RTW September 25
The Spirit
…filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:41, 1:67, 2:25
My Takeaways
Something Old
The Spirit:
- Awakens life inside (Luke 1:41)
- Gives us words to say at just the right time (Luke 1:67)
- Cultivates a heart of joy (Luke 2:26)
- Leads us to where we should go (Luke 2:27)
- Compels us to share the good news (Luke 2:38)
“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” John 6:63
“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26
“But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.” John 15:26
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” John 16:13
Something New
I’m so thankful Mary had Elizabeth to run to. I have very special aunt in my life.
Something to Do
Celebrate the Spirit in me.
As I’m reading this morning, I’m thinking “Oh how I wish the Lord would speak as clearly with me as He did with Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna – and even the shepherds recognized Him and followed His leading”….How I would love Him to be clear about His will and His plans for my life …. but then, what is use is faith, I guess? I’m so thankful for the verses Wendy posted… John 16:13 is one I will hang on to as TRUTH – I have the Holy Spirit who guides me into all truth…. He DOES speak to me. I need to clean out my spiritual ears and LISTEN!
I love that the first thing Zechariah did when he could speak was PRAISE GOD!! I want to be someone who wakes up in the morning and upon opening my eyes, I praise the Lord, rather than whine and complain in my mind that I’m tired, etc.
A few NEW things today:
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months – by the time she returned home she was likely starting to show!
The name JESUS was a common name during that time (Guzik commentary)
The first time that the Lord speaks in 400 years and each time it is connected to the theme of Jesus and His work (Guzik commentary)
I love that whole first paragraph you shared Mary and I relate very very much to what you said. I need to clean out my spiritual ears too!!
In today’s reading there is such a great sense of anticipation and joy. It was really beautiful to take in and just imagine the wonder and amazement of all involved knowing God was doing something really big! My take away verse was:
“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.””
Luke 1:78-79 NLT
First, God’s mercy is tender. I want to look up this word when I have time. Second, the sense of anticipation I mentioned earlier- I love this picture of the dawn about to break! A new day was coming and like John said yesterday “His life brought life to EVERYONE”- everyone who had been in darkness and the shadow of death now would have an opportunity to walk along a path of peace to God through His Son. It just brings so much hope to my own heart.
The reading and verses I mentioned in my post brought to mind this song too-
https://youtu.be/wZTJKTc4PqA
I am a community person so I noticed these verses: “And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.” (Luke 1:58) “Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood…” (Luke 1:65) I loved that everyone rejoiced with them!