Holy Spirit

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 news to people...

 

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 imagine! And...

 

On one occasion, while he [Jesus] was eating with them [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 touched...

 

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
Part of my growing up...

 

God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

—1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 NLT

Key Thought
Scripture calls us to two powerful principles through this passage. First, the message given to us by the apostles is not man's opinion, but God's truth — we must not ignore it! Second, God gives the Holy Spirit to Christians, not just a one-time or...

 

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

—2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

Key Thought
As Paul faced the challenges of imprisonment and impending death, he reminded Timothy in the next verse (2 Timothy 1:8) not to be ashamed of the message of Jesus or of him as Jesus' messenger. This ability for Timothy (and for us) not to be ashamed comes from the Holy Spirit. The indwelling presence of the Spirit brings us power, love, and self-discipline...

 

[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 Holy Spirit...

 

The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

—Genesis 1:2 NLT

Key Thought
In the very first chapter of the Bible, we are taken to the formless emptiness before time began. We find the Spirit of God hovering over this formless and empty darkness, characterized as "the surface of the waters," waiting for God to speak his creative word. God's formative word set the power of the Spirit...

 

[Jesus said,] "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

—Luke 11:13 NIV

Key Thought
James told early followers of Jesus that they lacked many things in their spiritual walk with the Lord because they did not ask for them or because they asked with the wrong motives (James 4:1-3). So often we fail to have the blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives because...

 

I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that...