Holy Spirit

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

—Mark 1:8 NIV

Key Thought
Jesus 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 the Spirit is the seal of...

 

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 his 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 permanently. However, I...

 

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 warnings not to do these things were given by the...

 

"Where is the one who led them [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 of God and...

 

Then they [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 forget that they are the ones who had left God. God had not abandoned them. They wonder why the power and influence of the Holy Spirit aren't present in the life of their...

 

He said, "Without question these are my people, children who would never betray me." So he became their Savior. In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time. But they turned on him; they grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned on them, became their enemy and fought them.

—Isaiah 63:8-10 MESSAGE

Key Thought
When we...

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

—Isaiah 61:1 NIV

Key Thought
God's servants in every era, including now, are empowered by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit produces holy fruit in their lives (Galatians 5:22-23), shapes their hearts, and guides their efforts toward ministry that...

 

"As for me," God says, "this is my covenant with them: My Spirit that I've placed upon you and the words that I've given you to speak, they're not going to leave your mouths nor the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your grandchildren. You will keep repeating these words and won't ever stop." God's orders.

—Isaiah 59:21 MESSAGE

Key Thought
The book of Isaiah furnishes so much language and imagery of the Messiah and the coming new covenant of God with his people. One of the great...

 

"What sorrow awaits my rebellious children," says the Lord. "You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins."

—Isaiah 30:1 NLT

Key Thought
In the time of Isaiah, God's people were in a very difficult predicament politically and militarily. They saw making alliances with foreign governments their only hope for survival. Why is it that we, the people of God, so easily forget that God is our only hope for survival — not...

 

"What sorrow awaits my rebellious children," says the Lord. "You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins."

—Isaiah 30:1 NLT

Key Thought
In the time of Isaiah, God's people were in a very difficult predicament politically and militarily. They saw making alliances with foreign governments their only hope for survival. Why is it that we, the people of God, so easily forget that God is our only hope for survival — not...