Holy Spirit

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

—1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

Key Thought


When this was written, temples were the places where the gods were thought to live. More than places of worship, these were places of presence. So when Paul reminds us that we are temples of God's presence through the Holy Spirit, he...

 

Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life."

—John 3:5-6 NLT

Key Thought


We are called to be spiritual people — holy, righteous, faithful, and compassionate like our Father in heaven. But our own efforts fail at achieving these spiritual characteristics. We need the power and presence of Almighty God at work in our...

 

[The LORD said,] "When [the Israelites return from Babylon to Judah], O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!"

—Ezekiel 37:13-14 NLT

Key Thought


In his later years, Ezekiel lived in Babylon during a time when all hope seemed to be gone: Jerusalem, the Temple, and...

 

[T]he Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

—Romans 8:26-27 NIV

Key Thought


How do we ask for the Holy Spirit? How do we pray when we don't know what to say? In these verses, Paul tells the followers of Jesus in Rome that the...

 

"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" [Paul] asked them. "No," they replied, "we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." ... Paul said, "John's baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus." As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and...

 

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

—Romans 8:9 NIV

Key Thought


Those who have received God's promised forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are no longer "in the realm of the flesh." The incredible, wonderful truth is that as followers of Jesus, those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, we are...

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

—Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV

Key Thought


Are you a dreamer? Even if you are not a dreamer, imagine the most highly impossible thing you could do to honor God. Then realize that God can do far more through you than that — more than you can even begin to...

 

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."

—Acts 2:38-39 NIV

Key Thought


The first Pentecost after Jesus' death and resurrection was the birthday of Jesus' church. The Holy Spirit moved in Jesus' apostles; they proclaimed the good...

 

On one occasion, while [Jesus] was eating with [the disciples], he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

—Acts 1:4-5 NIV

Key Thought


Jesus' closest followers had seen him betrayed, crucified, and raised from the dead. They had been with the Lord after his resurrection — they had...

 

On the last and greatest day of the festival [the Feast of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

—John 7:37-39 NIV

Key Thought


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