Category: Bible

Living a S.P.I.R.I.T. F.I.L.L.E.D. life

September 29, 2025

Living a Spirit filled life is key if we are going to be all we can be for Christ. Before salvation the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus and He convicts us of our sin. At the point of salvation, He washes us clean and regenerates us, He then comes to live inside us, seals us as God’s own, makes us more Christ-like, gives us gifts to serve, and brings fruit in our lives. So, living Spirit Filled is vital.

In his book “Know what you believe” Paul Little put it this way…

“The fullness of the Spirit is not a matter of our receiving more of Him. Rather, it is a matter of relationship. To be filled with the Spirit means we allow Him to occupy, guide, and control every area of our lives. His power can then work through us, making us effectively fruitful for God and flooding our hearts with His joy. This filling applies not only to our outward acts but to our inner thoughts and motives. When we are filled with the Spirit, all we are and have is subject to His control” (p77-78).

Now I want to use the letters of Spirit filled to give us some pointers to putting it all into practice.

S—Submit to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Recognize God’s claim on your life. Realize that God’s plan is to conform you to the image of Christ. Relinquish your right to be in control of your life. These are keys to being Spirit Filled.

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24)

P—Pray for conviction of sin.

Acknowledge your natural inclination to sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of your specific sins. Agree with God about your need to change.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me.” (Psalm 139:23–24)

I—Identify with Christ’s death on the cross.

See yourself as dead to the ruling power of sin. See yourself as alive to God because of the resurrection life of Christ within you. See the Holy Spirit as your power to overcome sin.

“Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)

R—Recognize the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to teach you and to guide you.

Listen with your heart to the One sent by the Father. Listen to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit. Listen to His reminders of the truth as spoken by Jesus.

“The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

I—Initiate immediate obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Choose to acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit. Choose to submit your will to His will. (Don’t mentally argue.) Choose to act on His promptings.

“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5:16)

T—Trust in the Holy Spirit to be your supernatural power for living a holy life.

You have been called to be holy. You cannot be holy by your own efforts. You must rely on the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live a holy life.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

F—Fellowship on a regular basis with other believers.

Belong to a Bible-based church. Become involved in your church. Be supportive of others.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” (Hebrews 10:25)

I—Implant God’s Word in your heart.

Line up your thinking with God’s thinking. Read one chapter a day from the Book of Proverbs and allow it to transform your mind. Listen to teaching tapes on God’s Word.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

L—Learn to have a thankful heart.

Thank God for His unconditional love. Thank God for His faithfulness to orchestrate events in your life. Thank God in all circumstances, both good and bad.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

L—Live with an attitude of prayer.

Keep your mind focused on Christ. Keep your heart alert to the Holy Spirit. Keep praying through all circumstances.

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)

E—Expect victory!

Know that your strength is in Christ. Know that your own efforts will fail. Know that victory is the Lord’s.

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)

D—Depend on the Holy Spirit to develop the character of Christ in your life.

To reflect the character of Christ is the Christian’s highest purpose. To the extent that you submit to the Holy Spirit, you will grow in Christ. To reflect Christ accurately will draw others to Him.

“We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Closing Summary

Today we used the letters of Spirit Filled to give us some clues of what it is to live a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. Here they are again.

S—Submit to the authority of Jesus Christ.
P—Pray for conviction of sin.
I—Identify with Christ’s death on the cross.
R—Recognize the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to teach you and to guide you.
I—Initiate immediate obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
T—Trust in the Holy Spirit to be your supernatural power for living a holy life.
F—Fellowship on a regular basis with other believers.
I—Implant God’s Word in your heart.
L—Learn to have a thankful heart.
L—Live with an attitude of prayer.
E—Expect victory!
D—Depend on the Holy Spirit to develop the character of Christ in your life.

Amen

Jesus’ power over death

September 29, 2025
Image: freebibleimages.org

In the Bible we see that Jesus had the power over death. He raised at least three people from the dead and He Himself was raised to life.

  1. Lazarus – in John 11:38-44 we see Jesus raised Lazarus to life. He had been dead and buried for four days, but Jesus brought him back.
  2. Jairus’ daughter – in Matthew 9:18-26 Jesus raised the officials daughter after she died. The man came and asked Jesus to heal her, but she died while he was away. Jesus raised her to life.
  3. Widows only son – in Luke 7:11-15 Jesus came across a funeral procession. He told the young man to get up and he was raised to life. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.

As I read these three stories afresh they gave me a great hope. Hope that nothing is impossible to Jesus in this life. He even has the power over death!

As Christian we know that when we die we will be raised to life to be with Jesus. We will meet Him in heaven first and we will come back with Him when He calls time on this world.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 NLT
[15] We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. [16] For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. [17] Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. [18] So encourage each other with these words.

Knowing that Jesus has the power over death means that nothing is impossible for Him in this life. Knowing that when this life is over we will spend eternity with Him gives me hope.

Today I want to encourage you with this great hope – nothing is impossible for Jesus. He can raise the dead and He can give us eternal life as we put our hope and trust in Him.

If you have not trusted Jesus for your salvation, I would encourage you to visit my finding salvation page.

Fight for your faith

September 21, 2025

1 Timothy 6:11-12 NLT – But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. [12] Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.

I love the words Paul uses in this passage to Timothy. He uses words like run, pursue, fight, and hold tightly. They are all active words that are actions.

Some times we need to sit and wait on God to act on our behalf. At other times we need to be active in our faith and press on and do what only we can do.

In this passage Paul tells Timothy to run from all evils things. Paul knows that evil things can shipwreck our faith. Running from them reminds us that we need to turn our back on evil and get away from it.

Next he gives Timothy the antidote for evil things – pursue righteousness and a godly life. How do we do this? By crowding out the bad things with good. Read the Bible, pray, serve in church.

Finally Paul tells Timothy to hold tightly to eternal life. We must hold on to our hope in Christ. Have faith in God, believe in His promises and look forward expectantly to Jesus coming back. He is our eternal hope.

A trustworthy saying

September 13, 2025

1 Timothy 1:15-16 NLT – This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”-and I am the worst of them all. [16] But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

In these verses Paul summarises the Good News – Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and no sinner is beyond His saving power.

Jesus didn’t come in to the world to show us how to live better lives or challenge us to be better people. He came to offer us salvation that leads to eternal life.

Jesus tells us in Luke 5:31-32, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor-sick people do. [32] I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

Paul understood this and humbly admits that he too was a sinner who also needed to be saved. Paul knew who he was before he met Jesus and he did not shy away from his past. He used it to bring glory to God and people to Christ.

As Christians I think we need to be honest about our past when sharing our faith. There are times when I have shared my past life with people who did not think God would accept them.

The key for us is to realise that none of us are good enough to make it to heaven on our own. We all need Jesus and His death on the cross to pay the price for our sin. Only then are we good enough and ready for eternal life.

It is my hope and prayer that like Paul you have realised your need for Jesus and have found salvation in Him. If you have not found Jesus, I would encourage you to visit my “Find salvation” page here.

Listening to God

September 11, 2025

In my morning devotions I have four sections in my notebook – things I am thankful for, prayers for me, prayers for others, and listen to God.

I have been doing this format on and off since the year 2000. I first heard about it at a youth conference we ran at our church. I found it a simple format and something that fit well with my devotions.

The last section is listen to God. I simply say, “God is there anything You want to say to me?” And I sit quietly and wait. Usually I get an impression on my heart about something or a thought pops in to my mind.

The responses vary from a passage of Scripture, to a word of encouragement for me, or to something I need to do or someone to pray for.

God knows my heart really well and He often speaks a word of encouragement to me. Lately it has started with, “I am with you Dave,…”. This has been really comforting over the last three months.

So how do I know if it is God, or me or something else? Well I sit and wait and I test it. This morning was easy as it was a paraphrase of Psalm 23. Other times I just pray, “Is this You Lord?” And I do not write it down until I have a peace about the word.

For me it took time and practice to know if it was God. It was like tuning in to a radio station, when you tune in to the right frequency it is easy to hear.

I believe as Christians we have the Holy Spirit inside us (Romas 8:11) and Jesus’s words that His sheep know His voice and follow Him (John 10:27-28). So when I ask God to speak, I am confident He will.

If you would to read a post I did about my devotional format, you can find it here.