This week’s devotions are going to be a little bit more free flowing (we are talking about the Spirit, so why not). Below are a group of scriptures that you can explore about the Holy Spirit. Each day you will be asked to reflect on them.
Acts 1: 4– 8 Acts 2: 1– 13 Acts 4: 31 Romans 8: 1– 17 Romans 8: 26– 27 Romans 15: 13 1 Corinthians 2: 12– 14 1 Corinthians 3: 16 1 Corinthians 6: 9– 11 1 Corinthians 12: 7– 11 2 Corinthians 3: 17– 18 Galatians 4: 4– 7 Galatians 5: 16– 25 Ephesians 3: 14– 16 1 John 4: 13
Monday:If you disregarded your own experiences and just read these passages, what would you expect to observe as the Holy Spirit entered a person’s life?
Tuesday:For so many people in the church today, everyday life does not match these biblical descriptions. Why do you think that is?
Wednesday:Read Galatians 5: 16– 25.
- Paul is telling the Galatians what the Christian life ought to look like. In Christ, we have been set free from the law. But without the law, how do we please God? How do we love our neighbors as ourselves? For Paul, the answer is simple: Walk by the Spirit. According to Galatians 5: 16– 25, what does it look like to walk by the Spirit? Based on what Paul says here, what should distinguish a Spirit-filled person from a non-Christian?
Thursday: Read Galatians 5:16 again today
- Every day, people try to live the “Spirit-filled” life without the Spirit. Based on your experience, what good things can we accomplish merely through human strength? If the Spirit works through us, how should the supernatural results differ from what we can accomplish on our own?
Friday:Look again at the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5: 22– 23.
- Don’t just think about what the Holy Spirit can do for you. What are some clear and practical ways that the Spirit can work through you to bless the people around you?
Saturday:Read this quote from Francis Chan’s book Forgotten God:
For all its caterpillar life, it crawls around a small patch of dirt and up and down a few plants. Then one day it takes a nap. A long nap. And then, what in the world must go through its head when it wakes up to discover it can fly? What happened to its dirty, plump little worm body? What does it think when it sees its tiny new body and gorgeous wings? As believers, we ought to experience this same kind of astonishment when the Holy Spirit enters our bodies. We should be stunned in disbelief over becoming a “new creation” with the Spirit living in us. As the caterpillar finds its new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully. (Forgotten God, 37)
- For all practical purposes, we seem to have forgotten that the Holy Spirit is powerful— He radically transforms lives. Are you open to being transformed, no matter what that may mean for your life? If you do want to be changed, why do you desire this? If you don’t, what is keeping you from desiring change?