The Holy Spirit is God’s power and presence that is active in the lives of His followers. He is what transforms our lives, filled with love, and helps us resist sin. He acts as a guide, teacher, and comforter, and helps us understand God’s truth and to live according to His will.
There are key aspects of what the Holy Spirit does:
Transformation
The Holy Spirit empowers Jesus’s followers to overcome weaknesses and reflect Jesus’s character.
Guidance and Teaching
The Holy Spirit guides us to God’s truths and helps us understand God’s Word, and convicts us of sin.
Empowerment for Service
He equips Jesus’s followers with spiritual gifts and empowers us for service in the body of Christ Jesus and in the world.
Comfort and Help
He serves as a comforter and helper and offers support and guidance in times of need.
Witnessing
The Holy Spirit empowers Jesus’s followers to share our stories that brought them closer to God. And demonstrating God’s love.
Connection with God
He helps us stay connected to Jesus and guarantees God’s promises.
Without the Holy Spirit, there is no awareness of sin. And no repentance and turning towards God for forgiveness of sin.
When a person hears from God it is often through the Holy Spirit who acts as a divine messenger.
My favorite food choices are making Palacsinta which are Hungarian crepes. It has a sweet, lemony cottage cheese filling with a fruit, sauce usually raspberry.
I also enjoy making Navajo Indian fry bread, although it’s a little time consuming. I get people asking me to take it because I use the authentic way that I learned how to make it.
What is holding fast to God? How do you hold fast to someone you can’t see or touch?
When we read through the Bible and look at the people of God, there a few that stand out. Some because they held fast to God, and some because they didn’t.
Pretty much everyone had heard the accounts of David and Goliath, Samson and Noah, and maybe even Jonah, but they missed Hezekiah.
He is not one who jumps to mind as particularly remarkable, but scripture reveals something very impressive about him.
2 Kings 18:5-7 tells us, “he trusted in the Lord, the God os Israel, is that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him, whenever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
Hezekiah was one of a kind among the kings of Israel. Among all of the kings godly and ungodly, he is singled out for this lifestyle.
Its important that we hold fast to God. Hold fast literally means to hold your position, or fix your gaze and not lose sight of. This means that our attention and our actions need to be fixed on God.
We need to obey His instruction, which is the next logical step if our gaze and heart are locked on God.
I remember telling my pastor “I didn’t think I was strong enough to get through these trying times.” He said to me “I needed to trust God and stay in prayer. But trusting God is hard. He asks done pretty big things from those who follow Him.
Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, David defeated a giant with pebbles, Peter walked on water, and His own Son hung on a cross.
We have to trust Him no matter where He leads us. His love and grace will be enough. It might be hard, and downright painful. But it will also be worth it.
So, if the storms in my life, toss e around a bit, I will not wander from Him when they do. I will stay tightly secured to Him, the world may get my attention, but it cannot woome from His hold. I decided long ago that I would not let satan win -I will not give in.
The Bible tells us that where ever Hezekiah went out, he prospered because God was with him. And then it noted that he would not serve the king of Assyria. This means ho would worship God only, and would not now to an earthly authority that threatened him.
To me this means I need to make sure I don’t have other idols that rule my affections. I need to put God first in my life. This also means I will get to enjoy the benefits of holding fast to God. It might not be earthly riches, but they will be heavenly.
I can bond with pretty much any animal. The human animal bond has existed for thousands of years.
There are health benefits for bonding with an animal. Including physical, emotional and mental and social.
It’s a vital aspect of life for many people. I’ve seen people bond with rats, birds lizards and even snakes as well as dogs and cats.
I grew up around cats. as my children grew up we had a dog and a white rat named Kiwi. After my very love dog passed away at 16 years old. My heart was hurt. But as in proper fashion we get over pets by getting another. Right now I was hoping to find a Siamese kitten. They hold a special place in my heart because as a child I grew up with them.
It’s doesn’t matter what animal I get I know the bond will be a special one.
It’s easy to get into the habit of praying the basic prayers mentality of asking God to “touch everyone, and heal everyone.” What if we began to pray about God’s will more than our will?
I believe that to have an effective prayer life it will take a deep dive into the prayers of the heroes in the Bible. Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with Jesus. But we must first know how to use this weapon we’ve been given by God -especially when we find ourselves in difficult seasons.
We have to train our perspective on what to pray. Sure, God does care about the people we pray about every day. He cares about what we dare about. But I know I’ve been praying for some people in my life who I know are following Jesus, and haven’t seen any fruit in my prayers. I often wonder “What is God’s will in this situation? What will bring Him ultimate glory? Does my will align with His?
Relief, provision, healing, and protection are all excellent things to pray for. But, the gospel is what we must long for the most. Maybe we should pray with that perspective.
I have been praying for people to get a “rhema word” from God. It’s a specific divine-inspired message that’s often a verse from the Bible, that is personally applied Word from God, often seen as a fresh revelation or timely message for a particular situation.
Being a prayer warrior makes us intercessors. But we must be able to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people we are praying for.
I can lose track of time reading, and researching. Or spending time with my adult children. Because I become deeply engaged in something that resonates with me.
They say “time flies when you’re having fun.” The enjoyable things seem to be short.
We often feel powerless when it comes to life’s challenges. However, the Bible teaches us that we have incredible authority through Jesus.
When Jesus rose from the dead and sent His Spirit, He didn’t just save us -He transformed our very nature. We became partakers in His divine nature, equipped with spiritual authority that many forget to tap into.
It’s not about having our own power, but about operating under God’s authority, much like having His power of attorney. Just like an attorney acts with full legal backing of their client, we can act with the spiritual backing of our Father in heaven.
In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
God is a holy God, and He’s a just God which makes up His sovereignty. But since the victorious resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we are now partakers of His divine nature.
We can pray: Heavenly Father, help us to fully grasp the authority You’ve given us through Jesus. Show us how to walk in this truth daily, not by our strength, but in the power of Your Holy Spirit -In Jesus Name Amen
How do we know without a shadow of a doubt we have eternal life with Jesus? The Bible is very clear on this.
Those that bin God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
When we become bold and free in God’s presence, we don’t need to be something we are not. We can stop pretending. We can be who we are and know that God loves us anyway.
We can pray freely and count on God to always listen. What a wonderful Father in heaven we have. He is listening. He wants us to know what’s on our hearts and minds and we matter to Him.
If we ask anything according to God’s will we can be certain God will answer. Nothing more nothing less, nothing else. We can rest in His grace no matter what.
God gives all who believe in His Son eternal life. We can trust this knowledge beyond a shadow of doubt.
But, I must tell you this promise involves more than intellectual assent, it includes personal faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God.
This isn’t just about living forever, but about the quality of life that begins with a relationship with God through Jesus and continues into eternity.
Believing in Jesus involves more than just acknowledging Jesus’s existence. It means trusting in Him as the Son of God, accepting His sacrifice for our sin, and committing to follow Him.
Believing in Jesus includes confessing Him as Lord and Savior and believing that God raised Him from the dead. Receiving and believing in Jesus grants power to become children of God.
The prophecy is this promise of a Savior, through whom all nations would be blessed, which is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, fulfilled by Jesus (Galatians 3:8).
Where is the darkness in your life? Not the darkness of the world, but the darkness of the things you hold inside.
What do you see when you look into the lamp of your life? Is your lamp burning brightly or is it growing dim? Has your oil turned rancid or run low?
Light or darkness, full or empty lamps, fresh or rancid oil are not about what is happening around us, the circumstances of our life or world, but about what is happening within us. They are metaphors for our spiritual condition, our inner way of being.
In the parable of the ten bridesmaids in Matthew 25:1-13, it would be easy to divide them into two groups -the wise and the foolish, the prepared and unprepared, the good and bad, the winners and losers, the welcomed and rejected. More often than that that’s what we do to ourselves and others.
Dividing and categorizing the 10 bridesmaids, however, is to forget, ignore, or misunderstand what the gospel says. All ten bridesmaids were part of the kingdom. All ten were invited to the wedding banquet. All ten went to meet the bridegroom. All ten had lamps. All ten were meant, intended, and called to be carriers of the light. The only difference is that some carried light and others did not. And that is very true for everyone.
We were all meant to be carriers of the light. Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world.” “Let your light shine before others, so that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” To withhold our light is to add darkness to the world.
Every day we either add to the light of the world or we add to its darkness. I know this because I’ve seen it in my own life.
When I turn away from the needs of others because I get in too much of a hurry, or act like I don’t need anyone, my world becomes darker.
When we carry grudges, or resentments, or even nurse old offenses we bring darkness to the world.
It’s easy to see the darkness in the world today. But, what do you see when you look at your own life?
We are all a mixture of both. Some days I add light to the world and other days I add darkness.
I don’t think the question is whether there is darkness today in our lives and the world. The question is: what are we going to do about it?
Every time we live with darkness in the world or our lives we are betraying of Creator and our values. If we had to justify our behavior, every time I say “it’s someone else’s fault, or refuse to look at myself.”
We were called to be a light for others.
No wonder Jesus said to the bridesmaids “I do not know you.” He’s speaking to the darkened part in our lives. It’s not so much a rejection as it is a call to discover the light within us, a call to key our light shine.
The world needs our light. There is no person or place in our world today that doesn’t need light. Your light makes a difference, my light makes a difference.
We can push back the darkness, and shine our light. God said in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “Let light shine out of darkness.”
Seeking security or adventure can lead to a fulfilling life, but finding a balance between the two can bring the utmost satisfaction. Security offers stability and comfort yet adventure presents opportunities for growth and new experiences. Embracing both can provide a well-rounded enriching lifestyle. I seek both.
From Pity to Praise 