Mission Finder Podcast #36 | Season 2
Hosts: Andrew Michael Arroyo & Don Nava
Part two of chapter six in the Holy Spirit lifestyle series opens with Luke 4:14: Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee,” and news of him spread through the region. That dependence ran through his whole earthly life. He was conceived by the Spirit (Luke 1:35), anointed at his baptism (Luke 3:22), led into the wilderness (Luke 4:1), and empowered for miracles (Acts 10:38). Michael Green, in I Believe in the Holy Spirit, writes that Jesus was utterly dependent on the Spirit. If he needed the Holy Spirit to minister effectively, how much more do we?
Partakers of the Divine Nature
Andrew Arroyo and Don Nava turn to 2 Peter 1:4: through God’s exceedingly great and precious promises we may become partakers of the divine nature. Don points out that every promise carries conditions, and the honest question is whether we are meeting them. What follows is not behavior modification but a renovation of the heart. The Spirit moves in with his nine fruit and nine gifts, opening access to love, joy, peace, wisdom, and power. A.W. Tozer says it in The Pursuit of God: the man who has God for his treasure has all things in one, and is rich in the midst of poverty.
What the More Abundant Life Actually Means
John 10:10 has two halves. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly. Don points to the Greek word zoe, God’s own life, with an adverb attached: more abundantly. Ephesians 3:20 says God works exceedingly abundantly beyond what we ask. This is not the American dream with weekend Christianity sprinkled on top.
Don’s definition, one he quotes daily: a life of continual joy and abounding grace, of peaceful contentment built on total commitment and total trust, where Jesus is exalted, self is denied, and the believer is used strategically by the Holy Spirit to advance God’s kingdom by sacrificially serving others with unconditional love through the destiny the Father planted in the heart.
Joy, Grace, and Contentment
Joy that transcends circumstances flows from the indwelling Spirit. Paul prays in Romans 15:13 that God would fill us with all joy and peace in believing. Grace abounds alongside it, sufficient for every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8), equipping believers to endure trials and finish their mission. Contentment is not passive. Paul learned it in every state (Philippians 4:11-13), and it rests on Proverbs 3:5-6.
The Cost and the Gain
Self-denial is the hinge. Luke 9:23 calls for taking up the cross daily, and Galatians 2:20 says it is no longer I who live. Oswald Chambers put it plainly in My Utmost for His Highest: he signed away his own rights to become a bondservant of Jesus Christ. The Spirit will not share a throne. Surrender costs everything, Don says, and gains everything.
