Don’t Tune Out God’s Voice

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” EPHESIANS 4:30

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know it is possible for God to give up on a person? Did you know that God will not always send His Holy Spirit to talk to a person? The Bible says in Genesis 6:3 in a solemn warning, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever.” Now God is infinitely patient, but there comes a time when the Holy Spirit can be so insulted, so sinned against, that you cross a deadline and God's gentle, precious Holy Spirit, no longer speaks to your heart. Did you know you cannot be saved unless the Holy Spirit of God draws you to Jesus Christ? Did you know man’s preaching can never save anybody? Did you know that even the truth of the Word of God cannot save you unless the Holy Spirit of God makes that truth real to your heart? Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). The Spirit of God must draw you to Jesus Christ. But there comes a time when the Holy Spirit of God may be so blasphemed that He will no longer speak to your heart.

What warning do you receive from today’s devotion?

What needs to change in your heart in response to this warning?

PRACTICE THIS

Identify what you need to put aside to better hear the Spirit of God today; take action so that you can hear His voice.

LWF Dr. Adrian 

How Can I Be Filled with the Spirit?

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? How can we experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our church and ourselves that fills us with indomitable joy and frees us, and empowers us, to love those around us in ways so authentic that they are won to Christ?

Answer: Meditate day and night upon the incomparable, hope-giving promises of God. As Romans 15:4 shows us, that’s the way Paul kept his heart full of hope and joy and love. “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The full assurance of hope comes from meditating on the promises of God’s word. And this does not contradict the sentence nine verses later that says that the Holy Spirit gives us hope (Romans 15:13). This is because the Holy Spirit is the divine author of Scripture. His word is the means of his work. It is no contradiction that the way he fills us with hope is by filling us with his own word of promise.

Hope is not some vague emotion that comes out of nowhere, like a stomachache. Hope is the confidence that the stupendous future promised to us by the word of the Spirit is going to really come true. Therefore, the way to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with his word. The way to have the power of the Spirit is to believe the promises of his word.

For it is the word of promise that fills us with hope, and hope fills us with joy, and joy overflows in the power and freedom to love our neighbor. And that is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

John Piper 

Power You Already Possess but Forget to Use

Pray Over This

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” Acts 1:4-5

Ponder This

Jesus told the disciples to tarry until they were endued with power from on high. But we don’t need to tarry. The Holy Spirit has already come. We don’t need to say, “Oh God, send Your Spirit.” He’s sent His Spirit. That would be like praying, “Oh God, send Jesus to die on the cross.” No, He has died on the cross. Calvary’s an accomplished fact. Pentecost is an accomplished fact. What we need now to do is to receive the promise.

If you are a Christian, if you are truly saved, you’ve already received that promise. You may say, “Well I don’t feel it.” I want to tell you something. You can be a part of a denomination and be lost. You can attend worship services and be lost. But you cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit in you. That’s what makes you a Christian. If you repented of your sins, you have already received the Holy Spirit of God.

How much would you say you rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in daily life?

How might you learn to do this more?

 

Practice This

Take time today to pray frequently, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in routine decisions; seek to honor and serve Him in all you do.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When the Wind of Heaven Fills the Room

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” ACTS 2:2

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever heard a tornado? Everybody says it sounds like a freight train and that’s true. Twice I have been close enough to a tornado to hear the noise, and it is an awesome sound! Now if you think a tornado sounds awesome outside, what would you think about an indoor one? This one was inside the house where the believers were sitting.

Just as the wind comes from Heaven, the Holy Spirit comes from Heaven. As the wind moves at will, commanded by nobody, so the Holy Spirit of God is sovereign and moves at will. As the wind is mysterious—we can’t tell where it comes from or where it’s going—so is the Holy Spirit. And yet, as the wind operates according to fixed laws, so does God’s blessed, precious Holy Spirit. The wind is invisible but powerful! And there’s an invisible, powerful force living in every believer in Jesus—the Holy Spirit of God.

How easy or difficult do you find it to believe that the Holy Spirit is powerful in your life?

Where do you currently feel that you need the power of the Holy Spirit?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the things that make it easy or difficult for you to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. What do you need to start or stop to lean further into the power of the Spirit in your life?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Experience the Spirit Through Faith

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:5)

Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul said, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9). The Spirit came to you the first time when you believed in the blood-bought promises of God. And the Spirit keeps on coming, and keeps on working, by this same means.

So Paul asks, rhetorically in Galatians 3:5, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” Answer: “By hearing with faith.”

Therefore, the Spirit came the first time, and the Spirit keeps on being supplied, through the channel of faith. Whatever he accomplishes in and through us is by faith.

If you are like me, you may have strong longings from time to time for the mighty working of the Holy Spirit in your life. Perhaps you cry out to God for the outpouring of the Spirit in your life or in your family or church or city. Such cries are right and good. Jesus said, “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

But what I have found most often in my own life is the failure to open myself to the full measure of the Spirit’s work by believing the specific promises of God. I don’t mean merely the promise that the Spirit will come when we ask. I mean all the other precious promises that are not directly about the Spirit but, perhaps, about God’s provision for my future — for example, “My God will supply every need of yours” (Philippians 4:19). God’s Spirit is supplied in an ongoing and powerful way precisely through specific acts of faith in specific promises for specific situations. Do I trust him right now to do what he has promised to do?

This is what is missing in the experience of so many Christians as they seek the power of the Spirit in their lives. The Spirit is supplied to us “by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5) — not just faith in one or two promises about the Spirit himself, but about all the soul-satisfying presence of God in our future to do for us, and be for us, whatever we need.

John Piper 

When You Can’t Figure It All Out

“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.”

1 JOHN 5:6-9

 

PONDER THIS

When I fly on an airplane, I have to trust the pilot. When I eat in a restaurant, I have to trust the cook. You read a map; you trust the map maker. You’re trusting the engineer who built the building you are sitting in. We trust people every day. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” The word “if” there may be translated “since.” Since we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.

If you want to know who Jesus Christ is, ask the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just say, “You must believe, and if you can’t believe that’s your hard luck.” God says, “If you want to believe, I will help you to understand, and to know that these things are true.” Nobody can tell me you cannot believe. You may refuse to believe, but I will tell you this: If you want to believe in Jesus Christ, if you seek truth, God the Holy Spirit will speak and confirm that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He witnesses to you, and then He witnesses in you. Instead of trying to figure out all matters of faith and life on your own, turn to the One who can help you through it. The Spirit will guide you in the truth of Christ and the way to life.

What are some ways you have tried to figure out matters of faith on your own?

What are some things you are struggling to believe about God right now?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and confess to God the ways you are struggling to believe Him. Ask Him to guide you in His truth.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When You Can’t Even Pray

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” ROMANS 8:26-27

 

PONDER THIS

The Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our sorrow. Have you ever hurt so bad you couldn’t even pray? I have. All you can do is groan. But the Holy Spirit says, “I will groan with you; I will pray for you; and I will intercede for you before the Father.” Both the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercede for us before the Father.

There is the guilt we exhibit, and there is the grace we enjoy, but there are still groans that we endure: the groaning of creation, the groaning of the Christian, and thank God, the groaning of the Holy Spirit. His groans remind us we are not alone, but they also comfort us as He takes our needs to the Father even when we don’t know what to say. Because of the Holy Spirit, every hurt can turn into a hallelujah, every tear into a pearl, every midnight into a sunrise, and every Calvary to a resurrection.

When have you been speechless in grief? Where did you turn in that time?

When has the Holy Spirit been a comforter to you? How can you remind yourself to go to God in your grief?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with God the grief you have been carrying. Ask the Holy Spirit to move in your heart and comfort you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Special Agent

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

ROMANS 8:9

 

PONDER THIS

What is the Holy Spirit’s work in you? He is going to make you like God. By the work of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to act like Christ; the Holy Spirit reproduces Jesus Christ in you. If the Christian life is lived in your house, it’ll be Jesus in you. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes Jesus Christ real in you.

If you want to know whether people have the Holy Spirit, don’t ask if they can speak with tongues. Don’t ask if they have the right beliefs. Ask, “Are they like Jesus?” That’s the sign of those who have the Holy Spirit of God. But before you ask anyone else that question, you need to ask that question of yourself. Are you like Jesus? Does your life reflect Him? The Holy Spirit isn’t a bystander. He is an active member of the Trinity and the change agent to make us like Christ.

What is Jesus like? What are some characteristics that reflect Him?

How have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in someone else? How could you tell it was God working in that person?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage someone you have seen live like Christ through the Holy Spirit’s work.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Do Not Witness Alone

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

ACTS 5:32

 

PONDER THIS

On occasion, I have been told, “You would have made a great salesman.” Maybe so, but I don’t know. I might have been a flop, but preaching is not being a salesman, and witnessing is not being a salesman. I’ve said this thousands of times: anything I can talk you into, somebody else can talk you out of. When I’m preaching, I need the Holy Spirit of God to be going up and down these aisles, saying, “Amen, you’d better listen to him. He’s telling the truth.”

The Bible says when we are filled with the Spirit, He witnesses with us. I would not think of walking out here on this platform to preach without a conscious anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. I get on my knees and pray for the anointing before I speak because, in spite of my own personal convictions and in spite of the confirmation of the Scriptures, there’s still another ingredient needed: the Holy Spirit of God needs to speak to your heart. It’s wonderful when God’s Holy Spirit sweeps across a congregation. The Church is not just an organization, we’re an organism, and God’s Holy Spirit is active here.

What is the problem with sharing about Jesus in our own strength and power?

What are some ways you seek to stay connected to God as you live out your faith?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God to lead you to specific people with whom you can share your faith and to help you with each conversation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Holy Spirit Wants to Flow Through You

When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me: ‘This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.’”

EZEKIEL 47:7-8

 

PONDER THIS

A river has mighty force: It’s relentless; it’s hard to handle; and you can do nothing to stop a river. You say, “We can dam it up.” Well, it’d just overflow its banks. You say, “We’ll throw rocks into it.” Throw all the rocks you want, but you can’t stop this river. The only way a river can be stopped is to cut off the flow at its source.

What is the source of this river? The Holy Spirit is flowing out of you. Inside of you is the key to revival! God wants mighty force to come out of you. Here’s what happens if the river is flowing within you: Where the waters flow, the tree will grow. This was the desert, and now there were these glorious, succulent, green trees growing alongside the river. The Bible says a righteous man is like a tree planted by the river. But the Word isn’t talking about mere trees; He’s talking about your life—your life bearing fruit—blessing and changing the lives of many.

If you get on fire for Jesus Christ, if that humble, holy, and heated flow is coming out of you, if those waters are flowing down into the depressed, the desert, and the deadly places, then lost people will be attracted.

How have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in someone else’s life?

What is something that makes it hard to believe the Holy Spirit could work in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for the people you want to share your faith with and ask God to work through His Spirit in you to reach them.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

God’s Greater Works Through Us

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” JOHN 14:26

 

PONDER THIS

A preacher friend of mine said, “When I first got saved, I was so full of joy. I walked out and I said, ‘Man, this is easy. This is wonderful.’” Then after he lived a while and got his nose bumped a few times, he said, “This is difficult.” And then as he repented and tried to get better and stronger and made more resolutions and resolves, he failed more, and he said, “This is impossible.” But then he learned the secret of Christ in him, and he said, “This is wonderful.”

There’s only one who has ever lived the Christian life: His name is Jesus. And if the Christian life is lived in your house, in your club, on your team, in your choir, there’s only one person who’ll be doing it: Jesus! May God help us understand this: We’re not to be little imitations of Jesus; it is Christ in us doing the work. He said, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14). He is the one who steps in. This is the exceeding power we have to do greater works than the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was on Earth, He was limited by time and space. But when He comes into each of His people through the Holy Spirit, He’s not limited by space; He’s not limited by time. He lives and dwells in all of us through the Holy Spirit of God and, therefore, the Church is the body of Jesus on Earth.

When have you tried to handle things on you own in your faith? What was that like?

What does it look like to depend on the Holy Spirit?

PRACTICE THIS

Speak with someone you look up to in the faith and ask how he or she has learned to depend on the Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Job is to Be Faithful

PRAY OVER THIS

“So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:30-31

 

PONDER THIS

We are not really in the truest sense soul winners. The Holy Spirit is the soul winner. He is a soul winner through us and to that degree we are soul winners. That means our job is not to be successful; our job is to be faithful. Our job is to make the message clear and help people understand. They can’t understand unless we show them. Why didn’t God send an angel down there to tell this man how to be saved? Angels don’t know the joy that salvation brings because they haven’t experienced it. We are privileged to do something angels cannot. The man said, “How can I understand unless I have help?” He wanted Philip to come and sit with him. And Phillip was able to walk him through God’s Word and show him how it pointed to Jesus.

We must preach the Christ of God. Philip didn’t preach to him about economics. He didn’t preach to him about the social and political situation in Ethiopia. He preached Jesus. That is our role when we share our faith with others. The Holy Spirit is the One who will convict and win souls for Christ.

What intimidates you about sharing your faith with others?

How will you be faithful to share Jesus with others?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for someone you know who does not have a relationship with Jesus. Ask God to place faith questions on his or her heart like He did with the Ethiopian eunuch.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Are You Relying on the Holy Spirit Today?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” 

John 14:16-18

 

PONDER THIS

When you are born-again, your birthday gift is the Holy Spirit. You receive the Holy Spirit when you repent and believe the gospel and He comes to live within you. What does He come in to do? He comes in to control your life. Salvation is not just believing something or achieving something, it is receiving Someone. Salvation is not getting Man out of Earth into Heaven. That’s just the byproduct of salvation. Salvation is getting God out of Heaven into Man.

How can you receive this? Repent. Believe the Gospel. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus did not call us to make decisions; He called us to make disciples. People may have gone through all these other things, but if they don’t continue, they’re not saved. It’s not that they lost salvation; they never had it. Real salvation is not merely an act that you look back to, it is a present experience. The question is not what you did once in the past. The question is the person sitting in your seat, right now, trusting Christ as his or her personal Savior. The Bible tells us to look to the present reality. The way I can know I’m saved is that I’m now believing in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

What does it look like to let the Holy Spirit control your life?

What is the problem with only depending on past experiences instead of making faith a present reality?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with a friend how your faith is presently active.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Whose Job Is It to Convict a Heart of Sin?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’” Acts 2:37-39

 

PONDER THIS

A crucial thing that happened to the people at Pentecost was they were convicted by the Lord. I pray repeatedly, “Dear God, let the Holy Spirit of God convict people.” I can’t browbeat anybody into being a Christian. I can’t do a sales job on people. I want us to have such spiritual power in our hearts and in our lives that when the Word of God goes forth, it cuts the hearts of people. They were convicted by the Lord.

Secondly, they were converted to the Lord. Peter said to them, “Repent.” Now, that word “repent” means a change of mind, a turning around. There must be a change of mind about sin. There must be a change of mind about self. There must be a change of mind about God. When I turn to Jesus, in faith, I turn from sin. But nobody has ever been saved unless he or she has been converted. And nobody’s been converted except by repentance. They were convicted by the Lord. They were converted to the Lord. And then, there was a confession of the Lord.

What do you struggle to turn away from that God may be convicting you about?

How has your life changed since you were saved by Christ? How does your life reflect living for Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for a person you know who is far from God and has not been convicted over their sin.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Must You Do to be Saved?

PRAY OVER THIS

“This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?”

Galatians 3:2-4

 

PONDER THIS

Grace is the free gift of God. You’re not saved by joining a church, getting baptized, singing in the choir, preaching a sermon, or coming to church. You’re saved by the grace of God. There’s no way to earn it. Works don’t save and works don’t help save. Romans 11:6 says, “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.” You can’t mix grace and works. If it’s by grace, forget your good works. Baptism, whether a spoonful or a tankful, can’t take away your sin. Your prayers, your pilgrimages, anything you do, cannot take away your sin.

The grace of God is not only a saving grace it is also a securing grace. Do you know why you have eternal security? Because you’re saved by grace. Now, if you were saved by works and your works failed, you’d lose your salvation. But grace can never fail. This was Paul’s point in Galatians 3:3. The Spirit that saved you is the Spirit that’s going to perfect you and carry you all the way through.

Have you been tempted to try to earn God’s favor? Why won’t that work?

How can you remind yourself salvation is only possible through grace?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for His gift of grace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Comparing Suffering to Future Glory

PRAY OVER THIS

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:24-28

 

PONDER THIS

All creation has a curse on it. The creation moans and groans and has pain, pang, and woe. Being saved does not make you immune to suffering. Our bodies are not yet redeemed. Even we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan. This groaning of the Christian is heard by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He is there with us. Jesus said the Spirit is one called alongside us, like an attending physician beside the patient. Jesus also calls the Holy Spirit the “Helper” (John 14:16), which means one who is called alongside to help. Yes, we know suffering. We know sorrow. But that’s not the end of the story. Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Creation groans and the Christian groans. But the Holy Spirit knows our infirmity, and He groans with intercessions and prayers that cannot be uttered. The groans we endure, we do not endure alone. They are temporary, but the glory we anticipate is eternal.

What are some hurts or frustrations you are experiencing now? Where do you need the help of the Holy Spirit?

Do you regularly turn to Christ in your difficulties? Why or why not?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down some of the struggles you are facing that are out of your control and give them to the Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We are Called to be a Faithful Witness

PRAY OVER THIS

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

 

PONDER THIS

When God says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16), by implication God is saying you shall bear faithful witness. Jesus Christ is called “the faithful witness” (Revelation 1:5), and we’re to be witnesses to Him. My home and your home ought to be witnesses to the saving power of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

When the Bible says the Early Church took the Gospel from house to house (Acts 5:42), that does not mean someone went door to door. It means the Gospel goes from the Jones’ house to the Smith’s house, and from the Smith’s house to the Brown’s house, and so forth. In other words, one family becomes a witness to another family. Our families are to bear witness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Has Jesus Christ saved you? Has He changed your home? Is He real to you? A witness tells what he or she has seen and heard. Jesus did not call you to be His lawyer. A lawyer argues a case. A witness simply shares what he’s seen and heard. Just tell people what Jesus Christ has done for you and how you know He has done it. Don’t give witness about things you don’t know; witness about things you do know. If you fail, that’s even a part of your witness. Tell how you failed and how God forgave you and gave you another chance. Your neighbor is waiting to hear the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Who has been a faithful witness of Christ to you?

How do you interact with your neighbors? Does your life give evidence that you are a witness for Christ? Explain.

PRACTICE THIS

Serve a neighbor today by witnessing about what Christ has done in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Seeing God at Work

PRAY OVER THIS

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 12:13

 

PONDER THIS

The motivating power of Jesus’ body is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is to be the life of the Church. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no power in the Church! There is a difference between an organism and an organization. The Church is organized, but it is not an organization; it is an organism. An organization does not necessarily have life. There are so many wonderful organizations, but none like the Church. The life of God is to be in us.

Granted, you can get a group of people together, get a beautiful building, get a man who can speak well, get them organized around some causes, and call it a church, but it may not be the Lord’s Church. It may be a wonderful organization. But there’s a distinct difference when the Spirit of Almighty God is working and moving among His people. There is a spiritual dynamic in the Church. Just as my human spirit is the life of my body that is motivating me right now, the Holy Spirit of God is the life of the Church. There is a song that says, “All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.” The Church is not a corporation with Jesus as the president. It is a body with Jesus as the head.

How have you seen the Holy Spirit at work in your church?

When have you seen the Holy Spirit alive in other members of your church?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for your church and ask God to make His Holy Spirit alive in your local church body.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Can I Be Filled with the Spirit?

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? How can we experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our church and ourselves that fills us with indomitable joy and frees us, and empowers us, to love those around us in ways so authentic that they are won to Christ?

Answer: Meditate day and night upon the incomparable, hope-giving promises of God. As Romans 15:4 shows us, that’s the way Paul kept his heart full of hope and joy and love. “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The full assurance of hope comes from meditating on the promises of God’s word. And this does not contradict the sentence nine verses later that says that the Holy Spirit gives us hope (Romans 15:13). This is because the Holy Spirit is the divine author of Scripture. His word is the means of his work. It is no contradiction that the way he fills us with hope is by filling us with his own word of promise.

Hope is not some vague emotion that comes out of nowhere, like a stomachache. Hope is the confidence that the stupendous future promised to us by the word of the Spirit is going to really come true. Therefore, the way to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with his word. The way to have the power of the Spirit is to believe the promises of his word.

For it is the word of promise that fills us with hope, and hope fills us with joy, and joy overflows in the power and freedom to love our neighbor. And that is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

John Piper 

Are You Sealed by the Holy Spirit?

PRAY OVER THIS

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14

 

PONDER THIS

I want you to see the saving ministry of the Trinity. First, you’re selected by God the Father. If God had not first chosen you, you never would have chosen Him. Aren’t you glad that God took the initiative? God looked down through the corridors of time and chose you. God knew from all eternity that you would receive Him and trust Him. Then, you’re saved by the Son. Apart from the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, no one is saved. And once you trust the Lord Jesus, it’s the dear Holy Spirit of God who seals you unto the day of redemption.

In Scripture, the word seal is like a seal we would put on a document, a stamp. The Bible says the king’s seal no man can break. You’re sealed with the Holy Spirit. A seal in Bible times meant a finished transaction: signed, sealed, and delivered. It meant a transfer of ownership. You have been selected by the Father, saved by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit. Is that not wonderful? This is the saving ministry of the Holy Trinity.

When did you begin to follow Jesus?

How has your life been changed by the work of the Holy Spirit?

PRACTICE THIS

Reflect on your own testimony about how God has been at work in your life through the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers