Holy Spirit

So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear [God's] voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness ..."

—Hebrews 3:7-8 NIV

Key Thought


God has spoken to the hearts of his children over the centuries inviting them back into relationship with him. These Spirit-inspired messages came in many and various forms, but the clearest came through Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-3). Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God...

 

[Jesus said,] "David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."'"

—Mark 12:36 NIV

Key Thought


Jesus tells us that David's great Psalm 110 is Spirit-inspired. And that Psalm speaks to the greatness of the Messiah — the greatness of Jesus! He is Lord. Lord of the nations. Lord of all. Lord of even David. He will rule. He will triumph. And the power of David's testimony...

 

[John the Baptizer:] "I baptize you with water, but [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

—Mark 1:8 NIV

Key Thought


Jesus was and is directly involved in sending the Holy Spirit to his followers. He did it when initiating the dawn of the church with the coming of the Spirit that first Pentecost (Acts 2:33-39). Jesus also poured out the Spirit into the hearts of everyone who came to him in faith and baptism (Titus 3:4-7). Paul taught that the gift of...

 

[Jesus:] "I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences." He told them this because they were saying, "He's possessed by an evil spirit."

—Mark 3:28-30 NLT

Key Thought


What was the power behind Jesus' ministry? Some critics say it was deception. Some skeptics say it was people's imagination. Some even attributed his power to demons and the...

 

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.

—Mark 1:12-13 NLT

Key Thought


Jesus' time in the wilderness was not an accident. It was not an afterthought. Jesus was compelled to go into this time in the wilderness. He had no place to hide in this wild and rugged place. In this wilderness, a harsh place we call the desert, God's Son had to depend...

 

The moment [Jesus] came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God's Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him.

—Mark 1:10 MESSAGE

Key Thought


Winning the Super Bowl, winning the World Cup, winning Wimbledon, winning the British Open, winning the Daytona 500, and winning the World Series are considered lifetime achievements for those involved in the respective sports. Yet none of these victories even approaches the significance of the moment in today's...

 

Then [the LORD's people] remembered the old days, the days of Moses, God's servant: "Where is he who brought the shepherds of his flock up and out of the sea? And what happened to the One who set his Holy Spirit within them?"

—Isaiah 63:11 MESSAGE

Key Thought


In their rebellion against God, the LORD's people forgot that they were the ones who had left him rather than him abandoning them. They wondered why the power and influence of the Holy Spirit weren't present...

 

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

—Psalm 51:11 NIV

Key Thought


This desperate cry for God's forgiveness is from King David to God in David's deep sorrow for his sin with Bathsheba. The king before David, Saul, had blatantly disobeyed God and sought to rationalize his sin. God took his Holy Spirit from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14). So David's cry is understandable: In the Old Testament, God's Spirit normally didn't come to dwell in his people...

 

Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, "This is what God says: Why do you disobey the LORD's commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the LORD, and now he has abandoned you!"

—2 Chronicles 24:20 NLT

Key Thought


Over the last several days, we have looked at grieving the Spirit and abandoning the LORD by our actions, our attitudes, and our words. The warning not to do these things...

 

"Where is the one who led [the Israelites] through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling. As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. You led your people, Lord, and gained a magnificent reputation."

—Isaiah 63:13-14 NLT

Key Thought


Rest — true, genuine, deep rest — comes from the Spirit of the Lord. And when that sense of rest is gone, we need to seek the Spirit...