Bible League: Living His Word And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.Jesus was about to make the ultimate sacrifice when He said the words of our verse for today. He had been with His disciples for three years and He had been their helper, teacher, and counsellor during that time. Now that His departure from them is looming up, He promises that He will ask the Father to send them someone else – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit they would receive on Pentecost Sunday would be their new helper. The presence of the Holy Spirit within each and every Christian means that there is a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians. Christians have a supernatural helper within them that non-Christians do not have. Although we may not always sense the presence of the Spirit, although we may not always be "filled with the Spirit," the Spirit is always working through us to help us, comfort us, strengthen us, and guide us. Indeed, due to the presence and help of the Holy Spirit, we are able to do the things Jesus did – and even greater things (John 14:12). Christians, then, have a source of strength and help that allows us to make a real difference in the world. Instead of succumbing to the patterns of this world, instead of simply accepting the world as it is, we can transform the world. The spiritually blind can be led to see, the misguided can be set straight, the downhearted can be encouraged, the sick can be healed, and so on. The helper within us empowers us to advance and enhance the Kingdom of God on earth in every area of life. Thus, as the special name for the Holy Spirit in our verse for today implies, the most important aspect of the Spirit's work within us is that He simply helps us. Who doesn't need help? Who hasn't felt that the work was too big, too hard, and too demanding? It is when things are hard that the help of the Holy Spirit becomes most evident. What we thought was impossible suddenly becomes possible. When we thought we would faint our strength is renewed. When the obstacles were insurmountable a pathway opens up. You have something within you that can help you every time. Today, then, rely on the help of the Spirit for the tasks God has called you to do. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 73, 74 Psalm 73 -- BOOK 3: Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 74 -- God, why have you rejected us forever? NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Romans 5 Romans 5 -- Peace with God; Joy in Our Hope; Through Christ Many Will Live NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.Insight All who welcome Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives are reborn spiritually, receiving new life from God. Through faith in Christ, this new birth changes us from the inside out—rearranging our attitudes, desires, and motives. Being born makes you physically alive and places you in your parents' family. Being born of God makes you spiritually alive and puts you in God's family. Challenge Have you asked Christ to make you a new person? This fresh start in life is available to all who believe in Christ. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Haggai 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands.How destructive is the hail to the standing crops, beating out the precious grain upon the ground! How grateful ought we to be when the corn is spared so terrible a ruin! Let us offer unto the Lord thanksgiving. Even more to be dreaded are those mysterious destroyers--smut, bunt, rust, and mildew. These turn the ear into a mass of soot, or render it putrid, or dry up the grain, and all in a manner so beyond all human control that the farmer is compelled to cry, "This is the finger of God." Innumerable minute fungi cause the mischief, and were it not for the goodness of God, the rider on the black horse would soon scatter famine over the land. Infinite mercy spares the food of men, but in view of the active agents which are ready to destroy the harvest, right wisely are we taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The curse is abroad; we have constant need of the blessing. When blight and mildew come they are chastisements from heaven, and men must learn to bear the rod, and him that hath appointed it. Spiritually, mildew is no uncommon evil. When our work is most promising this blight appears. We hoped for many conversions, and lo! a general apathy, an abounding worldliness, or a cruel hardness of heart! There may be no open sin in those for whom we are laboring, but there is a deficiency of sincerity and decision sadly disappointing our desires. We learn from this our dependence upon the Lord, and the need of prayer that no blight may fall upon our work. Spiritual pride or sloth will soon bring upon us the dreadful evil, and only the Lord of the harvest can remove it. Mildew may even attack our own hearts, and shrivel our prayers and religious exercises. May it please the great Husbandman to avert so serious a calamity. Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive the blights away. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 18:16 He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.Psalm 40:2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. Ephesians 2:1,3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, • Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Psalm 61:1,2 For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. • From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Jonah 2:2,3 and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. • "For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. Psalm 66:12 You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance. Isaiah 43:2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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