2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 16
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 16
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” Romans 8:16
The Spirit Testifies With Our Spirit
Within the life of a believer there exists an ongoing verification of our fellowship with God. The Spirit Himself bears witness to our relationship. This is the intangible aspect of our spiritual life. Much of Christianity deals with objective truths. God created the universe. We humans violate the law of God by sinning with our minds, our speech, and our actions. This sin separates us from God and puts us under His just condemnation. God sent His Son to bear our sin. He lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death in our place, and rose again from the dead defeating sin and death. When individuals put their faith in these objective truths and receives Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of their lives, they become Christians. All Christians immediately receive the remission of sins and the gift of eternal life.
Christians also possess the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit guides us and leads us. The Spirit will never lead us to do something outside the explicit will of God as articulated in the sacred Scripture. He always gives testimony that is consistent with the Bible. Herein lies the intangible reality of how God works in our lives. The indwelling Spirit speaks to our hearts and verifies the truth of God’s word. He convicts us of sin and brings us to repentance. He gives us wisdom by guiding us through decisions both great and small. He empowers us for good works and produces divine fruit in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). The fruit born by the Holy Spirit in our lives represents the external, objective evidence of the intangible reality of the presence of God’s Spirit.
We Are Children of God
One aspect of the intangible work of the Spirit deals with our confidence before God. The Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we belong to God and that we are in a unique father-child relationship with God. Fear shakes our confidence. Trials and difficulties bring doubts into our minds. The Spirit helps us in our weakness because we struggle with the objective reality of our relationship to God. We are children of God, but we don’t always feel that reality. The Holy Spirit supports us, testifying in our hearts as to the love of God that has been poured out in our hearts, Romans 5:1.
Prayer Focus
(Prayer request for today, please pray for the nine of us from Matthew Road as we work together in Woodsboro, TX. Pray that we would be an encouragement in the midst of the very difficult circumstances they face as they recover from Hurricane Harvey.)
I praise You, my Father. Thank You for verifying my relationship to You through the gift of Your Spirit. My confidence wavers, but You help me in my weakness. Strengthen me today. Give me confidence in my relationship with You. Protect me from sin that so easily sifts my sense of closeness to You.
From DL Moody's Secret Power
“NONE OF SELF”
Then you will find all through the Scriptures, when men were filled with the Holy Spirit, they preached Christ and not themselves. They preached Christ and Him crucified. It says in the first chapter of Luke, 67th Verse, speaking of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist:
“And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. As He spoken by the mouth of His Holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”
See, he is talking about the Word. If a man is filled with the Spirit, he will magnify the Word; he will preach the Word, and not himself; he will give this lost world the Word of the living God.
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and increased in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”
And so we find again that when Elizabeth and Mary met, they talked of the Scriptures, and they were both filled with the Holy Spirit, and at once began to talk of their Lord.
We also find that Simeon, as he came into the temple and found the young child Jesus there, at once began to quote the Scriptures, for the Spirit was upon him. And when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and preached that wonderful sermon, it is said he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to preach the Word to the multitude, and it was the Word that cut them to the heart. It was the sword of the Lord and Peter, the same as it was the sword of the Lord and Gideon. And we find it says of Stephen, “They were not able to resist the spirit and wisdom by which he spoke.” Why? Because he gave them the Word of God. And we are told that the Holy Spirit came on Stephen, and none could resist his word. And we read, too, that Paul was full of the Holy Spirit, and that he preached Christ and Him crucified, and that many people were added to the Church. Barnabas was full of faith and the Holy Spirit; and if you will just read and find out what he preached, you will find it was the Word, and many were added to the Lord. So that when a man is full of the Spirit, he begins to preach, not himself, but Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.
The disciples of Jesus were all filled with the Spirit, and the Word was published; and when the Spirit of God comes down upon the Church, and we are anointed, the Word will be published in the streets, and in the lanes, and in the alleys; there will not be a dark cellar nor a dark attic, nor a home where the Gospel will not be carried by some loving heart, if the Spirit comes upon God’s people in demonstration and in power.