Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Rivers of Water

08 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Believe, Challenge, Daily Living, Holy Spirit, Power

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“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

As we find in the next verse, the “rivers of living water” are referring to the power of the Holy Spirit. Did you notice that word river? Jesus used this word intentionally. He didn’t say “a few drops of living water” or “a trickle of living water” – but rivers of living water! A river is limitless – an abundant outpouring. But how often do we treat the power of the Holy Spirit like a small bucket of water, something that must be carefully conserved so we don’t use it all up? This is a skewed view of God! His resources are limitless – at our disposal! Think of the great things that could be accomplished if we drew on the whole power of the Spirit, every day, in everything that we did! Will you choose to live a truly Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled life today?

~Christen

Does Prayer Effect the Gospel? ~ Day 14

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in 31 Days of Prayer Challenge, Abiding, Bible, discipleship, Gospel, Inherent, Living, Lords Prayer

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Jesus left -ascended.

The disciples stood there gazing -no doubt, I would have too-, and the two men in white asked: “why?, This same Jesus you see going will come back again…”. ”Ye have heard how I said unto you, `I go away and come again unto you.’ If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, `I go unto the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28).

Have you ever been left, standing there “gazing”…after you’ve had time, fellowship with the Creator -after you’ve experienced His miracles like the disciples had [multitudes being fed, storms stilled, people healed...], and then you were thrown back into the work?

The disciples had seen the Father’s will and power manifested in Jesus, and now, it was gone – He was gone – and they had been commissioned to do His work. They journeyed home; when they got there, they prayed.

They prayed with one purpose, with one mind. Though their Master was gone, they had been told what to do, and now it was their time to do it.

  • “…ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Act. 1:8).
  • “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16).

Without leaving, the Holy Spirit could not come, and so Jesus left, His work was finished and the disciples’, just beginning.

And so they prayed: they entered into the presence and calling of God’s will for their lives, just as Jesus had taught them to do. This praying [this abiding with the Father ("Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, no more can ye, unless ye abide in Me." Jn.15:4) brought about urgency to fulfill their commission]. And Peter and the disciples began, with understanding and fervency, to declare the gospel.

People were saved, believers encouraged. But, the work began in Prayer. Their passion came from abiding with the Father and knowing His will, and desiring His will, then doing His will.

Let us begin our work in prayer, in the place where we become broken and have nothing in our lives except the love of God and the Father’s will. We need the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we might be able to “go” with the gospel.

The power of the gospel will be “birthed” through prayer, -and it cannot but be helped, for prayer is an inherent attribute of anyone who abides.

~Tiffany

My House, A House of Prayer ~Day 19

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Body, Holy Spirit, House, Power, Prayer, Temple

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Are you a prepared place for prayer?

I Corinthians 6:19-20 says: “Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. (Amp)”

Let’s draw a comparison between the above verses and Mark 11:17: “And He [Jesus] taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers.”

This house Jesus was referring to was the Temple, ”a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer“. It had been mis-used and it’s purpose abused. Wrong had been brought in, defiling its set apart purpose for the pureness of prayer.

In the same way, do we not, as believers, sometimes defile our minds, our bodies, our soul–the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit–just as the Temple was defiled?

In comparison to our bodies as the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the Old Testament Tabernacle:

We know from the Old Testament that the Holy of Holies was a place set apart, in the middle of the Temple, where the Ark of the covenant rested and a place that only the High Priest could enter once a year. A veil/curtain separated this room and was a symbol of the need for a mediator on behalf of the nation of Israel. Under the law, strict procedure had to be followed for entering. This was a result of God’s Holiness and purity (to learn more, read here).

Now, it is only through Jesus’ atonement for our sin that we can “…have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus, by this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh, and since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [who rules] over the house of God, Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts, in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed by pure water” (Amp.).

 Veil=Separation from God,  Priest & Atonement =Jesus, Temple=Me

This reminds me of part of Job’s prayer when he said: “I have sewn sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death, not for any injustice in mine hands; also my prayer  [house of prayer] is pure [clean] (Job 16:15-17).” Here, Job has repented of any sin, and laid aside his own strength; he is weeping in the face of death and declares that his prayer comes from a pure heart. We too, need to prepare our hearts and bodies to be pure in and through prayer. Let’s make our temples worthy of such a Holy procedure.

Tiffany

Praying in One Accord ~ Day 20

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Accountabillity, discipleship, encouragement, Fellowship, Frienships, Prayer, Relationships

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“What happens when saints pray is that the power of the Almighty is brought to bear on the one(s) for whom they are praying.” ~Oswald Chambers

Prayer: it is not always done alone, in secret, in the solitude of the closet, though this time is essential to an intimate relationship with God. The power of two or three gathered in prayer is a multiplied one whose unity of heart and soul enables the bearing of burdens and strengthening of spiritual endurance.

“The time we spend in prayer is my favorite…” I shared with a friend. She agreed and added, “Do you know how many times we have prayed together and received miraculous answers?” There is something emboldening to the soul (mind, will, emotions) of a believer about looking back on answered prayer. Have the answers always been our dictated desires? No–God is not a robot who dishes out precisely what we want–but the answer has always come, and it has always been the best possible result.

What grabbed my attention about this type of prayer (prayer with other believers) is it’s power to give courage and remove fear. Acts 4:23-34 we find Peter and John just released from the council for preaching the Word. Coming to the body of believers, they immediately enter into prayer for boldness. All of them have need, and there is only One who can supply it.

“…they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God…”

And look at what their faith accomplished: “And when they had prayed (a fervent request, making a need known earnestly), the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness” (vs. 31).

When is the last time you met your difficulties by praying with others? When you find yourself “up against the wall” in life, do you run to God’s provided “support team” for prayer…or do you resort to hopelessness, fear, discouragement, self pity…the list could go on.

Prayer is not an optional “side dish” on the menu of the Christian life. Prayer is the main course–absolutely needful.

The essential quality of prayer is faith–something we are sometimes hard pressed to find. Yet coming together with a body of like-minded believers brings the “boost” of faith we often need! Make prayer a priority with your family, your friends and especially those under your influence (younger siblings, disciples, etc.) Young people, there is power in a father’s prayer. Have you asked him for it? There is power in the prayer of two Christian friends, seeking the Lord’s will or His intervention, but do you stop to make time for it? Are you ashamed to ask for it? You may want to ask yourself who are your friends.

For the sake of your encouragement and the courage to live out loud for Christ, make prayer a primary in your life.

Neither then will any among you lack (Acts 9:34).

~Hannah

Do you see? Are you willing?

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized, Wallking in the Spirit

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“Teach me thy way, O Lord: I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.” ~Psalm 86:11

  •  ”Teach me thy way”: here, the need to learn is implied.
  •  ”I will walk in truth”: action is required and promised.
  •  ”Unite”: a request that can only be answered by God through the working of His Holy Spirit
  • ” Unite my heart to fear your name”: a quality that is lacking or needs to exists in the life of the author, but cannot come from his own efforts. Note, that there is willingness in the life of this man as well as the desire to learn the way of the Lord.

May David’s prayer be ours also.

~Tiff

Scripture Reading

09 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in Abiding, Relationships, Wallking in the Spirit

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Awhile back we encouraged our readers to take up the challenge of reading through the Bible this year. So, how’s it going? Consistency is a hard trait to continue even in my own life, but I want to exhort you to continue on! Currently, I am making my way through the Psalms but have to admit to skipping a day here or there and even taking only enough time to read a smaller portion then I should. Some days it’s been a real struggle.

Why is it that the spiritual bread and water of our life is more easily put aside from our schedules then anything else?

I can also say, however, that as I have read the Word, even staying up till all hours of the night, trying to “catch up”, strength, renewal and insights have come, and precious times in prayer. I’m learning along with you to abide.

We are told to have the mind of Christ in us, to always be in prayer, to let His words abide in us and so on, so why then do we give God a small portion of time and then ask for a better relationship when we are not willing to give it what it takes. Our relationship is what fits us for life, not vice-versa –our life does not fit us for our relationship with Christ! If I spend even 1/4 of my day with the Lord, that is not much…and do I miss the fellowship and desire the intimacy that I do not haven when I’m out and about working or doing what duty calls to do?

Tonight as I was talking to a friend, she said, “I miss my Father and I miss my Heavenly Father”, with a puzzled look, I asked, “are you spending time with him (your heavenly Father)”?  ”Yes”, she replied, “but I need to spend more time with Him”.  Now that is what I’m talking about, that desire, the need to be abiding more than we do.

Let Him capture your heart!

Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call,
Follow His leading and give Him my all.

May you be in the Word, and not just there but letting Him abide in you, and you in Him, otherwise it will be to no effect.

~tif

The Greatest Blessing

19 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in Blessed, Brokeness, Brokenness, Humility, Surrender, Wallking in the Spirit, Yielded

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“The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves; we have to enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit.” ~OswaldChambers

Broken bread, poured out wine. Roof off to God, walls down towards others. Usable people, moldable clay. It comes from the understanding of our nothingness next to God’s omniscience. Cling to the belief that you, in and of yourself, are able, and God cannot use you. To be used by God is to be utterly broken before Him. A broken person says “Yes Lord – your commands are my wishes.” A broken person loves more, because they know how much they have been forgiven – therefore they are able to forgive. It is such a person that knows the depths of their spiritual destitution, and yet enjoys all the promised wealth from the storehouses of heaven. Their spiritual hunger has pushed them to the Master, and they have sought after righteousness and been filled. Oh that our greatest heart’s desire would be to know the Savior in the way that the broken person knows Him! To be broken in and of ourselves, made ready for use by the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords!

~T&H

Give and it Shall be Given

18 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Believe, Gifts, Give, Giving, Glory, Holy Spirit, Lords Prayer, Obedience, Patience, Power, Promptings, Receive, Sacrifice, Spiritual Growth, Trust, Wallking in the Spirit

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When the Lord prompts you to give: Give!

It is not only your faith that is being built, but the faith of the receiver –the one who is waiting, praying, patiently seeking the Lord for his daily bread –you are the answer to that one’s prayers. “Our Father who art in heaven……thy will be done….give me my daily bread…forgive me as I forgive…for Thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power…..”

There was one who gave once, with fear and trembling  –it was sacrificial. The yearly savings, which was set-aside for a good treasure, was now brought to their attention by the Spirit of God. He wanted its use for Kingdom purposes –and He said it was needful. With much struggling, it was given. It was done and it was an answer to prayer. The timing had to be perfect, for God never makes mistakes. It was found out later that God’s prompting was timely.

But what if that giver had not given? Would God have used someone else? Would that person waiting to receive, have suffered the disobedience of the giver? In reality, the “givers” obedience to the prompting of the Lord, is just as important as the “faith” of the receiver. These go hand in hand, and one cannot be without the other, the importance is the living of these traits in our lives. Live with the royalty you have been given as a believer –He owns the cattle on a thousand Hills!

Give and Receive!

~tiffany

Patient Faith

17 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Faith, Patience, Stand Still, Submission, Surrender, Waiting

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“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” ~Hebrews 11:7

Much is said today about “combat faith” – we are encouraged to buckle on our armor, march out the front door, and storm the battlements of hell. And this is a vital part of the Christian walk. However, there is another type of faith that is just as important – patient faith. Look at Noah, for example, in Genesis 8:13: “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” Think about it – Noah and his family had been cooped up in the ark with a bunch of stinking animals for months!! They hadn’t set foot on solid ground in almost a year. I don’t know about you, but if I was in that situation, I would’ve been out the door of the ark the minute I saw the ground was dry! But that’s not what Noah did. The next couple verses tell us that he waited for God to give the okay – which didn’t occur until the twenty-seventh day of the second month – almost one month after he had seen dry ground. Did he wonder if God had forgotten them? I know I would’ve been tempted to think that! Did his faith ever waver? Not a bit. He stayed in the ark, patiently waiting on God’s timing. The next time you’re tempted to charge out and do what you think needs to be done, stop first and listen to that still small voice – maybe it’s time to just wait.

~Christen

A Special Somone…

19 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in Birthday, Example, Frienships, Gifts, Holiday, Prayer

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Today is a very special day.

Today is my fellow-blogger’s 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Tiffany!

A little over a year ago, I met Tiffany at a girl’s retreat in Northern Michigan, where she had come to impart truth to those attending as students. I was among those students, and for ten days, I had the privilege of hearing from her heart what God had placed there as she faithfully served Him, and sought His best for her life. I remember her sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit throughout that week, and it stuck with me for months afterwards. I found her on her knees praying many times, even in the early hours of the morning, or what we typically refer to as “the middle of the night” when others were sleeping. I left that conference with a burning desire in my heart to know God more. I saw what it meant, perhaps for the first time, to truly love God, and be abandoned completely to Him.

I didn’t think I’d ever see Tiffany again when I left that retreat, but God in his providence had much more in store for us. Only weeks after getting home, I received a phone call from her, and she began to reach out to me as an older sister figure. Then together, God used us to reach out to other girls through counseling, retreats like the one I met her at, and even this blog!

Just as I saw Jesus shining clearly through Tiffany’s life, so Jesus desires for His life to shine through me, and through you, and through everyone that belongs to Him! The last year of my life has been a time of weeding out the old, and bringing in the new. It has been a time of transformation, much of which God has revealed to me through the lives of those believers He has brought across my path…one of which has been Tiff. Know, dear friends, that those around you see either darkness, or Jesus. Those ten days at that retreat challenged me to ask myself, “What do people see in me?” The Holy Spirit is alive, and real. He is living inside of you if you have given your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will make a difference for you. Is your life shining in the transparency of Christ-like love and godly character? Or are you hidden in the shadows? Step out into the light and let your life be Jesus to all those you meet, just as Tiffany’s life was and is to me!

Be Blessed!

~Hannah

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