Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

The Dance – John 16:1-15

Posted on by

“It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment…. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:7-8, 13, CSB).

On the night before His death Jesus introduced His disciples to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that He would no longer be physically present with His disciples and they would need His continuing presence and guidance in their lives.

To illustrate the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Max Lucado draws an analogy to a man who wanted to learn to dance. The man went to a bookstore to buy a book on dancing. He studied the book thoroughly and learned all the dance steps as the book had described.

Once he mastered all the dance steps the man invited his wife to watch him dance. He demonstrated all the movements and steps of the dance perfectly and then turned to his wife, expecting her to congratulate him on what a good dancer he was.

Instead of praising him on his perfect dancing, she instead told him he forgot the most important part of the dance. “Where’s the music?” she asked him.

Just like the dancing man, we Christians are sometimes prone to follow the instructions while ignoring the music. We master doctrine, memorize Bible verses, debate theology and then rigidly march out on the dance floor of life with no music in our hearts.

Dancing without music is not only unsatisfying, it’s without meaning. It’s the what and the how without the why and the wherefore!

It’s like a song with lyrics and no melody….

The same holds true for our Christian lives. Salvation without relationship is religion. It’s ritual. It’s purpose without passion.

The Holy Spirit is the music to the dance of our Christian lives! He’s the melody to the song of salvation.

The Holy Spirit provides passion to God’s purpose for our lives.

When Jesus first introduced His disciples to the Spirit Who would inhabit their lives after He left this earth, He revealed the personhood of the Holy Spirit: “He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you” (John 14:17, CSB).

Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one we seem to understand the least. We can personalize God as Father, Son as personal Savior, but we often mistakenly regard the Holy Spirit as a force and not a person.

But, the Holy Spirit is a person. He is the Spirit of Jesus (Philippians 1:19).

He is Jesus (God) abiding in us. He is Jesus walking and talking with us.

And, as such He’s our moral compass. He internally guides us and externally empowers us in how to live out God’s will in this world.

He confirms our salvation in Christ and affirms our hope for eternal life with God.

And, as an added benefit the Holy Spirit illuminates the words of the Bible to our hearts and minds making it more than a set of instructions for living the Christian life but rather a chronicle for having a personal relationship with God in Christ.

In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14, CSB

God’s Power of Attorney – John 14:8-17

Posted on by

“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it…. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth” (John 14:12-17, CSB).

As Jesus and His disciples shared a last meal together, Judas Iscariot’s impending betrayal was revealed by Jesus to His disciples. Once Judas left the dinner to carry out his unscrupulous scheme, Jesus spoke openly and intimately with His remaining disciples about the events that were about to unfold and what they meant. John 13:31 – 17:26 replays the conversation Jesus had with His disciples.

As Jesus was explaining to His disciples that the only way to know God the Father was through Him, Philip asked Him to show them the Father and that’s all they would need to believe. Jesus reminded the disciples that the Father was in Him and the words He spoke and miracles He performed were by the power of God the Father.

Then, Jesus added that not only did He have the power to do God’s works, He also had the power to enable those who believed in Him, His disciples, to perform the miracles He performed and even greater ones than He did! When Jesus said to ask in His name and He will do it, He was granting His power of attorney.

Continue reading →

When God Cries Out – John 7:37-39

Posted on by

“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.’ He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39, CSB).

God is passionate about your salvation….

In John 7 Jesus went down to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. About halfway through the week-long celebration He went up to the Temple and began to teach.

The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe. It is one of the three feasts each year that Jews were to observe by appearing before the Lord (see Deuteronomy 16:16). As one of the pilgrim feasts when Jewish males were commanded to go to Jerusalem, the Feast of Tabernacles was also the time when they brought their tithes and offerings to the Temple.

With the influx of people coming to Jerusalem at this time, we can only imagine what the scene must have been like. Thousands of people coming together to remember and celebrate God’s deliverance and His provision, all living in temporary shelters or booths as part of the requirements of the feast.

Continue reading →

The Greatest of All Time – 1 John 4

Posted on by

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, ESV).

In a world with ever-changing vocabularies being generated on social media with every meme, rap song, or YouTube video, it’s difficult to keep up with the latest slang.

But, there’s a recent idiom that has relevance for 1 John 4, especially as it relates to describing God Almighty, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

G.O.A.T. is an acronym for the Greatest Of All Time. The acronym is usually used to describe an outstanding player in a particular sport.

So, G.O.A.T. is not a title that is easily bestowed. G.O.A.T. is not used to refer to those who are “kind of great” or “approaching greatness.” G.O.A.T. is a term reserved only for the truly GREATEST OF ALL TIME!

1 John 4:4 is one of the most well-known and often-quoted Bible verses among Christians .  We quote it to remind and encourage Christians that they can overcome any difficulty or hardship in their lives.

In fact, I use it on myself in exactly the same way–to remind myself that the God I serve is greater than the devil that creates many of the problems I face in this world.

Continue reading →

The Bottom Line – Romans 8:10-11

Posted on by

“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:10-11, ESV).

Do you ever want to get past all the doctrine and opinions and traditions of Christianity and get to the basics of what it means to be a Christian?

Well, here it is! The bottom line. The who, what, how, and why of being a Christian rolled into a couple of verses!

Two verses that in just a few words and phrases provide such a profound and succinct explanation about Christianity.

Continue reading →

A Person of Distinction – Exodus 33:15-17

Posted on by

“And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name'” (Exodus 33:15-17, ESV).

The backstory of these verses is that while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments and other instructions from God, at the base of the mountain the Israelites had fashioned a golden calf to worship as their god, thinking Moses had abandoned them.

When Moses came down from the mountain he was so enraged that he threw down the Ten Commandment tablets and smashed them. Futhermore, God was ready to rid Himself of the Israelites. He told Moses to go ahead and lead the people to the promised land but He would no longer accompany them with His presence. Instead, God would send an angel to lead Moses and the Israelites into the land.

Moses was not satisfied with that plan and in these verses Moses implored God not to abandon His people. Moses begged God to reconsider and to go with him and the people of Israel to the promised land.

Moses declares that it is only God’s abiding presence with the Israelites that makes them distinct from all other people on the earth!

Continue reading →

Empowered to Witness – Numbers 11:16-30

Posted on by

“And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them…” (Numbers 11:17, ESV).

During their wilderness wanderings God told Moses to select seventy elders to help him judge and lead the people of Israel.  Moses gathered the elders and placed them around the circumference of the tabernacle. Then, God poured out His Spirit on them as they were gathered around the tabernacle and they prophesied.

Two of the elders were not present at the tabernacle when the Spirit was poured out. Yet, these two also received the Spirit and prophesied while they were still in the camp.

Continue reading →

Stopping and Going with God – Numbers 9:15-23

Posted on by

“At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out” (Numbers 9:23, ESV).

After their escape from Egyptian slavery, the Israelites constructed a transportable tabernacle to worship God during their Sinai wilderness wanderings. God demonstrated His presence among them by covering the tabernacle with a cloud by day and the appearance of fire by night.

The cloud and appearance of fire indicated the presence of God’s Spirit with His chosen people.

Whenever the cloud lifted over the great tent, the Israelites would set out and continue on their journey and then encamp in the place where the cloud would settle. They might set up camp for for a few days, a month and even longer when the cloud settled over the tabernacle (Numbers 9:22). Undoubtedly, it was quite a feat to disassemble and reassemble the tabernacle when the cloud lifted (see Numbers 1:50–52; 3–4).

God leads His people by setting and revealing a path for each believer’s life. This verse  indicates that there are two important aspects to God’s guidance: stopping and going.  Stopping means remaining and waiting on God to lead and going means moving forward when He leads in a new direction.

Continue reading →

Holy, Holy, Holy – Leviticus

Posted on by

“For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44, NLT).

A quick read through the book of Leviticus (which is generally the way I read it) may lead you to believe that the focus of the book is on obedience to God’s law–obedience to a set of moral laws that seems to establish a code of conduct practically impossible to follow.

Upon closer inspection you will see that the theme of the book is holiness: “You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common” (Leviticus 10:10, NLT). What’s behind the  laws, and is stated repeatedly throughout the book, is a description of God’s holiness.

So, if the Lord is holy, the people who worship Him must be holy because only holy can be in the presence of Holy. Yahweh is certainly not a god who can be worshiped from afar. He is the “I AM” who resides among and within His people.

Continue reading →

God Is With You. No, God Is In You. – Haggai 1-2

Posted on by

indwelling-holy-spirit“Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the Lord’s message to the people: I am with you, says the Lord… be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord… Work, for I am with you, says the Lord” (Haggai 1:13, 2:4, CEB).

The Lord told Haggai to encourage the people to get to work to rebuild the Temple. God encouraged them to get started and reminded them that they were able to do it because He was with them.  God reminded them in both chapters of this two-chapter Old Testament book.

Now, God is with us by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And He has an assignment for each of us that accomplishes His purposes.  So, we should be bold and get to work doing His will because “I am with you, says the Lord!”

Here’s the problem: Instead of being bold, we are reticent about doing God’s will. We hesitate because we don’t know what His assignment is for us.

Or we think we don’t know. Or we think we can’t accomplish His assignment for us because it’s so overwhelming.

Continue reading →