All tagged holy spirit
There are those today that are filled with the Holy Spirit and don’t realize it because they don’t know the Holy Spirit from any other part of their faith. If he had come to them with a jolt like he did to the apostles, and licked above them with fingers of flame, and filled them with tongues, then there would be no doubt, but for many he comes gently with joy and comfort. To those who receive him in this way, it is so subtle that they have a hard time realizing he is with them because they can’t separate him from the basic movements of their faith until one day they are awakened joyfully to the reality of his presence within them.
How do we view those who don’t know God and who have no relationship with Jesus Christ? Do we walk past them and look for a tender spot in the heart of others, or do we begin to pray for their salvation? When a fellow believer falls on hard times, do we say a quick prayer to ourselves and then go about our lives, or do we sincerely pray for their relief every day? We say we want to be like Jesus and yet so many of us don’t follow Him in one of His most basic characteristics... we don’t lovingly intercede in prayer for others. Jesus is the Great Intercessor... but are we like Him in this regard?
More likely than not, if you are reading this, you know Jesus; who He is, and about His life. If you are reading this you may have asked Him to come into your life, confessed Him to be your Savior, and gone down in the waters of baptism. But my question to you this morning is twofold... how deep has your relationship with Him become, and have you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
You have professed your faith in God, and accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, but now you are asking yourself... “What is the Holy Spirit, will I receive it, and how will I know when I do?” Let’s explore the breath of Jesus and the Spirit He breathes onto us. Let’s ask our Lord to give us His comforter, and teacher to be with us as we journey, and to provide us through His Holy Spirit those things we need along the way.
Do we command that the promises of God be fulfilled? Is our assurance in God's Word more than humble trust and faith in it? Is our expectation that He must honor His contract with us down to every letter and term as we have come to understand them? Well, perhaps we should take a step back, and rethink how we approach God and conduct ourselves in prayer.
Do you focus on and contemplate God throughout each day, and in everything you do? Is your awareness and imagination being used to find the Lord in every circumstance and activity in your life? These are our questions to consider today, and the portion of our faith that we are called to examine. Let’s begin with a verse from Isaiah 26.
As I prepare to move into the second half of the year reading a daily devotional each morning that was written by Pastor E.M. Bounds (The Power of Prayer), I would like to direct our contemplation today towards the Holy Spirit and the impact that he has on our prayers, and our prayer lives. Will you walk with me as we study some of the important aspects of praying that the Holy Spirit brings into our prayer closets with us? Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as our paraclete, which means our helper, counselor, and comforter. Merriam-Wester’s dictionary defines paraclete simply as the Holy Spirit.
Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you really understand what this means to us? Why did the apostles have to wait for this filling and what did they do as they waited? The answers to these questions might just surprise you. So let's have a brief lesson.
How do we judge what we are contributing to the kingdom of God? Are we looking at our efforts, or the Lord’s? This is our topic for the day. When God calls us to perform His will, how do we go about determining if we will accept His calling? Do we look at our own skills and determine if it is possible for us, and then reject those things that we feel are beyond our ability? Or, perhaps we look at Jesus and say to ourselves "He could do all those things because He was the Son of God" and thus justify our silence when God calls out our weak and miserable name? Well, we should not look at our own strengths and weaknesses, but to the promises and power of God who calls us, and can do all things.
Today let's think about how completely God gave of Himself that we should find forgiveness of our sins and an everlasting life with Him. Then, let's ask ourselves if we are willing to give ourselves to Him just as completely and with the same abandon.
When we accept Jesus as Lord are we open to a complete life altering change in who we are, or simply asking Him to alter us in a few handpicked ways? Do we want to become like Jesus and be transformed into His perfect image by becoming a better and more righteous person, or do we simply want to pick and choose those attributes He exhibits that we believe will serve us well in our existing lives? Let’s ask ourselves questions like this… Do I want to be a slightly kinder person, or do I want to be kind as Jesus is kind? Do I want to be more humble, or do I want to be perfectly humble as Jesus is? God wants us to be transformed, but to what degree are we willing to accept the transformation? Will we conform to a complete mental, behavioral, and spiritual change and in so doing obey God’s will for us in its entirety?
Our Lord does not want us to wander lost through life. He calls us to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, and guides us with His Holy Spirit. No matter where we are in life He is there watching over us. Our Father teaches us as we follow Jesus, and gives us understanding through His Spirit. So, with all God’s love, and His personal instruction, education, and guidance, what is our excuse for wandering lost, not understanding who He is, or feeling alone?
When we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior, the Son of God, and are then baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift plays an important role in our spiritual lives by giving us such things as scriptural understanding, remembrance, prayer when we don’t have the words, and the various other gifts of the Spirit when we need them to obey and do the will of God. In the upper room, following the ascension of Jesus, the disciples received the Spirit, but they were not the first nor the last that the gospel of Jesus tells us of receiving him. We read first of Elisabeth the mother of John the Baptist, and John in her womb, being filled with the Spirit.
Have you ever been in prayer and found yourself unable to express yourself to God in words? In that moment did the Holy Spirit well up in you, and with a moan, a groan, a sigh, or even in a deep tearful silence, did you feel a connection with the Lord that was far beyond your ability to express in words, or even understand the depth of? This is prayer at its very foundation. This is the language of the soul. Have you experienced it?