5 Habits - Spirit #1
Welcome to Everyday Devotions. These daily Bible readings and Prayer Pathways are designed to help you go deeper with God each day in response to what you are hearing at the Everyday Church services and Life Group gatherings.
Monday 27th January
Welcome to this fourth week of Everyday Devotions. Over the past three weeks, we have looked at three healthy habits that promote spiritual growth in us – Bible Meditation and Prayer Pathways and Sung Worship. This week, we are going to look at a fourth healthy habit – being filled with the Holy Spirit and then walking in step with him each day.
Bible Meditation
Matthew 1:21&3:11
21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” …
11 He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
11 He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Galatians 3:14
14 God redeemed us in order that … by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
1) Which do you think we talk more about in the Western Church – the fact that Jesus came to save us from our sins, or the fact that he came to baptise us with the Holy Spirit?
2) How much do you think we proclaim the Gospel as the apostle Paul describes it in Galatians 3:14? Do we tell people often enough that the purpose of their salvation is that ‘by faith they might receive the promise of the Spirit’?
3) What is your own experience of the Holy Spirit? Have you been baptised with the Holy Spirit? If the answer is yes, are you living full of him right now? If the answer is no, would you like to be? How would you like your church friends to help you to turn that desire into experience?
Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Joel 2:28-32
28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
4) How do you feel when you read these ancient prophecies from the books of Ezekiel and Joel in Old Testament, both of them given many centuries before the Day of Pentecost? Is this your experience of the Christian life? Do they make you thirsty to experience more of the Holy Spirit? Then tell God that today. He is eager to give you the promise of the Spirit that he redeemed you for.
To whet your appetite, here are the accounts of two famous nineteenth century church leaders of what it was like when they were first baptised with the Holy Spirit:
Charles Finney: “Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any memory of ever hearing the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through me and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can remember distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love. I literally bellowed out the unspeakable overflow of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I remember crying out, ‘I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.’ I said, ‘Lord, I cannot bear any more.’”
DL Moody: “I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand … I was all the time tugging and carrying water. But now I have a river that carries me.”
Prayer Pathway
Spend some time praying The Trinity Prayer, using 2 Corinthians 13:14 to marshal your prayers for God to fill you with the Holy Spirit – “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
THE LOVE OF GOD: Thank God that he is a loving Father who longs to give good gifts to his children. Thank him that the idea of humans being filled with the Spirit of God was not your idea or the idea of one of the preachers at Everyday Church. It was God’s own idea, and it is the very reason for which he redeemed you. Praise the Lord that this is true.
THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: Thank Jesus that, although he is the Son of God, he humbled himself to become a man so that we might participate in the Holy Spirit with him (2 Peter 1:4). Thank him that he didn’t merely come to save you for your sins (Matthew 1:21) – wonderful enough though that would be – but that he also same to baptise you with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11). Thank him that everything which belongs to him now belongs to you, including the Spirit of God. Thank him for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Thank the Holy Spirit that he wants to come and fill you and to lead you through life as your Senior Partner, from the inside out. Ask the Triune God to make good on his promise. Thank God that he wants to fill you with his Spirit far more than you want to be filled.
THE LOVE OF GOD: Thank God that he is a loving Father who longs to give good gifts to his children. Thank him that the idea of humans being filled with the Spirit of God was not your idea or the idea of one of the preachers at Everyday Church. It was God’s own idea, and it is the very reason for which he redeemed you. Praise the Lord that this is true.
THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: Thank Jesus that, although he is the Son of God, he humbled himself to become a man so that we might participate in the Holy Spirit with him (2 Peter 1:4). Thank him that he didn’t merely come to save you for your sins (Matthew 1:21) – wonderful enough though that would be – but that he also same to baptise you with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11). Thank him that everything which belongs to him now belongs to you, including the Spirit of God. Thank him for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Thank the Holy Spirit that he wants to come and fill you and to lead you through life as your Senior Partner, from the inside out. Ask the Triune God to make good on his promise. Thank God that he wants to fill you with his Spirit far more than you want to be filled.
End with Worship
In order to help you to respond to God in sung worship, we have created two playlists for you on Spotify:
The Everyday Devotions playlist contains a handful of songs which are particularly relevant to our Everyday Devotions this week. This song list changes each week along with our devotions.
The Everyday Church Song List playlist contains most of the songs that we are singing right now across the venues of Everyday Church. This is a wider song list for you to play throughout the day to help you worship as you wash up, as you drive, as you shower, as you sit on the bus and as you go about your day.
If you are somewhere where you can sing loudly, why not use these two playlists to end by singing some songs of worship to the Lord? If you are on the bus or train, why not put on your headphones and sing in your heart to God instead?
This week the songs are largely prayers for God to fill us with his Holy Spirit.
The Everyday Devotions playlist contains a handful of songs which are particularly relevant to our Everyday Devotions this week. This song list changes each week along with our devotions.
The Everyday Church Song List playlist contains most of the songs that we are singing right now across the venues of Everyday Church. This is a wider song list for you to play throughout the day to help you worship as you wash up, as you drive, as you shower, as you sit on the bus and as you go about your day.
If you are somewhere where you can sing loudly, why not use these two playlists to end by singing some songs of worship to the Lord? If you are on the bus or train, why not put on your headphones and sing in your heart to God instead?
This week the songs are largely prayers for God to fill us with his Holy Spirit.
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Connect: We’d really like your feedback on how these Everyday Devotions are helping you and how we might help you even better. Talk to us by emailing: devotions@everyday.org.uk
Continue: your connection with us by attending our Online Church Service
Connect: We’d really like your feedback on how these Everyday Devotions are helping you and how we might help you even better. Talk to us by emailing: devotions@everyday.org.uk
Continue: your connection with us by attending our Online Church Service