We Need the Holy Spirit: Part One

We Need the Holy Spirit: Part 1

Saints,

Let’s look at the life of Peter in order to gain insight into how to live our lives with greater eternal impact. Peter had good teaching. Remember he spent about three years walking with and hearing Jesus teach. He saw Jesus forgive sins. He saw Jesus heal the sick and shut the mouths of demons—even cast out demons. He saw Jesus control nature.  Peter saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. Yet, during the night of Jesus’ betrayal, Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. Peter had the desire to be faithful, but lacked the power to be faithful. In this failure, he wept. He wept bitterly. I’m sure we would have wept bitterly too if we were there in Peter’s sandals.

Think through this with me. Peter had great teaching. He was taught deep kingdom truths by our Savior. Peter was there. Haven’t we all dreamed of being there to hear Jesus teach in person? I would think teaching coming from Christ Himself would ensure spiritual success, wouldn’t it?  Not necessarily, remember that Jesus said it is for our good that he would go away, for then he will send a helper.

John 16:7 (NIV)
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

So, friend, what do you rely on as you serve God? Are you like Peter, trying to rely on your good learning, your own experience or your own power? Or, are you relying on the Holy Spirit in you, following the Spirit and listening to his promptings? Are you saying in essence, “God, thanks for your saving power in my life, but I’ll take it from here.” Or, do you align with Jesus in John 15:5 by declaring in your heart, “God, I can do nothing apart from you, lead on.”

As we continue to look at Peter, we see a big difference between Luke 22:60-62 where he denied knowing Jesus and Acts 2 where Peter preached boldly—his first sermon. What made this difference? Again, Peter “knew” good information–good teaching in both scenes. The difference was the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 we find the disciples waiting in prayer. As they waited, God sent the Holy Spirit and the church was born. At this point, Peter was a different man. He had a spirit of power love and a sound mind, not a spirit of fear anymore. It is as if through the Holy Spirit, Peter’s faith was stronger. We need this same Holy Spirit today. Ah, you say, “But we have the Spirit, we are the temple of the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Yes, we are. Even so, we don’t always yield to the Spirit.

Remember Peter wept bitterly—he failed. He denied the most important person in his life. This had to leave a deep wound inside Peter. I imagine Peter at the day of Pentecost was painfully aware of his past mistake. Maybe Peter was hoping Jesus would somehow strengthen him to be more faithful next time. Maybe Peter knew that unless God changed him, he would fail again. I imagine Peter was ready to surrender to whatever God would do. What about you and me? Do we surrender? Do we follow his quiet voice or his compelling leading? Do we have the desire to be faithful to Christ which Peter had even though he did not have the Holy Spirit to help him yet?

Let’s be plain here. We are talking about a God-given desire for kingdom things—a desire to be full of faith and to see revival, unity in churches, empowered pastors, faithful Christ-followers, faithful husbands and wives, and the gospel being spread throughout our nation and the world, not only that--but mature disciples being made. Maybe our desire for these things is far too weak. If so, this is what I challenge us to do, ask God for a desire for him and his kingdom which will consume your life. Peter had this desire, but his desire needed Holy Spirit power to back it up. In contrast to Peter, we have the Holy Spirit power for we are the temple of the Spirit, but at times we lack this strong desire for God and his kingdom on earth which Peter had. Our need is to ask the Father to grant us this desire for him—a desire which consumes our lives. When deep desire for God is joined with Holy Spirit power, God’s kingdom is impacted. This is exactly what happened when the Spirit came at Pentecost—Peter preached powerfully and many responded.  Please know that both the Spirit and the desire come from God.

E. M. Bounds wrote of this desire as recorded by Dorsett in E.M. Bounds, Man of Prayer, p 134.

“Prayer ought to enter into the spiritual habits, but it ceases to be prayer when it is carried on by habit only…Desire gives fervor to prayer. The soul cannot be listless when some great desire fixes and inflames it…Strong desire makes strong prayers…The neglect of prayer is the fearful token of dead spiritual desires. The soul has turned away from God when the desire after him no longer presses it into the closet. There can be no true praying without desire.”

So, we come to these questions:

1) “Do we run our lives on the strength of our training and knowledge?” or, “Do we yield to Jesus Christ and his Spirit as leader and director of our lives?” Peter had great training, but without God’s Spirit, he failed. This is the point. We will fail, too, if we do not intentionally yield to and follow God and rely on the Holy Spirit. The difference for Peter was the Holy Spirit. The difference for us is the Holy Spirit.

2) Will we boldly ask God for a life-consuming desire for Him and His kingdom? When Peter’s desire to be faithful was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he became a part of the birth of the church.

Oh God, give us a compelling desire for you. May every Christ-follower’s motive be to have their lives spent for you.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve 

Abide More Deeply in Christ

Saints,

May you be encouraged by this devotional.

Let’s start with Jesus' teaching on living a fruitful life.

John 15:5 (ESV) 
⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

“Whoever abides in me…”

Recently, my wife, Lisa reminded me of the story about Hezekiah and how he prayed. Please notice how God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer.

2 Kings 19:14-20 (NASB) 
¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
¹⁶ "Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
¹⁷ "Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands
¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
¹⁹ "Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God."
²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.'

When the enemy threatened Hezekiah, he took the issue to God—he opened the enemy’s letter before the Lord on the altar. He prayed. (Oh, how I long for the necessity of prayer to be solidified in our minds and hearts.) Hezekiah demonstrated true faith. He believed. He trusted God. He surrendered. Let’s be clear here. Hezekiah had other choices. He could have reached out to another nation like Egypt—pursued a treaty. No, his instinct was to turn to God—to pray. I believe our Father is holding out his arms to us saying, “Child, why do you choose to live with so little of my power, joy, provision, and love. I have so much more for you. Just ask. Come to me.” Why do we live with so little of God and His supernatural doings? I believe we live with so little of God because deep down we are okay with that. We trust our own abilities.  We say, “After all, God gave me my mind, so I will trust in the mind God gave me and hope for the best.” But, Jesus says, “…he who abides in me…” Brothers and sisters, it is time for Christ-followers to get the truth of our utter dependence on God settled into our lives.

The church today needs to seek after God. This reminds me of Hosea. Hosea called the people to return to God (Hosea 6:3).

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as the dawn; and he will come to us like rain, like the spring watering the earth.”

Yes, for you, Christ-follower, it is time to press on to abide in Jesus. This is the only way. Why is it that we think we can do so much on our own? If this need to depend on God sounds strange to you, think of Paul. What was Paul when he was known as Saul up to before God intervened in his life?  The answer is that Paul was destroying the church. What was Peter’s best effort before the Holy Spirit changed him? The answer is that Peter in his own power, denied Christ. So, saints, what will we accomplish that has eternal significance on our own? The answer is, apart from Christ, we accomplish absolutely nothing.

Maybe your thinking, “Well, this is not very encouraging.” If so, then consider this:  We must remember that it is only Jesus that has the power to change a person’s heart—to make us righteous before a holy God. Let us determine right now that we will depend and rely completely on God. When the church stands on complete dependence on God, we will see the power of God work. I know that you (like me) must be tired of seeing “human-sized” results or fruit. The results of human effort may suffice in business enterprises, but it is worthless in God’s kingdom.

You may wonder what Hezekiah’s prayer has to do with Jesus’ teaching on abiding and fruit bearing. I submit to you that prayer is one of the most significant ways we abide in Christ. Think of it. You connect with the heart of the Father as you pray for His kingdom, His purposes, and His glory. We lose ourselves in Him. Is that not abiding?

So, brothers and sisters, we must decide. Will we depend on God like Hezekiah or will we depend on ourselves? How do we depend on God? One very effective way to depend on God is to pray. Remember, the early church prayed and Peter was released from prison. In fact, I witnessed God doing this same miracle of releasing Christian prisoners from jail in the past two weeks. Prayer is God’s plan for us to engage Him to impact His kingdom—embrace this truth!  

Please read about abiding as Watchman Nee describes it in his book, “The Normal Christian Life,”

“I have illustrated this from the electric light. You are in a room and it is growing dark. You would like to have the light on in order to read. There is a reading-lamp on the table beside you. What do you do? Do you watch it intently to see if the light will come on? Do you take a cloth and polish the bulb? No, you get up and cross over to the other side of the room where the switch is on the wall, and you turn the current on. You turn your attention to the source of power and when you have taken the necessary action there the light comes on here.

So in our walk with the Lord our attention must be fixed on Christ. “Abide in me, and I in you” is the divine order. Faith in the objective facts makes those facts true subjectively. As the apostle Paul puts it, “We all…beholding…the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 mg.). The same principle holds good in the matter of fruitfulness of life: “He that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.” (John 15:5). We do not try to produce fruit or concentrate upon fruit produced. Our business is to look away to him. As we do so he undertakes to fulfill his word in us.

How do we abide? “Of God are ye in Christ Jesus.” It was the work of God to put you there and he has done it. Now stay there! Do not be moved back onto your own ground. Never look at yourself as if you were not in Christ. Look at Christ, and see yourself in him. Abide in him. Rest in the fact that God has put you in his Son, and live in the expectation that he will complete his work in you. It is for him to make good the glorious promise that “sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).”

Saints, it is time. Deeply abide in Christ. Rely on God—pray. Pray like Hezekiah. Pray like the early church. Pray like Jesus—In Jesus name, to impact the Father’s kingdom, to glorify the Father’s name, based on God’s Word, as led by the Holy Spirit, to bring eternal impact.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve