How Many People

Reading 3 books at the moment (why do I do this to myself?). On page 32 of Francis Chan's "Forgotten God," he presents this assertion in form of a question that I thought might be a good discussion point:
"This may be a silly illustration, but if I told you I had an encounter with God where He entered my body and gave me a supernatural ability to play basketball, wouldn't you expect to see an amazing improvement in my jump shot, my defense, and my speed on the court? After all, this is God we're talking about. And if you saw no change in my athleticism, wouldn't you question the validity of my 'encounter'?"

How many people across America say that the Holy Spirit has entered them, and yet there is no supernatural living present in their lives? What does it really mean to be born again? Surely this is the point that Paul is discussing with Timothy in 2 Tim. 3 when he tells Timothy, "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."

Or, perhaps this is the frustration James is dealing with in James 3, when he poses the question, "Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?" James sums it up when he says, "these things ought not be so."

But how do we get past this? The first thing I am doing is to open God's Word in search of any preconceived ideas I've had about Jesus and His work in my life; or what it means for me to be the place God's Spirit dwells now. IF God has invaded my being, what are the things in that should be improving? How about you?