Approaching God
Thank Abba Father for welcoming you into His holy presence and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in truth. “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
Listening to God
Pause a moment and quiet your mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you in the quietness of your heart. Invite the Spirit to open your ears so you can hear the voice of God. Ask Him to guide you in truth. Ask Him to show you sin you need to confess to Him.
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13a)
Talking to God
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2-3a)
Father God may your Spirit rest on me. I ask for godly wisdom, godly understanding, godly counsel, and godly knowledge. I ask that I would delight in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Spirit of God, open my eyes so I see you. Give me a desire to seek you with all my heart. May you be my deepest desire.
Responding to God
Help me Father as I strive to live according to your Word. Thank you that because your Spirit lives in me I can have my mind controlled by you and experience life and peace.
“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” (Romans 8:6-9)
Surrendering to God
“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)
Spirit of God, I surrender myself to you. As your child, I thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to lead me so I can live according to your Holy Word. With a grateful heart, I ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. Melt me of my desire to sin, mold me to the image of Christ, fill me, Holy Spirit, so your grace splashes out on those I encounter. Use me as you will. Thank you, God, for the gift of your Holy Spirit as He guides me into all truth.
By Jill Jansen
A HISTORICAL SIDEBAR
Early Reformers, such as the English Bible translator, William Tyndale (1494–1536), taught that the Holy Spirit was crucial for the Christian life. Our problem is “the heart, with all the powers, affections, and appetites, wherewith we can but sin” and our solution is “the Spirit, which [frees] the heart.” The root of our problem is not our behavior, but is within us. Tyndale and others observed that it’s not merely that we have done wrong things and need to start doing right things. Our behaviors are manifestations of our heart, our inner desires, and we need the Spirit to free us from this slavery.
