Category Archives: Devotional Life

The value of developing a relationship with God, The value of having a daily quiet time.

Four Things to Pray That the Holy Spirit Will Do For Us

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

As Christians we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. But it is up to us every day to ask Him for His help. Here are four things we can ask of Him.

  1.  That He will give us power over temptation.  The Bible says that if we live by the Spirit—that is, if we have our mind set on what the Spirit desires and we do what the Spirit tells us—we will not carry out the desires of the flesh (Rom. 8:5; Gal. 5:16).  It seems so easy.  But the reason why it often turns out to be so hard is because we try to live by the Spirit without asking for His help.

We cannot live by the Spirit or set our mind on what the Spirit desires without bowing our head in prayer—constantly asking for the Spirits help.  Pray for His help and power!  And…

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The Pains of Old Age Keep Me in Line

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In Psalm 119:67 and 71 it says,

Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep Your word…

71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted,

That I may learn Your statutes.

I’m not sure exactly what the Psalmist was referring to, but for me it has plenty of application to my old age. Every morning I get up reeking with arthritis pain, and it takes me a while to get going. And I also find that every little thing I do is more worrisome. These pains and problems tend to drive me more to God in prayer and in the word. I seek Him more now than ever before. So, I conclude with the Palmist that affliction is good for me; it keeps me in line with Him, seeking His will.

Let My Prayers Be as Incense To God

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Psalm 141:2

Let my prayer be set before You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

I don’t always think of my prayer as pleasing God. But if we are His children and our prayers are genuine and with love, He will be pleased, and our prayers will be as incense to Him. Let that be our prayer and our motivation to pray.

And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8).

How We Can Pray For the World: Three Areas of Prayer

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven He told His disciples that as soon as He arrived He would send the Holy Spirit back to them.  Then He said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (Jn. 16:8-11).

What does this all mean?  Well, let’s break it down.  Since Jesus has left, we know that the Holy Spirit has come.  And by this passage we know that He is now working to convict (or to convince) the people of this world of three things: of sin, righteousness, and of judgment.

SIN

He works to convict them of sin, Jesus said, “Because they do not believe in…

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Who is the Holy Spirit? 5 Descriptions

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

There are several ways the Holy Spirit has been described in scripture.  Here are five descriptions:

As Wind

On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came suddenly as a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2-4).  This wind—the Holy Spirit—filled the whole house where believers were gathered together for prayer; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  Thus we see that the Holy Spirit, just like the wind, is invisible, mighty, and awesome.  And even though we may be unaware of it, He still is moving all over the world.  He rushes in to fill and empower every heart that is prepared by prayer.  I believe He makes His presence especially powerful to those who gather together in one accord.

As Water

In John 4:13-15 and in John 7:37-39 we see that Jesus offers living water to all who thirst.  This living water in fact was and is the Holy…

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8 Ways the Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

There are so many different ways the Holy Spirit helps us to pray.  Here are eight ways:

 

1.  He brings to us the Spirit of the Father.  Since the Holy Spirit has the same Spirit of the Father, and since He resides in us, He will convey to us that Spirit, which will help us in prayer. 

Andrew Murray views this Sprit of the Father as a gift given to us by the Father in order that we (His children) may reproduce all the things He brings to us by His Spirit.  He says,

The best gift a good and wise earthly father can bestow on a child is his own spirit.  This is the object of a father in education—to reproduce in his child his own disposition and character.  If the child is to know and understand his father, if he is to enter into all…

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Do I Fear the Lord? from Psalm 112

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Do I fear the Lord?

Do I delight in His Word?

If so I will be blessed.

And there will be light in the darkness.

I will never be shaken.

I will not be afraid of evil tidings.

My heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

The desire of the wicked will perish.

(from Psalm 112)

4 Ways to have Unlimited Power in the Holy Spirit

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

God has such great things in store for you.  He wants to give you all of His power through His spirit.  He wants to give you that power to do His great work.  Here are four ways to get that power: 

1.  Pray that Christ would be Lord in your Life.  When you pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you, pray also for the Lordship of Christ.  For unless Christ is Lord in your life, the Holy Spirit can do no work there.  He is not even welcome there.  So pray that God would help you to make Him Lord, that He would give you the humble submissive spirit of a son—a son that would welcome His Son as Lord, and His Spirit to take control.           

2.  Believe and obey God.  After you have prayed for the Holy Spirit to come in and fill you and for…

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Who is the Holy Spirit?

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

As we can see from His name Holy Spirit…

He is holy.  He is holy simply because He is God.  He is the holy spirit of God and we call Him Holy Spirit.  Thus, being God, we know that He is holy.  As 1 John 1:5 indicates, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.           

We also see in His name that…

 He is spirit.  Being spirit He is never visible and we can not touch Him.  But He does communicate and commune with us, from His spirit to ours, as we attempt to live in His spirit.  The more we put away the deeds of the flesh and walk in the Spirit, the more we will be able to commune with Him and sense in our spirit and in our mind (which I believe has a connection to the spirit) that He is present…

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Complete Holiness

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

The nature of holiness is that it is not satisfied to be in just one area.  It wants to penetrate into all areas; it wants to purify the whole; as light it wants to brighten every corner and crack.  In this study of personal holiness, I want to discuss every possible area of holiness in our lives—complete holiness.  As I see it, there are generally two areas of personal holiness: outer holiness, or holiness in the body, and inner holiness, or holiness in the mind and the spirit.

HOLINESS IN MIND AND SPIRIT

 These areas of our inner being must be considered of primary importance when it comes to holiness; for without holiness in these areas, the outer body will neither be holy.

 The mind.The mind is that place from where we think and reason and imagine.  And though we believe that these things originate in the brain…

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