will then be able to communicate to us and carry out within us God’s good, perfect, and pleasing will for us.

Nothing is more exciting and fulfilling than living the life that God has prepared for us. Living in perfect harmony with your Creator and Redeemer is the most peaceful and joyful experience that you can have, and this is God’s desire for you. As you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, moment by moment, you will sense God’s presence and peace in your life, as well as His Fatherhood.

It is written, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” And “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

We must set our minds on what the Spirit desires and allow the Holy Spirit to dominate and control our minds. Then we will be able to be led by the Holy Spirit in everything. We cannot dictate to God what His will for our lives should be. We must get rid of our preconceived plans and ideas and surrender our will to His.

Next, we must be a ready to obey. God will not give us direction and light unless we mean to follow it. To do so would only add to our disobedience to God. We must truly desire to know God’s will for the purpose of obeying, no matter what His will is.

If we become selective in our obedience to God’s revealed will, we will hinder or even forfeit our ability to hear His Voice and to sense the leading of the Holy Spirit. For our good and for God’s Glory, we must be ready to obey the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit in any and every situation. By doing so, we are saying with our actions that we trust our Heavenly Father completely and without question.

In addition, we must trust the Guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must believe that He is with us and directing us. We must lean upon Him with all our heart and implicitly look up into His face and expect Him to be true to us. The Bible says it this way:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your path.” It is also written, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

We never have to be concerned about the Holy Spirit leading us in a direction that is not good for us. He has only our best interests in mind. He knows the mind of God and knows the end from the beginning, and He never makes a mistake. Learn to trust Him completely. This trust and reliance are not instantly achieved. We learn by doing, over and over again. God understands that and is patient with us.

We may stumble from time to time in our walk with the Lord, but He will not let us fall, especially when He knows that we want to know His will and His ways, and that we want to follow Him and bring glory to His Name. God will help us learn from our mistakes so that we can discern His Voice and His leading in future situations.

We begin as babies in our spiritual lives, just as we do in our physical lives. It takes a while to learn to crawl, then stand, and then walk. In the same way, walking in the Spirit takes a while to learn and do on a regular basis.

Walking in the Spirit is how we live a life pleasing to God. As His children, we want to live in a way that brings glory to our Heavenly Father and that also reveals the life of Jesus Christ to others. This is accomplished moment by moment by walking in the Spirit.

The Bible says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

We no longer live the way we did when we were in bondage to sin and the devil. It is written, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

We were slaves to sin, but now we are free to live the way God always intended for us to live. We can now live like Jesus lived, and the Holy Spirit will help us know how to live like Him, and empower and enable us to live as Jesus lived.

The Bible says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” We no longer live according to the desires of our sinful nature. The Holy Spirit will always reveal the life of Jesus to us as we keep in step with Him.

Walking in the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit are both moment-by-moment decisions that we make each day. The Holy Spirit is always trying to live the life of Jesus through us. The life of Jesus is a life of love. God is love, and there is no other word that can describe the life of Jesus Christ better than the word love.

Jesus Christ didn’t come to be ministered unto, but rather to minister and to give His life as a ransom for many. In the same way, we are to live God’s love life as the Holy Spirit directs and empowers us.

The entire law of God is summed up in the words of Jesus: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” And “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control.” The Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of love in your life as you yield to, and obey, Him.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and therefore we can now love God supremely and people as we love ourselves. In other words, we obey the Holy Spirit in everything, considering what Jesus would do in every situation, and then we do that ourselves, no matter what our flesh or emotions want.

Concerning other people, whatever you would want someone else to do for you in the same situation, that’s what you should do for others. The way you treat yourself is how you should treat others.

You no longer have to put yourself first in everything because Christ has made you complete and filled the void in your life. You can now put God first in everything, and others ahead of yourselves. Read, meditate upon, and obey the following portion of God’s Word:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every Name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Read and obey the following Words of Jesus, and you will be blessed:

"I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your shirt, do not stop him from taking your coat. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

The Holy Spirit will always lead us and prompt us to imitate Jesus Christ in our lives each day and to obey His teachings. Obey the Holy Spirit, and you will sense His Presence and direction in your life more and more until you develop a truly intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Remember that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Being, a Person that you cannot see, but Who is more real than anyone you can touch or see. He will not force Himself on you. You must be sensitive to His Presence in your life and allow Him to make Jesus known to you.

How you live as a child of God is very important. The following portion of God’s Word will give you some guidance and help you to not grieve the Holy Spirit:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

In this chapter you have begun to learn Who the Holy Spirit is and how to develop an intimate relationship with Him, and thereby experience True Happiness. In the next chapter, you will learn of other aspects of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. Before you pray, please read the following words of Jesus Christ:

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

The following prayer can assist you in the growth of your relationship with the Holy Spirit:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I want to thank You for drawing me to Yourself by the Holy Spirit, and for giving me the gift of Eternal Life through my new spiritual birth. Thank You for promising to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. I therefore ask right now for the Holy Spirit to come into my life and to guide, direct, fill, and control every area of my life, to reveal Jesus to me, and to show me how to live for You.

Thank You for always keeping your promise, and thank You that the Holy Spirit is now in my life making Jesus morve and more real to me. Help me to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to not grieve Him in any way. I hereby acknowledge His Presence in my life. I trust You Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me into all Truth, and to reveal Jesus in and through my life each day.

I thank You, God, for the Spirit of Truth and that I now have the mind of Christ, and therefore can discern and judge between the Truth and a lie. I thank You, God, that I can always test a spirit by the Word of God to know whether it is You leading me, or another spirit attempting to mislead me. I want to always know Your will and do it.

Thank You, Father, that Your love has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, and that I can now live a life of love towards You, and other people. I know that I am complete in Jesus, and therefore I can put You first and others before me.

I choose to yield myself to the Holy Spirit and desire to see the fruit of the Spirit manifested in my life, so that You will be glorified in and through me so that others can benefit from my life.

I want my life to be used by You, Lord, and trust You to empower me and change me in whatever way is necessary to make me useful for You. I love you, God, and am so thankful that I belong to You!

In Jesus’s Name I Pray, Amen!