Having a Different Spirit (Episode 126)

The most transformative aspect of becoming a Christian is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. That’s how Christ lives in us. We may look the same as the world does on the outside. But on the inside, we have a different spirit. And people should be able to see the evidence of Christ living in us. In this episode, Frank King focuses on this unique spirit living in us.

When the Israelites came to the land God had promised their fathers, Moses sent12 spies to evaluate the land. When the spies returned, they revealed that giants lived in the land. The heart of God’s people melted when they heard about the giants. They did not believe God could deliver the land into their hands because of the giants.

But two of the twelve spies believed God could and would give them the land. Caleb said to the people, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30, KJV).

Caleb was not just speaking empty words when he said that. He really believed what he said because of what he believed about God. This we know because of what God said about Caleb:

“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it” (Numbers 14:24, KJV).

Note two things God said about Caleb. One, he had another spirit, relative to the other spies. Two, he had followed God fully. The point is that a direct correlation exists between a person’s spirit and how he interacts with God.

What Difference Is It Making?

Everyone who has been born again has been given a different spirit. That would be the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

But just because you have been born again does not mean you manifest a different spirit in your daily living. You can be born again and still act like, think like, and talk like the everyday unbeliever. A vast difference exists between the Spirit of God being dormant in you and the Spirit of God being alive in you. You can be a Christian and still persist to be carnally minded and worldly minded.

Accordingly, in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he writes, “I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1, KJV). He called them brethren because they were believers, but he also said they were carnal and not spiritual.

Caleb talked and believed differently from the other spies because God said he had another spirit. Similarly, Christians should talk and act and believe differently from the way this world does because God has put a different spirit on the inside of us.

But the question is, what difference is this new spirit making in your life? You have this divine power to live for and to serve and to fellowship with God. This should radically change how you live in the world, and how we interact with God. But what difference is it making in your life?