Information Related to "Goodness: God's Character and Man's Potential"
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Are you suffering an internal spiritual war? If so, that's a good sign. It's a sign that you are pursuing goodness, which causes the badness of human nature to fight back.
Yes, according to the Bible, badness comes naturally (Romans 8:7). Goodness does not. But God has a wondrous plan to radically transform our character!
Though our natural inclination is to defy God in sin, He has determined to help us overcome that nature to live a life of righteousness and goodness. This is possible only through a relationship with Him. As the apostle John explained, "He who does good [as a way of life] is of God, but he who does evil [as a way of life] has not seen God [i.e., has not come to really know Him]" (3 John 11).
John also explained that those who truly are of God have God living in them through the Holy Spirit: "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit"
(1 John 4:13).
Paul explained to believers that God's perfect, loving character is "poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5, New Revised Standard Version).
We can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith, repentance, water baptism and the laying on of hands by God's servants (Acts 2:38,41; 8:14-17).
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