Our Helper
January 19, 2009 on 8:22 pm | In devotionals | 5 Comments“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” — John 14:16
In the Upper Room, on the night Jesus was betrayed, the disciples were upset and discouraged by what He had been telling them about His impending betrayal and crucifixion. So Jesus shared some words of encouragement with them. He told them about the Holy Spirit for the first time: If you love Me, keep My commandments. 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 14:15–18). I am certain that those words of Jesus brought comfort to their hearts. He was saying to His disciples, “I am not going to leave you comfortless. I am not going to leave you without help. I will ask the Father, and He will send someone alongside to help you.”During the days that Jesus walked the earth, He was always there for His people. They could reach out and touch Him. If they had a question, they could ask Him. He always had time for His own. They could get close to Him. Then He told His disciples (and essentially all followers of Jesus to this day) that He would guide them and lead them in an entirely new way: through the Holy Spirit. So as Christians, we know that the Holy Spirit is actively involved in our lives. He is the Helper Jesus has given us.
C4W Devotions are used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000 Riverside CA 92514
God’s Royal Seal
January 14, 2009 on 1:05 pm | In devotionals | No CommentsIn 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. -Ephesians 1:13
What does the Bible mean when it says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit? In the apostle Paul’s day, when goods were shipped from one place to another, they would be stamped with a wax seal, imprinted with the signet ring of the owner. This was a unique mark of ownership. People could look at the crate, see its wax seal, and know they had better not open it. The same was true with a document from a king. It would be sealed in wax and imprinted with the royal seal. People knew if they opened it and were not the intended recipient, they would be endangering their very lives. In the same way, God has put His royal seal on us: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). The seal is the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. Upon our conversion, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Let’s say that a thief wanted to steal a briefcase. Then he notices a nametag on it, bearing the name of a famous boxer. Most likely, the thief wouldn’t steal that briefcase. Why? He would be afraid of what would happen. He doesn’t want to suffer bodily harm. The devil wants to come and destroy us as Christians. He wants to wreak havoc in our lives. But he sees our ID tag: “Owned by Jesus Christ. Sealed and insured by the Holy Spirit.” So he backs off, because we belong to Jesus Christ.
C4W Devotions are used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000 Riverside CA 92514
Letting the Holy Spirit Work
January 12, 2009 on 4:00 pm | In devotionals | No Comments“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” -John 16:8
Why has the Spirit come into this world? What does God’s Holy Spirit want to do in the life of the unbeliever? The Holy Spirit is very involved in the actual work of conversion. You see, before we were Christians, it was the Holy Spirit who convicted us of our sin (see John 16:8). Another way to translate the word “convict” in John 16:8 is “convince.” Notice this verse doesn’t say He will convict the unbeliever of a specific sin. Rather, He wants to convince him or her of sin in general, the root cause of all sins. Now we can try to produce in someone a sense of guilt and wrong doing. In an effort to “help” the conversion process along, we want to make them feel guilty or to feel really bad about something. Mothers seem to have an unusual ability in this area. But only the Holy Spirit can effectively produce a guilt that will bring a person to their senses. Sometimes we get in the way of conversion. We get impatient, or we try to assist the Spirit. We can be telling someone about the Lord, maybe a friend or a coworker or a family member, and as they are getting interested and asking questions, we see they are getting closer. So we start trying to convert that person in our own strength. We try to complete the transaction when the Spirit is still working. The best thing we can do after we have shared the Word of God with someone is to pray that it takes root. We should just do our part and leave it in the hands of God. We don’t need to force the issue. He will convince a person. Let God’s Spirit do His work.
C4W Devotions are used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000 Riverside CA 92514
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