In his book, Jesus, Continued…: Why the Spirit Inside You is Better than JesusBeside You, J.D. Greear writes, “The vibrant Christian life is a union of
clarity in the Word and openness to the Spirit. If we seek the Spirit of God
apart from the Word of God, our faith will end in shipwreck. But, in the same way, if you seek to obey the
Word apart from the power of the Spirit, not only will your spiritual life be
lifeless and dull, you’ll also miss out on the help God wants to give you and
the most exciting things he has planned for you. You’ll miss out on the dynamism of
relationship. So, seek the Spirit in the
Word. His guidance functions something
like steering a bicycle: It works only once you’re moving. The Spirit steers as you obey God’s
commands. You start pedaling in
obedience; he’ll start directing.”
(p. 44)
This week as you prepare to gather
with your church family for worship I would encourage you to seek the Spirit in
the Word. Read John 14, 15 and 16. Before you read, and as you read, pray and
ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to what the Scriptures are saying about
Him and what He seeks to do in your life.
Pray He will help you seek Him through the Word.
If you
drive into Washington, D.C. at night you are sure to see our national monuments
shining bright against the evening sky.
When you do, I doubt you will say “look at those lights!” The light itself will not catch your
attention; instead it will be the memorial that is illuminated by that
light. So it is with the Holy
Spirit. In today’s text we see that
Spirit’s job is to shine the light upon Christ, to glorify Him, to draw our
attention to Jesus: He will glorify me,
for he will take what is mine and declare it to you (Jn 16:14). Perhaps this is why J. I.
Packer calls the Holy Spirit the “shy member of the Trinity.”
In John 15 Jesus says that apart from
Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). That
includes worship. Apart from the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in our lives
we can’t pray as we should; we can’t sing as we should; we can’t listen to the
preaching of the Word as we should; we can’t apply what we hear as we
should.
More often than not, my greatest
difficulty and challenge in worship is keeping Christ at the center of my
focus. Alone I can’t. I found the following from Spurgeon’s daily devotional
Morning and Evening very helpful in thinking about this challenge. I pray it is helpful to you as well.
It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from
self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite, for he is constantly
trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for
pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to
continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a
wavering hold of Jesus.”
All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find
comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes
entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is
all in all.”
Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it
is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is
Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which
thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the
source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and
finisher of thy faith.
We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our
doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus
is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have
peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death,
his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy
mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at
night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes
or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never
fail thee. (Morning and Evening, June 28, Morning)
This week as a part of our worship we
will hear a new song entitled Breath of God by Caroline Cobb. Listen to it and use the
lyrics and make her lyrics a part of your prayer.
The Breath of
God, the Promised One,
Filled their mouths and loosed their tongues;
To sing the
praise of the risen Son;
The mighty works that God has done.
Breath of God on
daughters, sons;
He is poured out on old and young;
To sing the
praise of the risen Son;
The mighty works that God has done
O breath of God,
O Spirit come
fill our mouths, And loose our
tongues
To sing the
praise of the risen son,
the mighty works that
God has done!
In these last
days everyone
who calls the name of the Risen Son
They shall be
saved by His precious blood;
Oh mighty work that God has done!
O breath of God,
O Spirit come
fill our mouths, And loose our
tongues
To sing the
praise of the risen son,
the mighty works that
God has done.
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