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The Year of the Holy Spirit by Bryan Craig

January 2, 2024

 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  John 14:15-17 ESV

 

 

 

Happy New Year, my Influencers brothers and sisters! I hope you had a blessed Christmas holiday and that Jesus made Himself known to you in many surprising ways.  I also hope you had some downtime for reflection, looking back at 2023 and all its hopes and dreams.  Where did you see God working last year?  Where did He surprise you?  Where did you see storms of life testing your very soul?  Where did you see God turning things for good? 

These are questions I ask myself as I look back at 2023, trying to gauge what the Lord was doing, how I am doing, where I missed the mark, how I can be more in His will this next year.  As I look back at some of the challenges from last year, and I assess the enemy’s tactics, one thing I see clearly is that there has been an assault on the Holy Spirit.  If you have been through a Journey Group, you know that we spend a lot of time exploring The Holy Spirit, His Fruit, His Filling, His Gifts, His undeniable work in the process of Discipleship.  Ever since I first went through The Journey the first time myself in 2006, I have loved the balanced, Biblical way God guided Rocky to put together The Journey process and especially, the study of The Holy Spirit.

I believe The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood person of The Trinity, and so, the Enemy tries hard to convince us that He doesn’t exist or He’s too complicated and dangerous to consider.  Even at the heart of criticism I’ve heard of The Journey process, I see the crux of the matter being The Holy Spirit.  Many, even in religious circles, find the mystery of The Holy Spirit, and His supernatural ways, too risky to consider.  Perhaps they see how some churches have seemingly attempted to teach on The Holy Spirit as if they fully understand and comprehend how He works.  They see how some try to harness the power of The Holy Spirit or claim that one or two of the spiritual gifts must be present to validate His presence in a believer’s life.  In all of this, I’m afraid many of my well-intended brothers and sisters in Christ are “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”

Again, if you go through The Journey, the first session on The Holy Spirit includes nearly 100 verses on The Spirit to journal and contemplate.  If you do this, here’s just a few things you will learn:

  • The Holy Spirit is real.
  • He has been around since the beginning of time.
  • He brought Jesus into the world and announced His coming through Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph and Simeon, not to mention many angels.
  • Jesus told His followers that He was sending The Spirit to help them after He departed.
  • If we continue to Abide (Remain) in Jesus, we will bear Fruit. This Fruit is the Fruit of The Spirit (as explained in Galatians 5:22-23).
  • The Holy Spirit also will give us Gifts so we may continue Jesus’ work in the world.
  • The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.

As I look at last year, and I see all the amazing things that happened in this ministry, I see the work of The Holy Spirit!  It helps me understand why the Enemy would love to kill The Holy Spirit or convince us He doesn’t exist.  As I look to 2024, I believe The Holy Spirit wants to do MORE!  As a matter of fact, I’m claiming this as my word for 2024…MORE.  MORE in ’24! 

I believe Jesus wants to do so much more through His Spirit, in me personally, in this ministry, in the world.  I believe there is more power for us to be found.  I believe there is more fruit to be expressed.  I believe the Holy Spirit wants to equip us and fit us for the battles that are coming.

One of the devotionals I use talks about how one (of the many) descriptors of The Holy Spirit is that of Fire.  John the Baptist said this:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  John 3:11 ESV

Also, the prophet Isaiah talks about God’s cleansing of His people:

“And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.”  Isaiah 4:3-5 ESV

My devotional writer, Selwyn Hughes, writes “As we allow The Spirit into our lives, we can expect Him to burn away any impurities in our personalities, penetrating any moral degradation, scouring all sinful desires, and burning the imagination clean.  We needn’t be surprised at this for, as Isaiah describes Him, He is a ‘spirit of fire.’  The dross of pride, the rags of self-righteousness, the roots of bitterness, the stubble of pretentiousness- all begin to be blistered when the Spirit comes.”

So, my brothers and sisters, would you all join me this year in claiming 2024 as “The Year of The Holy Spirit”, the year that we open ourselves up and welcome the refining fire of The Holy Spirit, the year that we pray for His cleansing and empowerment to do MORE than we could ask or imagine, that we may be carried along by His Spirit to do His work and His will.

Lord, let there be MORE in 24!

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