The Work of the Holy Spirit

Second Corinthians is a valuable guide in examining our own motives for serving the Lord, whether as lay people or as ordained pastors and evangelists. As an instrument of the Holy Spirit, this letter can refine our motives until we reflect the kind of selfless giving best exemplified in Christ, but also found in His servant Paul. The instructions concerning the collection for Jerusalem (chs. 8 and 9) emphasize generosity in the area of financial resources, just as Paul emphasized generosity in self-giving throughout the book.

Jesus Christ is the focus of our relationship with God 
All God’s promises to us are Yes in Jesus, and we say “Amen” to God’s promises in Jesus (1:19, 20). Jesus is God’s Yes to us and our Yes to God. Only in Christ do we see the glory of God, and only in Him are we transformed by that glory (3:14, 18), for Christ is the very image of God (4:4–6). God came to us in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (5:19). Thus, it is “in Christ” that we have become new creatures (5:17). This change was accomplished through the marvelous act of God’s grace in which Christ, “who knew no sin,” became “sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (5:21).

Jesus is also the focus of our service to God 
We proclaim Jesus as Lord and ourselves as servants for His sake (4:5). We willingly share not only Christ’s life and glory but also His dying (4:10–12), His willingness to be weak so that others might experience the power of God (13:3, 4, 9), and His willingness to be impoverished so that others might be enriched (8:9). We experience His weakness but also His strength as we seek to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (10:5).

Again, Jesus is the focus of our present life in this world, where we simultaneously experience in our mortal bodies both “the dying of the Lord Jesus” and His life (4:10, 11).

Finally, Jesus is the focus of our future life, for we will be raised up with Jesus (4:14), who is the “betrothed. . .husband” of the church (11:2) and the judge of all men (5:10).

The Holy Spirit is the power of the New Covenant (3:6), because He makes real to us the present and future provisions of our salvation in Christ. By the gift of “the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee,” we are assured that all God’s promises are Yes in Christ, and that we are anointed and “sealed” as belonging to Him (1:20–22). The present experience of the Spirit is specifically “a guarantee” of the glorified bodies we will one day receive (5:1–5).

We do not merely read about the will of God in the “letter” of Scripture, for “the letter [alone] kills.” The Spirit who gives life (3:6) changes our way of living by opening our eyes to the living reality of what we read. Thus, we progressively experience and embody the will of God, and we ourselves become epistles of Christ, “known and read by all men” (3:2).

When we submit ourselves to the work of the Spirit, we experience a miracle. We find that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (3:17). There is liberty to behold the unveiled glory of the Lord and to be changed more and more into the likeness of what we behold. The Holy Spirit gives us freedom to see and freedom to be what God wants us to be (3:16–18).

The work of the Holy Spirit is evident in daily inward renewal (4:16), spiritual warfare (10:3–5), and the “signs and wonders and mighty deeds” of Paul’s ministry in Corinth (12:12). Paul ended his letter with a blessing, which included “the communion [fellowship] of the Holy Spirit” (13:14). This could indicate a sense of the Spirit’s presence or, more likely, an enjoyment of the fellowship the Spirit gives us with Christ and with all people who love Christ. ~New Spirit-Filled Life Bible

The Holy Spirit can speak for us through the Scriptures. The Word of God is alive, because it was written under the inspiration of the Spirit. When we take those words upon our own lips, the Spirit speaks anew through us. Many traditional hymns and contemporary worship songs take their lyrics directly from the Scriptures too. Whether we speak or sing biblical texts, we can offer back to the Father, by the Spirit, God’s own perfect words.  ~Chris Sullivan   

Heavenly Father, I am Your child, for I believe in my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and I have confessed Him as my Lord.  Jesus said, “How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” 

I thank and praise You for Your Word, the Holy Scriptures and for the promise that Your Holy Spirit will guide me into all truth. Give me a teachable spirit so that I may learn all that You would teach me in Your word and prevent me from falling into deceptive teaching or false doctrine.

Lord, I ask that by Your Holy Spirit You would open my mind to the truth and give me discernment so that I am not tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Thank You for what You are teaching me in Your Word and give me a thirst to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest all that You would have me learn.

Lead me in the path of righteousness and guide me into all truth for Your holy names sake and help me to come to a deeper knowledge of the Lord Jesus, so that I may grow in grace and in a knowledge of Him – and of all that You would have me learn. Keep me from pride I pray and may I walk humbly before You all the days of my life.

I ask You now in the name of Jesus to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I step into the fullness and power that I desire in the name of Jesus.  I confess that I am a Spirit-filled Christian. As I yield my vocal organs, I expect to speak in tongues, for the Spirit gives me utterance in the name of Jesus, Amen.  Praise the Lord!

~Knowing Jesus

~Prayers that Avail Much 

Biblical Foundations For Speaking And Praying in Tongues (Benjamin Schaefer).pdf

We Declare Over Our Household

Father, as the priest and head of this household, I declare and decree, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).  Praise be to You, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for You have blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  We reverence You and worship You in spirit and in truth.

Father, we are Your children. The blood of the Lamb has redeemed us, and our sins are forgiven.  I pray according to Your Word, asking for Your protection for each of us.  Give safety to my children and ease them day by day. Our life is exceedingly filled with the scorning and scoffing of those who are at ease and with the contempt of the proud (irresponsible tyrants who disregard Your law).

On the authority of Your Word, I declare that I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. When we cry for help, You, Lord, hear us and deliver us out of all my distress and troubles. You are close to us, for we are of a broken heart, and You save such who are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. Lord, many are the evils that confront us, but You deliver us out of them all.

I pray that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith.  And I pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that I may be filled to the measure of all Your fullness.

Lord, we acknowledge and welcome the presence of Your Holy Spirit here in our home. We thank You, Father, that Your Son, Jesus, is here with us because we are gathered together in His name.  Your divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of You Who called us by Your own glory and goodness.  As spiritual leader of this home, I declare on the authority of Your Word that my family will be mighty in the land; this generation of the upright will be blessed.

Lord, You see the violence that is in the streets and in our schools. The drug dealers and the gang members living in our neighborhoods are waiting to snare our children.  On the authority of Your Word, I ask that You destroy [their schemes]; O Lord, confuse their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the inner city. Day and night they go about on its walls; iniquity and mischief are in its midst. Violence and ruin are within it; fraud and guile do not depart from its streets and marketplaces. I am calling upon You, Lord, and You will save me and my household as well.

Father, You, and You alone, are our safety and our protection. My household and I are looking to You, for our strength comes from You—the God Who made heaven and earth. You will not let us stumble. You are our Guardian God Who will not fall asleep. You are right at our side to protect us. You guard us from every evil; You guard our very lives. You guard us when we leave and when we return. You guard us now, and You will continue to guard us always.

My household was chosen and foreknown by You, Father, and consecrated (sanctified, made holy) by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and to be sprinkled with [His] blood. We receive grace (spiritual blessing) and peace in ever-increasing abundance [that spiritual peace to be realized in and through Christ, freedom from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts].

Lord, Your Son, Jesus, became our Passover by shedding His own precious blood. He is the Mediator (the Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and His sprinkled blood speaks of mercy. On the authority of Your Word, I proclaim that the blood of Jesus is our protection; as You have said in Your Word, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13 amp). I declare and decree that I am drawing a bloodline around my children, and the evil one cannot cross it.

In Jesus’ name I declare that I am free from the fear of man, which brings a snare. I lean on, trust in, and put my confidence in You. I am safe and set on high.  I take comfort and am encouraged and confidently and boldly say, “The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?” (Heb. 13:6 amp).

Father, just as You sent Jesus into the world, You have sent me. You are ever with me, for I always seek to do what pleases You.  Thank You for Your divine protection. In Jesus'name, Amen!