Holy Spirit

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

—1 John 4:1 NLT

Key Thought


Occasionally, we hear someone say something, preach something, or teach something that doesn't sit well in our hearts. We have a nagging feeling that something just isn't quite right with what was said. The Holy Spirit within us gives us a sick feeling in the...

 

Here's how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ — the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person — comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!

—1 John 4:2-3 MESSAGE

Key Thought


Over the years, many people have speculated on...

 

Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy...

 

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

—2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NIV

Key Thought


Can we recognize when someone is teaching the...

 

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel ...

—Philippians 1:27 NIV

Key Thought


At first glance, we are not sure whether the word "Spirit" in this passage should be capitalized. Further contemplation, however, reveals to me that having it capitalized is...

 

For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

—Ephesians 4:4-6 NLT

Key Thought


Unity is more than just getting along. At the core of maintaining unity and keeping the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), there is ONE core reality. Paul emphasizes this core reality by using "one" seven times. These...

 

Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

—1 Corinthians 12:13 NLT

Key Thought


Rather than offering my insight on this passage, the amplified paraphrasing of this passage in Eugene Peterson's The Message is quite to the point: "By means of [Jesus'] one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used...

 

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

—Ephesians 4:3 NLT

Key Thought


When we open the book of Acts, we hear Jesus promise twice in the first few verses to send the Holy Spirit to empower the early disciples as they go to all nations to share the good news of Jesus. As we read further, we see the Holy Spirit at work to break down every barrier — geographical, cultural, racial, economic, political, and social —...

 

[Epaphras is] the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.

—Colossians 1:8 MESSAGE

Key Thought


Epaphras had told Paul about the Colossians' growth in Jesus. One vital element of this growth was their love for each other. Paul recognized that the power of the Holy Spirit is what had inspired, empowered, and worked this love into the fabric of their daily lives. The Spirit empowers God's character to be formed in us (Romans...

 

The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

—2 Corinthians 13:14 MESSAGE

Key Thought


While most translations of this verse say "fellowship of the Holy Spirit," I find the phrase "the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit" to be powerful and exciting. We are brought into close fellowship with God and each other through "the intimate friendship of the Holy...