You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Holy Spirit’ tag.
To do this, I work and struggle, using Christ’s great strength that works so powerfully in me. Colossians 1:29 (NCV)
Do a study of the Old Testament and you will see a phrase from time to time that goes something like this: ‘And the Spirit of the Lord came upon them/him/her.’ When God’s Spirit comes on the scene you know something exciting is going to happen. When the Spirit of the Lord ‘came upon’ people in the Old Testament there was no question that the actions taken by the person ‘under the power of the Spirit’ was acting on God’s behalf.
People were raised from the dead; received supernatural powers; were given wisdom beyond comprehension. Nations fell and lives were changed when God’s Spirit ‘came upon’ people.
Fast forward to some of Jesus’ last days on earth. The time was fast approaching when he would be brutally murdered on the cross. His time with his followers was short. In John 14 Jesus gives the disciples a totally new revelation, one that when completed would change the course of history. Jesus promises that after he is gone God the Father would send his very own Spirit to help, to guide, to teach and to empower the followers of Jesus to do the work of the Kingdom!
In the Old Testament the Spirit ‘came upon’ people. Now, the Holy Spirit ‘lives in’ people! What a marvelous promise. We no longer need to wait for the Spirit to come to us, He’s here! Living inside me! He sees all the things I see, hears the things I hear, feel the pain I feel, lives through the hardship I live through. He feels the pain of my loneliness; sees the heartache of my failures; hears the words of my accusers!
It’s so easy in the Christian life to ‘know the fact of the Spirit’s presence’ without experiencing the ‘power of the Spirit’s presence.’ We get distracted by the cares of the world and start to believe that we are in this struggle alone. We start to rely on our own efforts, seek the praises of men, or measure our worth by the gifts, talents and abilities others consider worthy.
Don’t let the things you see and feel in this world take away from the power that lives within you. Paul says, in our verse for today, that he struggles using Christ’s strength, not his own to do the work God called him to do.
What work has God called you do to today? Do it in the strength of the Spirit, not your own. Whether it be managing a huge corporation or tending to children in a day care, whether it is flipping burgers at the local fast-food shop, or cleaning rooms in the local hotel. God has called you to a work and given you his Spirit to strengthen you!
PRAYER: Father I thank you for your Holy Spirit that lives in me every second of my day. Forgive me for the times I try to take matters into my own hands and do them in my own strength. Help me use the power within, the power of your Spirit to live. Amen.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)
“We won’t really know until we open him up and have a look inside.”
Imagine the feeling of a parent or spouse as they hear those words. Perhaps you don’t have to imagine. You may have been the one in the waiting room praying, worrying, hoping. Trusting God helps, but it doesn’t take away the knot in the stomach.
Even though the tests medical science has come up with are amazing, there is still an element of ‘surprise’ once the surgery begins and the surgeons look inside. Often they don’t really know how to ‘heal’ the situation until they are in the process of the surgery.
Many times we assume that our Heavenly Father is like the surgeon. He sees us and the problems we have. He sees the wound of our souls and has a rough idea of what he will do to make us ‘whole and usable’ for his purpose. He begins the surgery of our heart, but doesn’t really know what will happen until he gets inside of us. His actions are determined by what he discovers inside. Our healing is dependent on discovery.
Viewing God as some great surgeon with scalpel in hand is contrary to the picture that the Bible paints. Even the best of surgeons are dependent on what they see in the present and what they’ve seen in the past. The Father sees your future. The Father sees you in your entirety. He sees your physical limitations, your emotional make-up and your spiritual struggle, and after all that, he chose you!
He isn’t surprised by your addiction. He isn’t surprised by your anger. He isn’t surprised by your struggle with pornography or worry or financial demise. He saw your divorce coming before the earth cooled. He knew all about you and still he chose you.
Not only did he see your present before you saw your past, he sees your future as well. A surgeon looks at your physical condition and determines your prognosis. With the Father your prognosis is dependent on Jesus Christ and what he did for you on the cross. The empty tomb of Christ is a symbol of what the Father thinks of you. Resurrected. Perfect. Eternally blessed. Ready for heaven. Established as his dearly loved children.
PRAYER: Father God, I never tire of the reminder that you loved me enough to choose me even though you knew my weakness. Thank you that your love is based on the person of Jesus Christ and not the mortal soul I am. I’m eternally grateful for the truth that I’m chosen by you. Amen.
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11
Years ago now the news broke in my area of a young person who died tragically in a house fire. What made the death even more of a tragedy is that when he heard the smoke detectors in the middle of the night, he got scared and hid under his bed. When his parents frantically checked his room they didn’t see him and thought him to be outside. He was too scared to answer their calls.
By the time they realized he hadn’t made it outside it was too late. The young man perished from smoke inhalation. The fire was put out quickly. The rest of the family, while devastated at the loss of a loved one, was able to rebuild and go on with life. But the wound of that night haunted them for years. “He was so close to safety,” his dad remarked, “yet his fear was so much greater than his understanding of the situation it twisted his thinking with deadly consequences.”
When we are afraid, for whatever reason, we naturally look for a safe place to regroup. We seek a refuge that will protect us from further pain or harm, a place where we can feel safe and comforted. A place of refuge that will allow us to reach the full potential of our being.
The strength of our refuge determines the amount of peace, safety and healing we take with us on the journey. Some take refuge from emotional pain in new relationships. But relationships are fickle at best and can’t offer the lasting peace we crave. People who aren’t comfortable with the relationship they have with themselves find it difficult, if not impossible, to find true fulfillment in relationship with someone else.
Others seek refuge in addictive behaviors, anger, religious experience, careers, social action and a variety of other things bent on helping them suppress the fear and anxiety in their lives and replace it with comfort and a sense of well-being.
Those who learn how to take refuge in our Heavenly Father find peace in the midst of tragedy; encouragement in the face of disappointment; healing when anger raises its ugly head. Why? Because our human intellect tells us a refuge is protection from the outside, but the eternal, unshakeable refuge we have in God through Jesus Christ is an internal refuge that guards what external refuges can never protect, our souls.
Our bodies will fail us. Old age and/or death are 100% likely for each of us. Relationships will fail. Careers will end. Dreams will slip away in the night. But there is nothing in the seen or the unseen world that will ever break through the refuge of our souls that Jesus Christ offers us.
PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for the protection that you offer us through Jesus Christ. I thank you that we can find complete inner peace and safety when we take refuge in you. I confess I too often seek refuge from things that don’t last. Empower me to learn how to rest in the refuge you can give so in the midst of my adversity I can find rest. Amen.
You changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness. Psalm 30:11 NCV
“I can do it myself!”
The battle cry of the four-year-old! It may be trying to tie a pair of shoes, or putting a shirt, or any number of things. When met with that challenge you have basically two options, perhaps three. It depends on the task at hand and if any personal injury is possible.
You could try to talk the ‘expert in life’ through the options and, by so doing, work your way into the solution. Rarely works, but young parents usually try this approach…once.
You could strong arm the situation. Rip the task right out of the hands of the over-confident zealot. It will get the job done better and faster on your part. However the child will be frustrated, angry and, if you strong-arm enough times, will lose the self-confidence to try new things. The result? Fear of failure and the loss of joy that comes from accomplishing something.
A third option is often the best for the child and hardest for the parent. Option three involves standing idly by and watching and waiting to be needed. The key to this option is that you are always there to provide protection when needed, advice when asked and encouragement in the process. You are ready and willing to step in when needed to assist with the completion of the task.
The risk with this option is that the job may indeed be accomplished but not nearly as well as you could have done. It may be completed satisfactorily, but in a much longer time frame. The benefits are that the child will learn his limitations, and also learn that you can be trusted to come to their aid when needed.
Our heavenly Father is an option three kind of guy. Did you notice that the options for dealing with a four year old apply to every age? We all have the ‘four-year-old’ mentality that screams that we can manage life in our own ways, our own power, and our own time.
Frustration, anger and bitterness come in when we realize we can’t do ‘it’ alone. We can’t hold this marriage together one more day. We can’t carry the responsibilities of our co-workers and our own. They need to chip in some energy. We can’t do it by ourselves. We can’t risk our entire lives with this child that seems intent on destroying our family reputation. We simply can’t do it anymore.
When you come to the point in life when you realize you are out of options. When you realize your strength is gone and your resolve to succeed is dwindling, the first thing to leave is your joy.
Life doesn’t hold the same excitement. Your relationships seem to be more of a chore than a blessing. The pastor’s sermons are dry, the church becomes irrelevant, the Christian life seems impossible.
When our joy is taken from us it robs us of our will to go on. That’s when our Heavenly Father steps in. He’ll never intrude without our asking. He’ll never abandon us when we seek him out.
Jesus came to earth to show us the way of joy. He can take the clouds of sadness and replace them with joy if you will let him in.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you know the burden I’m bearing right now. You know the frustration and fatigue that are destroying my will to move forward. Thank you that the things I struggle with today can be turned over to you and you will walk me through the challenges of life. I praise your holy name. Amen.
Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. James 5:13 (NLT)
The words of an old hymn:
The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide, A Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide, A Shelter in the time of storm.
The words speak of comfort; of protection from life; of security and hope. For every person that calls Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord these words offer us the promise that regardless of how bad things go in our lives, we have a place where we can go to have our needs met.
Imagine climbing a mountain trail. Suddenly a violent storm encloses you. In the distance you see a large hole in a rock wall that is big enough for you to ‘hide’ in. You run to the rock and watch the storm crash around you. The thing that once brought fear (the storm) no becomes a source of awe as you see God’s power unleashed in nature.
Each of us has encountered storms in life. Perhaps you are going through one now. The storm of having a spouse that doesn’t believe in Jesus; a child who is in rebellion; financial pressure; unemployment; health issues or the inner struggle to forgive and let go of bitterness. Prayer should be that rock in which we hide from the storms that surround us.
When people encounter the storms of life they tend to seek advice from others, look for ways of escaping the pain or blame other people for the problem. They’ll try new relationships, new ‘adventures’, different jobs or circles of friends. But those are only temporary fixes. Some will seek books or counselors or even conferences to help weather the storm. But even though these may help, the most powerful thing we can do is pray.
Those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers know that. Some of us even preach that. But do we pray? Talking about prayer may give us some emotional satisfaction.Readingabout prayer may give us insightful information. Going to prayer conferences and ‘prayer houses’ may allow us to see awesome acts of God. But for change in our own life, pray.
Prayer. It’s the most powerful weapon we own as believers. It takes no training to learn its use. It can be done by the youngest and newest believer or by the ‘veteran believer’ steeped in years of experience.
I often have people ask me to pray for them. Sometimes they will say things like, “God listens to you” or “I can’t pray as good as you can.” Prayer isn’t graded. God doesn’t ‘listen’ more to a pastor than he does anyone else. The power of prayer comes from practice and persistence and the presence of the Holy Spirit, not from knowledge.
Prayer. It’s our shelter in the time of storm.
PRAYER: Father I thank you for the shelter you have given me in the midst of the storm. Forgive me for talking about prayer and talking to other people. Help me remember that coming to you is the best weapon I have against the storms I’ll face today. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 