'Holy Spirit' Tagged Posts (Page 11)
Daily Devotions
Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear…” vss. 18-19a Amos 5:18-20 When Amos came out of the south and into the prosperous north with a word from the Lord, he wasn’t going to a people who were unfamiliar with the traditions of Israel. There were religious leaders and active worship…
Daily Devotions
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” vs. 2 1 John 3:2-3 John leaves room for mystery in our future. We don’t yet know what we one day will be, but what we do know is that right now, today, we are God’s beloved children. For most that will…
Daily Devotions
For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” vs. 28 Romans 3:25-28 Paul is clear that all are made righteous by grace, the free gift of God in Christ Jesus, but he also wrote that each person is made righteous by faith, and sometimes this confuses us. We’re forever trying to remember if justification is by grace through faith or by faith through grace. It’s hard to keep it straight, and…
Daily Devotions
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” vs. 33 Jeremiah 31:31-34 The book of Jeremiah is full of laments. The prophet was no fool and he could see that the old covenant that Israel had taken so much pride in…
Daily Devotions
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” vss. 6-7 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 It’s easy for congregations to begin to think of the church in narrow and parochial terms. A pastor gathers a community of believers who begin to worship and who then organize themselves in councils…
Daily Devotions
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.” vs, 7 Psalm 96:1-9 To his credit, the psalmist did not consider the Lord to be Israel’s national God. Even though there was a temple in Jerusalem, there was no statue of the Lord to be found there. The God of Israel was also the God of the nations, and the psalmist dreamed of a day when all the families of the peoples would…
Daily Devotions
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” vs. 1 Romans 12:1-2 When Paul was making his own decisions about life he used his personality and his learning to launch a crusade against Jews who believed that Jesus was the messiah. After he was confronted by the living Christ everything changed. Moved by the gospel of grace,…
Daily Devotions
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” vss.15-16 Romans 8:12-18 When we, by the grace of God, begin to lead lives that bring us joy and that are a blessing to others, it’s not because we have somehow found the strength in ourselves to…
Daily Devotions
No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” vs. 13 Romans 6:12-16 Paul implies here that the folks in Rome had an option to present themselves either to sin as instruments of wickedness or to God as instruments of righteousness. His words resonate with our own observations of the world and our…
Daily Devotions
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” vss. 20-21 Romans 4:18-25 We all know believers whose faith seems to grow stronger as they age, not because they have had prayers answered or seen miracles, but simply because they have continued to trust in the promises of God. And where do such…
Daily Devotions
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” vss. 19-20a Matthew 28:18-20 The gospel of Matthew concludes with what has come to be known as the Great Commission, and these few mountain-top words have pretty much defined the Church’s understanding of its mission from the beginning. While the early disciples likely did…
Daily Devotions
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” vs. 13 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 It would be another 300 years or so before church leaders would get together to formalize a primitive notion of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. And some would argue that we’d be better off if those ecumenical creeds had not been formulated. After all, in their attempt to compose one statement…