Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

Never Selfness

The Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself. In other words, there won't be any "unique" voice of the Holy Spirit except what the Holy Spirit has already authored in the Word of God. He will bring to remembrance and recite the words that Jesus had spoken. There is never selfness in the voice of the Holy Spirit. Apply that to many of those voices you hear within yourself. How many times does that voice you hear within you have to do with yourself? I don't mean your involvement, but is it about you more than it is the glory of God? Is what you're hearing for the glory of God? Or is this a voice that continually expresses itself after you have already heard the Spirit's voice saying, "My grace is sufficient for you"? You may pray, "Yes, Your grace is, Lord, but won't You change this? Won't You do it this way?" Even though God has spoken, you will never have peace until you die to your own will. Jesus wants to give us a peace, not as the world gives, but a peace to dead men--to the surrendered heart, to the resolve of God's purpose in your life.

The times you're at the greatest discontentment and discomfort are those times when you haven't already made the determination. You're still in the throes of the decision. You're waiting for that biopsy report or for that ticker tape to come across with your stock audit. The disquieting is the not knowing. The walk in the spirit is a constant not knowing, yet there's a peace. You can be comfortable living without knowledge of the circumstances or the specific details. You just need a knowledge of the One who will see you through and sustain you. Knowing that God is present is what gives you peace. Nothing else matters. Where we get anxious is in time and space. When you really embrace the presence of God and that peace comes, you've just entered into eternity. There is no fear, worry or anxiety in the eternity of the Spirit. Learn to walk, live and rest in that Presence.

There's the gift of the Holy Spirit that's available to us. You may have already been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, but let me ask you a question. When you're praying in the spirit, are you praying by habit or by inspiration? Are you praying with much vain repetition--sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, just jabbering and making noises? That's all speaking in tongues is if it's not freshly birthed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If you're praying by inspiration, you are praying, the Bible says, according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27). If you're praying truly in the Spirit, you're edifying yourself, building yourself up and being strengthened into the image of Christ. When the Lord says, "Ask your Father for the Holy Spirit, and He'll give Him to you," what you're asking for is an empowering to be made over into the image of Jesus. You're praying, "I'm asking, Father, to more proficiently hear Your voice. I want to hear the voice of God. I'm so jealous for that voice." When you're listening on that level, many times people, even Christians, will look at you strangely. They think that it thundered. People that hear the voice of God truly march to a different drummer.

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