Tag: Holy Spirit

Delay for the Express Purpose of Our Edification

Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Whether we lack food, shelter, finances or wisdom, the Lord promises to provide us with our needs. He also promises to provide us with the desires of our hearts. But in all these things, He provides according to His perfect timing and His will for our lives.

God in His love promises that He will provide ample supply for all of our needs. Quite often, however, we experience a delay between our prayers and the answers to our prayers. In His infinite wisdom, Our Heavenly Father uses the experience of the delay for the express purpose of our edification.

If there were never any delays between our prayers and God’s provision, we would lose sight of the fact that God is controlling the process and not us. We would also lose the perspective that God wants us to rely on His grace for all things. We would lose the fervency of our prayers.

Because of the delay experience, we learn to go to the Holy Spirit to get help with our prayers. We learn that our prayers are too often coming from the desires of our flesh and not the desires of our spirit. By turning to the Holy Spirit, we learn to put our prayers in line with God’s will for our lives.

Let us turn to the Holy Spirit for the inspiration of our prayer content. Let us learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to align our prayers with the will and plan that Almighty God has for our lives. Let us rejoice in knowing that every need in our lives will be faithfully met through this powerful supernatural process.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace that is the source of all of our provision. We thank You for the perfect timing of Your answers for our prayers. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to help us pray properly for the things that we need. We pray that You show us Your will for our lives so that our prayers will be in accordance with Your plans for our lives. May our Holy Spirit inspired prayers touch Your heart so that You release from Your hands all that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the Power of God, Jesus Christ.

Moving Toward Our Manifest Destiny in Christ

John 13:17
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would yield water. But because the water did not come quick enough to suit Moses, in anger he struck the rock. Water came forth for the people to drink, but God was not pleased. Because Moses did not trust in God’s timing, he tried to make things happen his own way. In the process, he disobeyed God. Moses later suffered the consequences of his disobedience. He was not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan with his people.

What “promised land” are we missing because we are not being perfectly obedient in what God is asking us to do? God allows us much room for choice in our lives, but He also changes His rewards when we make poor choices. This is especially true if God has laid out a specific path for us to take, but we choose to take a different path.

Moses missed going into the promised land because he was not perfectly obedient to God’s direction in his life. We certainly risk missing our promised land when we are anything less than fully submitted to God’s direction in our lives.

Let us draw near to the Lord. Let us seek earnestly the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit. Let us move without hesitation when the Holy Spirit directs us toward our manifest destiny in Christ. Let us receive the fullness of the rewards that the Lord has in store for His obedient children.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You direct our ways through the urgings of the Holy Spirit in our lives each day. Prepare our hearts, Lord, so that we may be alert and obedient to Your calling on our lives. Teach us how to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit so that we may know the things that You ask of us. We pray that we will have the strength and wisdom to comply in accordance with Your plans for our lives. May we receive the fullness of the blessings that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without Blemish, Jesus Christ.

The Enemy’s Divide and Conquer Strategy

Revelation 3:2
Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

The message to the church of Sardis in the book of Revelation was, “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” The people of Sardis were urged to wakeup and strengthen what remained of their relationship with God or they would see their relationship with God disappear.

Today we are often guilty of sitting back and watching as the enemy tries to destroy not only our relationship with God, but our relationships in our marriages, our homes and our extended families. We need to wake up and strengthen these relationships through Jesus Christ. These relationships were placed in our lives by Almighty God. Just as Jesus Christ should be the foundation for our spiritual lives, these family relationships should be foundational elements in our natural lives.

The enemy knows how important these relationships are to us. He knows that if he can destroy these relationships that he can weaken our relationships with Our Father in heaven. The enemy knows this well and does everything possible to “divide and conquer”.

Divide and conquer can be very subtle…at least at first. Divide and conquer appears as meals eaten alone because the family is so busy. Divide and conquer is going to bed angry with a spouse over a relatively unimportant issue. Divide and conquer is skipping the family reunion because of some prior squabble with one family member.

We cannot be passive. We must wake up and be constantly on guard to protect our relationships. Our marriages, our homes and our extended families are treasures. When conflicts occur, we need to move swiftly to repair the damages and rebuild what the enemy is trying to destroy. We must be proactive in nurturing activities that keep the relationships alive. We must build walls of protection that withstand the assaults of the enemy.

Let us seek first to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. With Him as our sure foundation, let us be resolute in our efforts to build and protect all the personal relationships that God has given us as treasures on this earth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the treasures in life that You have provided through our marriages, our homes and our extended families. We pray that You will provide us with the armor that we need to fight against the enemy that seeks to take away our treasures. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to make Jesus Christ the foundation of our lives so that we can build indestructible walls of protection around our treasures. We ask all these things in the name of Our Sure Foundation, Jesus Christ.

The Joy of Walking Along Side Jesus

Matthew 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification. We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:

  • Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
  • The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
  • The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
  • Satan will attack us all along the way. As we grow in Christ, the intensity of the attacks will increase.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins. We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity. Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds? He is the essence of everything good. He is the absence of anything evil. He is perfect in every measure. This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master. As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity. We pray that Your countenance will shine up us. We pray that Your grace will be with us always. We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil. We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations. We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Impact of Words Cast from Our Mouth

Proverbs 15:4
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

God spoke the world into existence. Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick with His spoken words. There is great power in our words as well. Words cast out from our mouths have the power to build up and the power to crush. We must be conscious of the power of every word that we speak.

Destructive comments like, “You will never amount to anything,” can have long term, negative impact on the life of a child. Life giving comments like, “God has a special plan for your life,” can have long term, positive impact on the life of a child. We must be careful in choosing the words that we speak to our loved ones and to all the people that we encounter in life. We truly have the power to plant life or death into those around us.

Satan will stay in our ears all day long, feeding us with destructive words to be spoken against those that we care for. We must keep our armor up against the urgings to hurt others with our words. We must continually ask the Holy Spirit to help us to be mindful of our words so that we comfort and build up those around us instead of crushing their spirits.

Let us speak healing words to the wounded. Let us speak atoning words to those without Christ. Let us speak peace, encouragement and building up in the lives of all those that surround us. Let us silence any destructive words that the enemy tries to solicit from us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of speaking. We rejoice in praising You with our words and our songs. We take comfort in coming to You with our words of solicitation. We pray, Father, that You will fill our hearts with words that speak life into those around us. We pray that You will shield us from the urgings of the enemy to speak words of conflict and destruction. Build us up, Lord, so that we may build up others in Your Precious Name. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Word, Jesus Christ.

Our Living Testimony is Our Most Effective Tool for Opening Eyes for Christ

1 Peter 3:1-2
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

God is a respecter of no man. Therefore, what He directs to one, He directs to another. Therefore, whatever He directs to the wives, He also directs to the husbands. Therefore, whatever He directs to husbands and wives, He also directs for all relationships.

What Peter is teaching us is that we do not change the lives of our mates, or others around us, by our words. We change the lives of those around us by changing our own lives in accordance with the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Through our new lives in Christ, and not through our words, all around us are drawn to the truth that is working within us.

As the Holy Spirit changes us, He will also change our spouses and others in our lives. The Holy Spirit will work continuously to strengthen our marriages by making Jesus Christ the foundation of our union. He will work continuously to open the eyes of those around us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus.

Let us seek the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us. Let us strive to have the world see the presence of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. Let us lead lives that are marked by purity and reverence.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the institution of marriage. We thank You for providing us with mates who complete us in Christ. We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to surrender our individual lives to the work of the Holy Spirit so that He can build the foundations of our marriages in Jesus Christ. We thank You for providing us with friends and family to help build us up. May our lives open their eyes to the wondrous work of Jesus Christ. May He become the cornerstone of all our lives. We ask all these things in the name of our rock and our foundation, Jesus Christ.

Our Most Merciful Creditor

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all the people.

Every one of us on this earth is burdened by a sin debt that we cannot pay. It is a debt the carries the most severe of all debt penalties – eternal damnation. Our Divine Creator through His perfect love and forgiveness offers each of us a payment plan that allows us to remove the onerous debt. He is a most merciful creditor.

The debt clearing offer of Our Heavenly Father is not based on our good deeds, nor on the basis of our performance of any type. The redeeming offer that He makes to us is made to us as a free gift. It is called His grace. It is revealed to us by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. All we have to do is accept it in the name of His Son Jesus.

To add to the sweetness of His offer, He extends His grace to us by providing His Holy Spirit to in-dwell in us to guide, counsel and comfort us as we go through the debt period of our lives. Let us remember that we have not earned, nor do we deserve the grace of salvation. We are most unworthy, sin-burdened servants. It is by God’s grace and the shed blood of His Son that our salvation is possible.

Let us now live righteous and godly lives that correspond to the glorious debt free condition that we will hold when we stand before the Lord. Let humbly recognize that we cannot do it on our own, but we can through the grace of Almighty God and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the riches of Your grace that are extended to us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We pray that through Your grace we will lead sober, righteous and godly lives. May those who You have placed in our lives be drawn to accept Your salvation offer that is available to all of them through Your precious grace. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is the fount of all of Your grace, Jesus Christ.

Prepare to Receive All that He Has Prepared for Us Through His Son

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In this passage we are given the summation of all of our blessings.  God the Father is the author and giver of all blessings.  Jesus Christ is the medium that God the Father uses to dispense His blessings.  The sphere of coverage is every single blessing in heavenly places.

The fullness of everything that we need and the fullness of everything that will satisfy us originates with God the Father.  Every iota of these blessings is held in the hands of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. And His Holy Spirit dwells in us as the dispensing fount that we may draw on at any time.

Why should we ever look elsewhere?  Man can never be counted on to stand by us through all circumstances.  At some point, all men will fail one another.  The Lord, Jesus, never fails us.  He is with us even under the direst circumstances, even the ones that we have created ourselves.

Let us surrender ourselves to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us prepare to receive all that He can bestow, all that His Son can provide and all that the Holy Spirit can apply in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You provide to us through Your Son.  We pray that You show us how to turn to Jesus first in all things.  Strengthen us, Lord, so that we may leave behind our reliance on a fallen world.  Prepare us, Father, to stand before You one day and receive the fullness of Your kingdom in heaven.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Mediator, Jesus Christ.

Consumed by the Pentecostal Fire

Matthew 22:37
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

To love God with all of our heart, soul and mind requires that all of our physical strength and all of our intellect and understanding be fully engaged in turning all of our affections toward our heavenly Father. May we always be mindful that God provided His Son to die for our sins because we can not measure up to this command from Almighty God. We simply do not have the capacity, except through Christ in us, to love God to the extent that our love consumes our whole heart, soul and mind.

We should also be mindful that God is completely aware of our weakness. He provides His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to guide us along our path of sanctification. The Holy Spirit will not rest when we depart from making God the love above all loves in our lives. The Holy Spirit will not accept us living with one foot in God’s kingdom and one foot in the world. It is all or nothing with the Holy Spirit. The good news is that the Holy Spirit’s job is to follow through on God’s promise to perfect His strength in our weakness.

Let us, who have no virtue or value without the work of salvation in our lives, allow ourselves to be overtaken by the overwhelming love of Christ in our lives. Let us become vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.

Let us, who fall far short of loving Our Lord with all of our hearts, all of our souls and all of our minds, surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us be consumed by His pentecostal fire.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the mercy and the endless grace that You provide to each of us. We bless the name of Jesus who allows us to fulfill the law that we cannot fulfill on our own. Help us, Lord, to be keenly aware of the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Help us to humbly accept the corrections that the Holy Spirit is asking us to make in our lives. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will take us to the high places that can only be reached when our hearts are fully consumed by Your love. We ask all these things in the name of the Exalted One, Jesus Christ.

The Transformation of the Mind

John 16:12
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

Almighty God has created each of us to fulfill a unique need in His kingdom. His plan for our lives is much, much bigger than anything that we have ever imagined. We are just not ready to take it all in. Our flesh simply gets in the way with what the Holy Spirit has to teach us. And of course, for many of us, we dig our own holes which makes the process even harder. Nonetheless, for those that have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, His spirit will provide our strength where we are weak.

Even the apostles were not ready to receive and understand all the teachings of Jesus. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, their flesh simply could not handle what was going to be revealed to them in the spirit. It was only after Pentecost that the apostles were able to boldly proclaim the full gospel.

What a wonderful transformation when the Holy Spirit opens our minds to receive and understand the things that made no sense to us or had no value for us before. In the blink of an eye, our blinders are removed. Without even being cognizant of the process, we begin to assimilate truths that had been unavailable to us before. Then, just as suddenly we are able to share them with those who have been prepared to receive them.

Let us prepare our hearts to receive all that the Holy Spirit has for us. Let us fulfill the plans that Almighty God has created us to fulfill. Let us become all that God has created us to be.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Wonderful Counselor that You have provided to guide and instruct us. We humbly ask that You prepare us to receive all that the Holy Spirit has to teach us. May we become willing vessels, ready to take on the fullness of Your living water. We pray that we will be eager to have the living water pass through us to bring life and enlightenment to those around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Water, Jesus Christ.