January 18 - God’s Guide Will Help Us Turn The Tide
Jesus - "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from me.” (John 16:13-14)
Devotional Thought: What are some things that you’ve learned about God’s Spirit this week? We’ve learned that the Holy Spirit comes into our lives at the moment of salvation. He teaches us what we need to know, convicts us when we have sin in our lives, and gives us direction for our lives. God’s Spirit also brings transformation to our lives, as He develops the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives. And God’s Spirit empowers us to live vibrant, victorious lives.
So, how does the Holy Spirit guide us in our lives? Here is what we learned last Sunday. First, the Holy Spirit helps us to know what we need to know. He helps us to know what we need to know about the Lord, about God’s Word, about God’s will and ways for our lives, and about much, much more. Second, God’s Spirit helps us to get to where we need to go in our lives. There are some places we need to get in life and places we want to go, but there's no way we're going to get there by ourselves. But we don’t have to get there by ourselves, because we have God’s Spirit to guide us and help us.
Three, the Holy Spirit helps us to say what we need to say. He uses us even when we don’t know He is using us, to speak words of affirmation, instruction or inspiration to others. Four, the Holy Spirit helps us to wait when we need to wait. Oftentimes we get ahead of God’s will for our lives. But when we’re listening to the Holy Spirit we’ll be right on time in regards to taking the steps we need to take, to advance in our lives.
Five, God’s Spirit helps us to resist what we need to resist. We’re always going to be surrounded by temptations in our lives. But as we learn to rely upon God’s Spirit and live in the power of the Spirit, we will find ourselves overcoming the temptations and trials of life. And six, the Holy Spirit helps us to avoid dangers we need to avoid. The more we listen to the Holy Spirit the better choices we’re going to make and the less we listen to Him the more mistakes we’re going to make.
So living daily surrendered to God’s Spirit is essential for our spiritual growth and for living the victorious life. Thank God for the gift of His Spirit.
Prayer Focus: Lord, help me to daily listen to and learn from Your Spirit and be empowered by Your Spirit - so I can do all that You want me to do and live like You want me to live. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Follow-Up Activity: Be sure to join us today in-person or online as we continue our SMART CHOICES series. Today we’re going to learn how to connect with a “team” that will help us to fulfill our dreams.
