It is a sad reality that many believers and their fellowships deny, ignore or forget the basic fact that our God is Immanuel, "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).  Most forget that if a living God were really to be "with us" our lives should be dramatically different.  We are distant from God because we forget the very active role the Holy Spirit wants to play in our lives.  When faith is only a weekly observance of meetings and rituals we have lost the Spirit of the bible and have descended into religion.  The bible is not a book about religious observance but about everyday life-changing encounters with the Spirit of the Living God.  The picture of God's activity in the Bible is about the "water of life" (John. 7:39) flowing from the temple but going out into the driest places on the face of the earth (Ezekiel 47).

Without a recognition and co-operation with the Spirit, faith will die.

Much can be said about the Holy Spirit and gifts but more fundamental are the issues of faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13) and righteousness, peace and joy (Romans 14:17).

MAN MADE

- Faith, hope, love, righteousness, peace & joy.

You can place your faith in yourself, others or institutions.  I have not seen a human or institution who has not failed, so you are setting yourself up for fear of the coming fall.

Hope placed in things seen, even people, will be short lived.  These hopes will die.  Nations, relations and financial institutions rise and fall.

Love of the world is very fickle and based on looks and performance.

Righteousness is hard to attain and persist in.  Most just fail miserably and some become self-righteousness.

Peace does not come from security systems or even military might as many think.  Put an impenetrable barbed wire fence around you and yours and the fight breaks out in the laager.  Peace does not come from a guru or a good self image.  Where will your self image be when your chest is hanging around your navel and your mind is like porridge?

What the world thinks is joy is only entertainment.

Faith, hope, love, righteousness, peace & joy are only of the spirit

The blessed life all humans look for is not found in anything on earth.  We were made for heaven.  "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)  It is only the promised deposit from heaven, placed in our hearts that can fill the hungers we have.

"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17)

"Eating and drinking" - Life will never be about the things we can see and touch.  It is not even about the people around us.

"Righteousness" - We all have a longing to be good and acceptable - in a state of Grace.  Yet no matter how we try we fail or become falsely proud of our little achievements in "holiness".  It is only the great pain, suffering and cost that Christ paid that makes us acceptable and takes us to the place of Grace.

"Peace" - The start of peace is not a worldly situation but "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ".

"Joy" - Joy is a gift placed deep our spirit by The Spirit.  It has nothing to do with the world at all.

"Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:1-5)

"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" - the Glory of God being revealed is our great hope and rejoicing. God's Glory is his goodness enacted in the world.

"We rejoice in our suffering" - we rejoice in the midst of our suffering because of the Spirit in our hearts.

"May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

The Spirit is given to followers of Jesus.  Especially given to those who hunger after the things of God.  We are promised that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. He draws near by His Spirit.