For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
— Romans 1:20
O LORD, Almighty God, your works of creation astound me with your incredible sense of majesty, grace, wonder, awe, and beauty. Thank you for making your fingerprints so clearly seen in our incredible world. In Jesus’ name I praise. Amen.
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
— Isaiah 1:17
“A man’s got to take care of himself!” Yeah, we do have to be responsible folks. But, part of being responsible, part of being blessed — at least as God sees it — is to care for others, to stick up for the disadvantaged, and to intervene when someone else is being exploited. After all, we are our “brother’s and sister’s keeper!”
Remove the heart of selfishness, O God, that keeps me from caring for the downtrodden, abused, forgotten, and broken. Give me your eyes of concern and Jesus’ heart of compassion to see them and minister to them. In his name, the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”
We are called to be spiritual people — holy, righteous, faithful, and compassionate like our Father in heaven. But our own efforts fail at achieving these spiritual characteristics. We need the power and presence of Almighty God at work in our lives to purify and sustain us in our desire to live to honor our Father. So God in his great mercy gave us the gift of new birth and the right to be born of God (John 1:12-13). This gift is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is at work in us through our faith and baptism (Galatians 3:26; Acts 2:38-39). The Spirit cleanses us and makes us holy no matter our past sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The Spirit lives inside us and identifies us as children of God (Romans 8:9). The Spirit powerfully works to conform us to Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Conforming to Jesus is certainly something that we could not accomplish by our own abilities. We celebrate the Father’s work in us through the Holy Spirit who has made it possible for us to be born anew and to live for Jesus (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:3-7).
Thank you, Father of mercies, for the work of the Spirit to cleanse me and give me new birth into living hope as I seek to live the way of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
— Titus 1:15
Rust stains, grass stains, blood stains, chocolate stains… stains that are real nightmares in the laundry room. They don’t just leave a stain on the surface of the fabric, but they also leave a residue that infiltrates the fibers of our clothes. Evil is that way. We must not kid ourselves. Evil corrupts and leaves a residue that corrupts everything it touches, including the hearts of otherwise decent people. That’s why we are urged to stay far away from evil and avoid its very appearance. That’s also why Jesus died: to not only overcome the Evil One, but to also clean away the stain and its residue.
Father, guard my path and give me good Christian friends who will help guard my life from evil. In addition, dear Father, please help me as I seek to share the cleansing and liberating power of Christ with those around me who are caught in evil’s destructive and deceptive grasp. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
…You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.
God is true to his word. He keeps his promises. But, that was not enough for him. He gave us a down payment, a deposit, so we could be sure of our inheritance and look forward to the full realization of our salvation. He gave us the Holy Spirit. When God buys us out of slavery to our mortal bodies and redeems us into our eternal home with bodies that will not grow old or decay, we won’t need the deposit; we will have the full inheritance. But until then, until we go to him, isn’t it amazing that he makes his home within us!
Transcendent and yet ever-near God, thank you for not making me wait to experience your presence. Thank you for giving me “a foretaste of glory divine.” Thank you for sending your blessed and promised Spirit to live in me and remind me where my home truly is. Until the day I see you face-to-face, I want to honor your presence in my mortal body by living a life that is pure, holy, and a blessing to others. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” [Paul] asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” … Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.
— Acts 19:2 NLT; Acts 19:4-6 NLT
Faith and baptism in the New Testament, and especially in the book of Acts, are tied to the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we saw yesterday (Romans 8:9), the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is God’s defining mark that we are adopted into his family. The promise of God’s forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are foundational blessings of our salvation and are received at our conversion (Acts 2:38-39) and continue to be ours. When we talk about the blessings of salvation and the grace of God, let’s not forget to emphasize both the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) and the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome temptation and sin (Romans 8:13). Conversion to Jesus means being reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:3-7).
Holy God, your grace toward me is amazing! That you forgave all of my sins when I came to Jesus is such a wonderful gift — to know that you forgave me and made me a new creation, pure and holy! Forgive me, dear Father, for the times I have remembered this grace and forgotten the additional gift of grace — the Holy Spirit — that Jesus sent to live in me. I look to the Spirit’s holy presence to strengthen me and lead me in the way of Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
— Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
Are you a dreamer? Even if you are not a dreamer, imagine the most highly impossible thing you could do to honor God. Then realize that God can do far more through you than that — more than you can even begin to imagine! And the power to do it? The power at work within you? Ah yes, you guessed it: It is the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:16)! The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within each true follower of Jesus (Ephesians 1:17-20).
Father in heaven, you are holy and mighty and incomprehensible. I can’t begin to fathom your greatness, yet I can come to you as my Father because of your loving grace for me. Please empower me and use me to bring you glory and bring your grace to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
On the last and greatest day of the festival of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
— John 7:37-39 NIV
Think about the incredible promise from our Lord in this passage: “Rivers of living water will flow from within those who believe in Jesus.” That living water flows through us in a never-ending supply. That living water is the Holy Spirit. What an incredible promise and what a deep well of grace!
Father God, thank you for the incredible gift of your Holy Spirit welling up within me. Help me recognize your powerful presence in my life and empower me through the Spirit to bless others to your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
— 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 NLT
Scripture calls us to two powerful principles through this passage. First, the message given to us by the apostles is not man’s opinion, but God’s truth — we must not ignore it! Second, God gives the Holy Spirit to Christians, not just a one-time or temporary gift of the Spirit but an ongoing and indwelling gift of the Spirit. Jesus promised something very similar during his ministry (John 7:37-39, as seen in tomorrow’s scripture). In other words, we cannot use up our supply of the Holy Spirit; the more we rely on and need the Holy Spirit, the more God gives us the Spirit. It’s impossible to do better than a never-ending supply of what we need to live for God!
O Father, Sovereign Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in me. Thank you even more for the continual outpouring of the Holy Spirit into my life as I need and rely on the Spirit to sustain, empower, and transform me to be more and more like Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
— 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
Father, forgive me for the times I have been timid about my faith. I recognize that my timidity showed itself in those times when I didn’t depend on your Spirit to strengthen me and give me boldness to say the things I need to say in the ways I need to say them. Please fill me with your Spirit so that I can be a person of character and compassion, demonstrating power, love, and self-discipline in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Ken Crawford 