Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

Do You Know When to Surrender?

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I hated group projects in school. There was always at least one person who didn’t do their fair share of the work. I couldn’t stand the idea that my grade would be judged on someone else’s effort, or lack thereof.

So I made sure to do the extra work for that person. I refused to settle for a poor grade, even if I had to take up the slack.

I like to be in control of things, my destiny, my finances, what my kids learn, what we eat. Please tell me I’m not the only one out there. It all comes from the desire for my family to have the best. Which is good right?

It’s good to want what is best for you and your family, but we can’t control everything. Yet, I hang on with both hands, tightly clenched, knuckles glaring.

When I finally have worn myself out, my muscles shake, and my legs give out, that’s when I surrender the problem to God.

Once we surrender our problem to God, He can begin to solve it, not before. Continue reading →

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Learn to Hear God’s Voice

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Last week I shared with cheeks aflame how God humbled my pride, showing me that I do nothing on my own, all is from Him.

Ever since I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the stories in the Bible where people actually heard the voice of God. Moses and the burning bush, Samuel in the dark of night, Jesus when we he was baptized.

I wondered why God didn’t speak out loud to us, I mean, it would make a lot of things so much easier. But if God told me what to do, all the time, then my faith wouldn’t grow. Your parents told you what to do with an audible voice, and I’m willing to bet you didn’t always follow their advice.

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

We are blessed, because we haven’t seen God and we still believe.

Even though we can’t always hear God’s voice out loud, He does speak to us.

The most important way He talks to us, is through His word. Scripture is called The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Jesus quoted scripture in His sermons, He spoke against the devil during His tempting with scripture. Too often, we want some quick easy way to hear God, when we have it right in front us, our Bible.

I grew up going to church. I knew all the Bible stories. I’d read the entire Bible on my own as a teenager. But until I came to know the Holy Spirit, the word didn’t live for me. It didn’t speak to me. It didn’t penetrate my heart.

If you want to hear God’s voice, then you have to rely on the Holy Spirit.

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. Acts 19:2 and 6

Without the Holy Spirit, we can’t hear God’s voice. But once we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s word will speak to you like it never did before. You will cry reading certain verses, realizing how it relates to exactly what you’re going through at the exact time you need it.

Let’s pray together.

Dear Jesus,

Please help us to hear your Holy Spirit. May He fill our hearts with your word. Draw us closer to you, Lord. Let us hear your voice shout across our souls like never before. Let your Spirit overflow from us, so that other’s will know and see you living in us. May we be on fire for you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Has God ever spoke to you? Did He reach you with scripture, a person, a story?

 

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How God Used an Addict to Convict Me

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I’m going to share something gritty, real, and raw about my life with you.

My older brother is a life long drug addict. He’s been in and out of rehab and jail multiple times. He’s lost his job, his house, and now half of his teeth.

I have held hope that each time he’s really kicked the habit. And each time he’s begun using again, I tell myself I should have known. I tell myself he has the power to change and it’s his choices that have got him where he is today. And that’s true.

But as much as I don’t understand his addiction, I’ve felt superior to him. I’ve comforted myself with the fact I would never allow myself to walk the road he’s chosen.

And last night, I saw him at a belated family Christmas party. I haven’t seen him in over a year. His hair is long, he’s skinny, he’s aged considerably, and he’s using. I believe he was on something while at the party.

But I saw something else. I saw a man who wanted to be around his family. A man who needs love. A man who Jesus Christ died on a cross for, even though Jesus knew the path my brother would choose. And Jesus loves him, loves him beyond the things he’s done and the choices he’s made.

And so do I. I wrapped my arms around him and told him I loved him.

Then I asked him if I could pray for him. He said yes. So in a room filled with probably over 60 extended family members, with stereo blasting and kids weaving between tables and chairs, I pulled my brother in a hug and I prayed out loud for God to protect Him, for the Holy Spirit to speak to Him and work in his heart, even when I had to push the words past the tears burning my throat.

He turned to me and said “You’re going to make me cry.” And I told him that was all right. Then he left.

I don’t know if he’ll ever beat addiction, but I know that my prayer meant something. And that if I never see him again, I won’t regret loving and praying with Him.

But I would have regretted not praying with him. I would have regretted not listening to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit, because it was me who was changed last night.

God allowed me to see an addict through His eyes, not through my own. I’m tearing up as I write this, because of how God has humbled me.

So I share this with you to show you that God can work through any situation to show us a part of Him if we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit.

Is there any area of your life that God’s convicted you?

I share a post on the book that helped me come to this place on Faith, Friends, and Frappuccino’s today.

This post will show you how to pray effectively pray intercessory prayers.

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Twitt

Three Ways to Grow Closer to God

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Do you make New Year resolutions and goals?

Many of want to become more organized, thinner, healthier, happier, and the list goes on.

No matter what your goal, you have to implement a plan or steps to get you to your end goal. If you say you want to run a 5K marathon, but don’t specify how many times a week your going to workout, then chances are, you’ll never get there.

As Christians, we may say we want to devote more time to God and following Him.

In fact, I hope this is something everyone strives for, including myself.

But, unless we set some sort of plan or guideline into motion, we’ll most likely quit in a week or so.

In order to grow closer to God there are three things we must do.

1. Find the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus returned to Heaven, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no connection to God or Jesus while we’re still in a sin filled world. If you seek the Holy Spirit, God promises we will find Him.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:8

2. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Once you’ve asked God to reveal His Holy Spirit to you, you must listen to Him.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. John 16:13-15

Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit only speaks what He hears from God’s own mouth.

3. Spend time in God’s word. You must read your Bible. The Bible is God’s most precious gift to us other than the sacrifice of His son. It tells us how we are to find Him, how to live, everything about Him is inside the Bible. When we read it with the help of the Holy Spirit, verses will take on special meaning and relevance to things we are going through.

Have you ever been struggling with something, opened the Bible, and found a verse that fit your situation exactly? That is the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been dealing with something and a snippet of verse came to mind? That is the Holy Spirit and God speaking to you through His living word. If you don’t know His word, or spend time in it, then you make it very difficult for God to speak to you. And you can’t know someone if you don’t converse with them.

So pray this with me.

Dear Jesus,

Please fill us with your Holy Spirit. May this year be one where we are overflowing with your presence. May nothing stand between us and you. Lift the blinders from our spiritual eyes and unplug our spiritual ears so that we may see and hear you like never before. In Jesus name, Amen.

How have you experienced God’s presence in your life?

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