Holy Spirit JOY

Amy Stoehr

 Because of the abundant presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, the disciples were overflowing with happiness.  Acts 15:32

Today I was loving listening to the Daily Audio Bible with Brian Hardin, as I do each day, when the Holy Spirit ignited this sentence in my mind!  I played it back 10 times, I looked it up and I thought about it.  I've learned that when something in God's amazing Word seems to jump out at me, it's an invitation from the Holy Spirit.  He is the One Who illuminates the Word on this inside of us as we meditate on the verses and ask Him for more.  He will reveal Truth that will set us free to a new level of living by the Spirit! The precious Holy Spirit longs to reveal Truth  in our spirit continually. He desires us to know His Truth for the journey, Truth that will allow His glory to be seen in our lives.  Why were the disciples, the new followers of Christ in Antioch, overflowing with joy? They were overflowing with joy because of the abundant presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, and every one of us has a choice as to how much of Him we will allow to truly fill us! I am determined to invite His abundance presence in my life, and I expect His joy to be overflowing.  His joy will overtake us in spite of  natural circumstances, which are subject to change.  His joy prevails even in the midst of sadness, confusion or circumstances out of our control.

Precious Holy Spirit, thank you for dwelling in us.  We love and worship You with all of our heart, soul mind and strength.  We lift our hands to you in surrender and honor. Fill us afresh with your overflowing joy now, In Jesus' Name.

Desperate for You, Amy Stoehr

Today the dawn greets us with a fresh opportunity to draw near to the Lord, seek for Him and love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. As we adore Him, we will grow increasingly more aware of Him, and  less aware of ourselves and all of the circumstances surrounding us. As we magnify His Name...Oh God you are MY GOD (Psalm 63) our perspective is properly aligned to His eternal greatness and unchanging nature!  Oh Lord, You are my Redeemer,  my Savior, my Healer, my Provider, my Good Shepherd, my Wonderful Counselor, my Almighty God, my Everlasting Father, my Prince of Peace, my All in All! As we truly see Him today in His Word, we turn from being conformed to this world to being transformed by the renewing of our minds. You will really love reading and meditating on this threesome today...Psalm 42, 63, and 84. Be sure to write down what the Lord reveals to you so you will remember!

Think about Moses. He ascended Mount Sinai and there stood before the living God. The eyes of Moses were actually filled with God's sun-like glory; his ears actually heard the audible sound of the Lord's voice. Yet when Moses returned to the people, the Bible says he "did not know that the skin of his face shone" (Exod. 34:29). When the Israelites saw the fire of God's glory on the face of Moses, "they were afraid to come near him" (v. 30). They saw that  he had been with God. 

How the world needs people who have, like Moses, climbed closer to the Almighty, people who have stood in the sacred fire of God's presence.  People willing to leave behind  temporal and small thinking that prevents us from living each day in the reality of His presence and experiencing "Christ in us, the hope of glory!" The Lord is calling us to Arise to be desperate for Him, surrendered to Him, consumed by Him. He will teach us how to abide in Him moment by moment (John 15). 

Let's draw near to the Lord in worship, in loving His Word, in listening, and in prayer.  Make time for the Secret Place today, He will meet you there. Let's be thirsty for His presence.  He has invited us to come boldly to His throne of grace. To receive the help we need, we must arrive at His throne.  Our confidence is in Him alone, in His living Word!  Remember what Jesus said,  "everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:8). Precious Holy Spirit teach us today how to live in Your presence, surrendered to Your will, transform us by Your Word and touch precious lives with your love through us today.

Crooked Places Straight

“To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1 (NKJV)

 In the Book of Psalms, we see three times this simple, but powerful phrase “unto You O Lord I lift up my soul.”  The health of our soul is so important, and we can daily bring all that we are into God's presence.  In God’s presence our Creator and Healer and Lover of our souls makes the crooked places straight, the crooked things honest! He makes the uneven things in our lives even, the rough places smooth,  and transforms the  quagmires of impossible issues into solid ground!

Never forget that Jesus is not a one-time Savior, but an ever-present help in our times of trouble. Jesus promises to save us from everything that could hurt us; He will even save us from us, from our blind spots, from dark and the immature and ignorant areas of our souls. He will straighten out those twisted parts of our personality until our “light shines brighter and brighter even unto the noon day sun!”. Our Lord and Savior is absolutely committed to our complete salvation, body, soul and spirit!

So let us not delay; but right now come boldly to the Throne of Grace to receive His abundant mercy and His amazing grace, by lifting up our souls, the good, the bad and the ugly of ourselves onto the great I Am and to our Faithful Redeemer! The Lord loves honesty and sincerity. So bring it all, your successes and your failures, the healthy parts of your personality, along with the feeble and weak parts to Him. He will make all things work for your good, making the crooked things in us straight, healthy and whole until He sees His Son in us! He will conquer us to bless us (Isaiah 30:18)!

“Then I will lead the blind along a path they never knew to places where they have never been before. I will change darkness into light for them. I will make the rough ground smooth. I will do these things for them; I will not abandon my people.” Isaiah 42:16 (ETRV)