Experiencing the Holy Spirit
This devotional will be different as it seemed good to me to ask about our experiences with the Holy Spirit to remind us of times He was working in and through us and we weren’t aware of it.
Ever been awakened in the middle of the night compelled to fervent prayer for someone? One friend shared that God awakened her in the dark of night urging her to pray for a granddaughter who was going astray; it was urgent and passionate. Another told of being awakened to pray for missionaries to find out later that something dangerous was happening at that exact moment and God protected them. That is the Holy Spirit.
A friend grieving the loss of her husband who stepped out of ministering to women, began to feel God’s call to serve Him again. She asked God to bring those opportunities to her as she would not seek them on her own. A lady she did not know approached her in Costco, this woman also grieving. A conversation started and she is still lovingly speaking Truth to her several years later. That is the Holy Spirit.
Once I was scheduled to be one of the speakers at a women's retreat. As I reviewed my presentation, I had a strong impression that I was to use a different verse in one section. I resisted and told the Lord that I was ready with that one. The impression grew stronger so I changed it, having no idea why. The speaker before me used that previous verse as one of her main points. Oh, the Holy Spirit again!
Another friend loves to hand write encouraging notes to people and she says when the words just flow onto the page, she knows it is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit works in our transformation and may use things that provoke us to get our attention. It may instead be an invitation to seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit, to be quiet with Him and listen.
When you read scripture and are particularly struck by a phrase, or truth, or revelation, that too is the Holy Spirit.
This is just a small sampling, but what is our part in this?
Make space for Him.
Pay attention (ask the Lord’s help to not miss opportunities or moments like these.)
Wait, expect, anticipate.
Reflection: Today, do some remembering and sharing of how the Holy Spirit has worked in your life. It will bring joy and glory to God.
Francie Overstreet
The Greatest Gift Ever
I woke up one Christmas morning to find a stocking at the foot of my bed. Inside was the cutest puppy I’d ever seen, squirming to get free. It was a great gift that brought wonderful memories to my childhood. Maybe you’ve received a really great gift at one time or another. Sometimes gifts are challenging to purchase—if you don’t know the person all that well, don’t know what they want, or what they need. Other times you come across the perfect gift for someone special you know very well and it’s a great feeling.
John 14 teaches about a very special gift. We get to slowly unwrap Jesus’ greatest gift to his disciples in our study of John and it’s got our name on it too! A gift he knew we would need, far beyond what we deserve.
The night before Jesus faced the cross he told his beloved over and over again, “I am leaving you.” For three years, they’d given up everything to follow him, and now was Jesus abandoning them?
So, in this context, Jesus said, I know you’re sad but I know something you don’t know. The best is yet to come! I have the greatest gift ever wrapped up for you Peter my passionate friend, and John, you’re gonna love it! James and Matthew—it’s just what you need. For all of you, this gift is better than you can imagine.
Do you know that feeling?….you found it, the perfect thing for someone you love, and you can’t wait to give it to them. Oh, was Jesus ever right when he said, it’s more blessed to give than to receive!
In verses 15-16 Jesus says: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor (or in other translations: Advocate, Comforter or my personal favorite…..Helper) to be WITH you FOREVER.”
Verse 26 tells us, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ALL things and will remind you of EVERY thing I have said to you.
What? I hope that stuns you!! I have God—the very Spirit of God, all of the knowledge and wisdom of God with me, to help me, to advocate for me, to comfort and counsel me, to teach and remind me….FOREVER.”
In verse 17 Jesus gives this incredible gift a name—The Spirit of Truth—because the Holy Spirit is a who and not a what. He says the world cannot accept him (speaking of the Spirit) because it neither sees him or knows him, but you KNOW him, for he lives with you and will be IN you. The Spirit of Truth is not a thing to get, but a person to know and have fellowship with forever.
Fast forward a few weeks. He left the mission of God to a ragtag group of Jewish peasants, facing impossible odds. In one generation they changed the course of history. Oppressed, lacking any advantage, these were “unschooled ordinary men.” (Acts 4:13) Yet they changed the world forever, because of the Holy Spirit—the best gift ever.
Donielle Winter
The Prepared Way
In my adult life, I have moved many times and each time, we left a home. The homes we occupied were filled with our treasures, memories, and love. One thing became more and more clear with each move… we had to go so that someone else could occupy and fill that space. Though most of the time we were excited about the move, other times we left in sadness with only trust in the Lord that He had good things still ahead in the future.
The trust that Jesus had in His Father was perfect when He left heaven and came to be with us—our Emmanuel. He left the perfect fellowship of the Trinity to make room for us, His treasure, who needed rescue from the hands of a thief who only comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10) because of the impact of chosen rebellion… sin.
Sin inhabits the homes of our hearts and God, as the original owner, sent His son to reclaim what belonged to Him. C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “There is no neutral ground in the universe.” Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, each person has the dignity of choice to follow the Lordship of the one and only true God. Jesus made the way so that each person had the opportunity to choose who occupied the home of their heart.
If you are a follower of Jesus having accepted His Lordship, I remind you that each day we are still faced with a choice to choose life or death, blessings or curses as we offer our lives as a witness to others by the way we live and love.
But maybe you are reading this and still question the validity of Jesus as Lord and Savior. I urge you to take a look at the Scriptures we have been studying together in the book of John and consider—or reconsider— Jesus. Look at Him as a man and dare to consider Him as God who loved and “demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”(Romans 5:8). To do this, He had to leave the perfection of heaven.
Where you choose to live is your choice, but you must offer the occupancy over to someone else. I pray today, with you and for you, that Jesus makes a home in your heart so that your permanent residency can be found with Him.
Jessica Klootwyk
Group & Women’s Discipleship Director
Hostage, Come Home.
John 14:1-14
Each morning I wake up, read Scripture and pray, and then I read the news for a few minutes. Over the last few weeks, the story that I’ve been most interested in is the release of Israeli captives by Hamas. If you’ve been following the developments, you’ve probably been praying and asking the Lord to be merciful to these people. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in captivity for over two months - wondering if you’re ever going to make it home. The amount of work that has gone into freeing the captives is astounding. Governments and militaries are involved and it’s all to make sure those people make it safely home.
Jesus agrees that making it home is of the utmost importance. When his disciples were troubled, he promised that “he was going to prepare a home for them.” The natural question the disciples asked was, “How are we going to make it to this home?” It was the same question I’m confident those hostages were asking. How are we going to make it? What power is going to release us and protect us? Who is going to ensure our safe passage? Jesus answers the disciples by promising them that he would bring them home. He boldly declared that he is “the way, the truth, and the life.”
Now, if you are the disciples, you might rightly ask, “What gives you the power to ensure our safe arrival? Philip spoke up and voiced that concern. He said,
8 “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (John 14:8)
Philip is struggling to believe that Jesus has the power to do what he just promised. He wants to see the Father - that’s the only way he believed they could make it home. Jesus responded,
9 “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)
The reason that the disciples can have confidence they will make it home is because Jesus and his Father are unified. The astounding truth Jesus is sharing with them is that all of the power of heaven is leveraged to get them home.
The same is true for those who are in Christ. Jesus promises our safe arrival too. All of the power of heaven is leveraged to get us home. Truly, nothing can separate us from God’s love. Our arrival is secured by divine power. When it comes to reaching our eternal home, we will never experience being held hostage, unable to make it. We have already been redeemed, freed from captivity, and purchased back from the Evil One and the grave. The exchange has already been made - the perfect Son of God gave his life for us and assured us that we will make it safely.
Today, take some time and thank Jesus for his rescue and promise that you will make it home safe and sound.
Pastor Ryan Paulson
The Way to Get Home
“I am the way ….” John 14:6a
Home is where all places, sounds, colors, and smells are familiar. Home is where we are known, embraced, and loved. But most importantly, home is where our loved ones are. When God created Adam and Eve, he provided them with a very special home. Unfortunately, as a consequence of their sin, they got displaced from their home and became homeless (Gen. 3:23). Since then, humanity has been longing to get back home, but something is blocking the path. The obstacles of sin and death keep us from going home.
When Jesus came into the world, He dealt with the powers of sin and death by defeating them on the cross, providing for those who believe in Him access to His Father’s house, and welcoming them as family. In Jesus, God has provided humanity with the only way to get to the home where we truly belong for all eternity.
In the meantime, those of us who have believed in Jesus as Christ are supposed to live in His way. Jesus modeled His way for us by living the values of our heavenly home, here on earth. In other words, Jesus is not only the way for humanity to get into the Father’s house, but He is also His family’s example to follow. Jesus is the way!
In the end, no one knows the specifics of our eternal home with Jesus. Maybe some of the places, sounds, colors, and smells of our heavenly house won’t be familiar to us. But there are some things that we know. In our eternal home, we will be known, we will be embraced, and we will be loved. But what will make the Father’s house our home, will be the presence of the One we love, Jesus.
Pastor Esteban Tapia
HOPEFUL PILGRIMS LOOKING FOR HOME
Jesus shares with the disciples in John 14:2 “In my Father’s House there are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you.” I can only imagine what they were feeling at this time as he shared he was leaving them. I read “many” when he is speaking about rooms and receive it as an invitation to each of us. A dwelling place for you and me. I have always been comforted by his next statement “If it were not so I would have told you.” Doesn’t that give you a sense of ultimate trust? He has just asked the disciples to trust him and then shares how he is going to prepare a place for them. A place of eternal living for all believers.
This passage assures us that Jesus is “fashioning” a place specifically for us. It will fit us perfectly. Our homes here on earth, while they may fit; are not perfect. Even on the most wonderful of days, there is a longing for something that is missing. There is a deep desire to make life feel right. We are searching for a place where life feels complete, striving to change just one more thing, and “then we will arrive” as the saying goes. On the surface, we talk about marriage, children, career, grief, and death, but underneath it all is a longing for a home.
During this Christmas season many of us, young and old, think of home. Christmas simply magnifies this desire. Rather than contentment, we look to what “isn’t” in our lives. Perhaps missing someone who has passed away, reminiscing about the great memories of the past like the smells of mom’s kitchen when you were a child, and remembering the wonder and the excitement of Christmas’ long ago.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.” This is the vision of the ultimate home we are seeking.
Last year I heard a Christmas song while at the annual Christmas tree lighting in Franklin, TN. Matthew West was live on the stage singing “Come Home for Christmas.” It’s about coming home, feeling a sense of wonder, and searching for the joy, peace, love, and hope of coming home. While the listener might reflect on all the feelings of coming to an actual home, the song ends with him singing about coming home to a Savior, to a place where we belong. May we look to him for our hope this Christmas season and be filled with true joy, peace, and love, and know that we belong!
Tammy DeArmas
Nostalgic Nomads
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” John 14:1-2 (NIV)
My family moved often for various reasons and changing schools nine times was torture sometimes. Guess what, I married a military man and we moved eleven times in twenty years! We always lived far away, and holidays were the hardest but we had many great adventures and made great friends. Now our three sons and their families live far away from us, so we cherish time together. We have so many great memories of people in the different places we lived in the States and overseas.
John 14 is a continuation of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples after supper. After Judas was dealt with, he focused on comforting the sorrowful disciples who were sad about his talk of leaving them and that they would betray him that night. How could that be? By now, they had found a home with Jesus–he was their friend, leader, and mentor and they were feeling anxious. Jesus told or commanded them not to “let” their hearts be troubled. This didn’t mean they wouldn’t have trouble in this life, but that they could choose their heart’s response to it. Instead of wallowing in their sorrow and giving in to the separation anxiety, Jesus told them firmly to put their full trust in Him just as they trusted God the Father. The result would be comfort and peace for their troubled hearts and much less anxiety. Here comes the question that brings hope: My father’s house has many rooms, if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? At the same time, he told the disciples that they would betray him, he also reassured them that in spite of it all, he would be waiting for them in heaven. Once again, Jesus would forgive and be merciful–knowing what was coming didn’t change his love for them one bit! What a Savior!
We have lived in our current California home for over three decades, with lots of memories, but this house and the rest are not as important as the people who lived there. Just as the disciples found their “home” in Jesus, we found our earthly homes in family and friends. More importantly, we have a future home to look forward to in heaven with Jesus just as he reassured the disciples. We won’t live trouble-free lives here but he will be with us and help us choose the peace and comfort he offers in the midst of it all. In the end, we know that he has gone before to prepare a place in heaven for us to live for all eternity where we are loved by him completely and unconditionally.
Deb Hill
The Faithful One
John 13:37-38
Have you ever felt the piercing sting of being betrayed by a friend? It’s the feeling of finding out that the love you have for a person isn’t truly reciprocated. It's finding out you were being used. It’s the realization that someone you trusted was not in fact trustworthy. That feeling cuts deep. At that moment, there isn’t any balm that can be applied that will adequately alleviate the hurt.
The feeling of being betrayed is a feeling Jesus knew all too well. He was betrayed by Judas, one of his disciples, and he was denied by Peter, one of his closest friends. Listen to the way Jesus prophesied Peter’s coming denial.
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. (John 13:37-38)
I wonder how much it pained Jesus to acknowledge that one of his best friends was going to deny that he ever knew him - not only once, but three times.
In reading passages like this, it can be easy to apply that passage in a way where the takeaway is, “Try really hard to not be like Peter.” That can easily become the punchline. Betrayal and denial hurts Jesus, so don’t betray or deny him. It’s true that denial pricks the heart of God, but I see a deeper and more profound takeaway.
See, we are all like Peter. Every one of us will deny Jesus on some level. We will all fail to live up to the calling that he has for our lives. In those moments, we can remember the moment Peter so brazenly uttered, “I will lay down my life for you!” Jesus knew Peter would fail to live up to even his own expectations of himself. However, it’s also at this moment that Jesus demonstrates to Peter that it’s his faithfulness, not Peter’s, that is his true hope. The same holds true for us. While we are called to lay down our lives to follow, our life is found in the fact that he laid down his life for us; not the other way around. Our hope is built on his faithfulness, not our own; on his sacrifice, not ours.
When we deny or betray Jesus in our thoughts or actions, we are called to repent and believe the good news. The good news is that Jesus is the Faithful One. It’s his faithfulness that empowers and inspires ours, and it’s his faithfulness that ultimately saves people like us who never fully outgrow our propensity to fearfully shrink back into patterns of betrayal and denial. Take some time and praise God for his immense grace.
Pastor Ryan Paulson
He’s all Heart
Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror and the Christmas countdown has begun. While you’re channel surfing, there’s a good chance you’ll come across the classic holiday comedy movie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s always good for a December laugh. Near the end of the story, the main character, Clark W. Griswold is humbly apologizing to his boss, taking the blame for a crime of passion, a kidnapping, carried out by his cousin-in-law, affectionately known as Cousin Eddie. He explains, and I quote, “My cousin-in-law, whose heart is bigger than his brain, is innocent.” To which cousin Eddie sincerely remarks, “I appreciate that Clark.”
It’s humorous because it’s not a compliment—saying someone’s heart is bigger than their brain. Everyone knows it’s better to be big-brained than big-hearted…..right?
Or is it….? I wonder what Jesus would say.
Remember the Pharisees, the learned teachers of the Law?— their brains were packed full of scripture committed to memory, of traditions and rules upon rules, protocol, promises, and penalties. Jesus had some memorable quotes when it came to them. In Matthew 3 Jesus calls these big-brained spiritual leaders a brood of vipers. In chapter 23 he really goes off… rebuking the smartest ones in the room for following rules but neglecting what mattered most to God. Jesus called them blind guides, fools, whitewashed tombs, and cups that are clean on the outside and filthy on the inside.
Why did he do this? Because our Savior is more interested in a big heart than a big brain.
Our Savior never mistakes one for the other. This week we take another close look at my favorite follower of Jesus, Passionate Peter. Last week we watched Peter refuse to let his Lord wash his stinky feet, then pivot and insist that his beloved Rabbi wash not only his feet but his head and hands and more! From walking on water to asking questions to rebuke Jesus, Peter’s heart is driven by earnest respect for Jesus, his Lord.
Peter’s heart was in the right place, his heart was good. In verse 33 Jesus is telling his beloved followers, “I am with you only a little longer, you will look for me, but where I am going you cannot come.” Peter replies, like a kindergartener who doesn’t want recess to end, “Where are you going Lord, and why can I not follow you now?” After 3 years, Peter knows he doesn’t want to be ANYWHERE his Messiah is not.
For 3 years Peter lived being fully known.
For 3 years Peter loved the feeling of being truly and fully loved.
He is 100% complete with Jesus. I wouldn’t want to let go either.
In panic and with a bold and desperate, heartfelt plea, passionate Peter blurts out, “Lord, I will lay down my LIFE for you.”
Jesus knows Peter better than Peter knows himself….and he loves him all the more. Peter’s heart shouts a loyalty his brain can’t keep up with.
Peter’s heart is bigger than his brain. And in the Kingdom of God, that is always a compliment.
Donielle Winter
A New Command
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34
This “new” commandment from Jesus was not new because we already knew we were supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves, right? Wrong, it is new because the followers of Jesus now had God in the flesh, the ultimate example of how to love your neighbor as yourself which followed the greatest commandment according to Jesus: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” See the sequence. Love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself and love one another (fellow believers) just as Jesus loves you!
Jesus showed his followers nothing but grace, mercy and forgiveness, even to those who betrayed him. He modeled humility and true love while being the example of leadership and authority. This new command has a different standard. The old was based on how you love yourself, the new is based on how Jesus loves you. The new is a higher quality of love, a sacrificial love that always seeks the good of others.
Remember this all took place at the Last Supper. Jesus knew that the greatest gift he could leave with his disciples was the understanding that others would be drawn to Jesus after he was gone because their sacrificial love for each other could only come from a relationship with Jesus, even after he was gone. This was not a new suggestion, new idea, new option but a new commandment. Jesus is the pattern we live by but he is also the authority. We are no longer our own, we don’t get to call the shots. Our life is defined now by Jesus and what he wills, not what we want. He laid down his life for us, that is powerful love. We can receive that same power to love when we lay aside our pride and status, ask his forgiveness and become a servant like he was.
Philippians 2:7 says - rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Are there any areas in your life where you are still holding on to control? Have you completely surrendered to God’s authority? Ask him to reveal any area where he can help you love others the way he loves you–he wants to help.
Deb Hill