Day 1......
Loving the Person of the Holy Spirit
I’ve heard the Holy Spirit spoken of as an “it,” a feeling, a dove, a flame, a ghost, an emotion, or even an ecstatic experience. He is frequently referred to as the third person of the Trinity, as though He is a postscript to the more significant Father and Son. All of which is inaccurate.
While the Holy Spirit may be symbolized by a dove or flame, while His presence may be accompanied by an emotion or feeling or ecstatic experience, He Himself is distinctly separate from those things. The Holy Spirit is not a thing but a person. So at the outset of our exploration of who the Holy Spirit is, we need to be clear that we are not speaking of an “it.” We are speaking of a “He.” He is a living person. He is referred to as the third person of the Trinity not because He is the least but because He is the third person to be more fully revealed in Scripture.
In the Old Testament, although the Holy Spirit and God the Son—the living Word who became Jesus in the flesh—are present, it is God the Father who is primarily revealed. In the Gospels, while the Father and the Holy Spirit are certainly present, it is God the Son who is primarily revealed. Beginning with Acts and the epistles, although God the Father and God the Son are also present, it is primarily God the Holy Spirit who is revealed.
If the Holy Spirit is a person with an intellect, will, and emotions, what is He really like? What is His personality? What are His responsibilities? Are you intrigued by this mysterious person? I know I have been and still am.
One of my deepest, richest joys has been discovering who the Holy Spirit is in every step of my life’s journey. What a delight to see how each name that He has been given in Scripture—Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, and Standby—shows us more of His character. Experiencing the reality and power of the Holy Spirit has provoked in me a deep love for the One who is always present…Jesus in me.
As you read the names of the Holy Spirit, what name catches your attention as Someone you especially want to turn to in your life today? Why do you think that is?
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
1 Peter 1:8 MSG
You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.
Day 2......
Enjoying the Presence of the Holy Spirit
I grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina. Most of my memories are filled with warmth, love, and fun that included hiking with my family to the ridge behind the house, enjoying Chinese meals complete with chopsticks, and playing Bible games with my grandparents.
One thing I don’t remember is being taught about the Holy Spirit, even though Jesus was central to my family.
It was not until years later when I was teaching a weekly Bible class that I learned the amazing truth of who the Holy Spirit is. I was twenty-nine years old and doing my best to convey insights into the gospel of John for the five hundred women who sat before me each Wednesday. In hindsight, I was like the blind leading the blind.
One week I was cramming as usual in preparation to teach John 14 to my class. And there it was! Several thoughts came to me in quick succession as I read John 14:16–17…
…That the Spirit was another counselor.
…That the Spirit was a distinct person from Jesus but just like Him.
…That the Spirit would come from the Father.
…That the Spirit was with the disciples at that time but would be in them at a future time.
The Spirit would be “another” counselor. So who was the first counselor, who would make the Spirit another one? Jesus! The Spirit would be exactly like Jesus yet another distinct person. He would come down from God. Even as Jesus had come down from God in human form, the Spirit would come down from God in spirit form. Jesus clearly identified the Counselor as the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). The disciples already knew Him because Jesus was filled with the Spirit. They were with Jesus; therefore, they were already with the Spirit. But Jesus was announcing that a day would come when they would no longer be with the Spirit because the Spirit would be sent to indwell them.
What an amazing, wonderful discovery that still thrills me! It is more than worthwhile to give the Holy Spirit our attention so we can get to know Him, love Him, and enjoy the presence of the One who is Jesus in me—and in you.
How does it change your view of the day or week ahead to know that Jesus is
in you?
John 14:15-17 MSG
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
Day 3......Relying on the Power of the Holy Spirit
Danny Lotz and I were married on September 2, 1966, in the same mountain chapel where my parents had been married twenty-three years earlier. My wedding was all that I had dreamed. But within twenty-four hours of the ceremony, my commitment to Danny was challenged in a way that is humorous today but was miserable then.
The morning after the wedding, we were scheduled to catch a plane out of Atlanta that would take us to San Diego, where we would spend the remainder of our honeymoon. After a quick breakfast, we got into Danny’s baby-blue Oldsmobile Starfire convertible and headed south on Interstate 85 toward Atlanta.
An hour or so into the drive, I noticed the gas gauge was hovering near empty. Within minutes, we felt the car jerk, heard the engine cough, and then everything went silent as Danny guided the gliding car to the shoulder of the highway. We had run out of gas!
By the time Danny returned from a distant gas station to fill the tank, I was nauseated from the smell of the swamp beside the road, soaking wet from having been locked in a car in the sweltering heat, and if someone had offered me an annulment, I would have taken it on the spot!
On that first day of marriage, I learned a simple but valuable life lesson: no one can run on empty. You and I can’t run on empty in a car or in a marriage or in life. Which is why God has given us His Holy Spirit. He is the “fuel”—the power—that enables us to live the Christian life.
Although you have said your vows of commitment to the Lord Jesus and entered into a personal relationship with Him, do you find yourself running on empty? With a fake smile on your lips and the “proper” words on your tongue, are you just trying to make it one more week…one more day…one more hour…one more step? Is your mind gripped by the thought I can’t do this. I’m just not cut out to live the Christian life?
Don’t be discouraged. There is hope! The One who is within you will enable you to live out the vows you have made.
In what ways are you “running on empty” right now? Ask God to fill you with His presence, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Acts 1:7-8 MSG
He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
Day 4......Embracing the Purpose of the Holy Spirit
I remember, early in our marriage, lying in bed gazing out the window late at night with my husband quietly sleeping beside me. I looked up at the star-studded sky and felt a longing for something more. It was a yearning that was not completely satisfied by the birth of our first child or the Sunday night Bible study we offered in our home for university athletes or the Thursday morning Bible study I shared with several other young women my age. Actually, the routine of responsibility—making the bed, fixing breakfast, washing the dishes, going to work, doing the laundry, fixing supper, washing the dishes, crawling in bed, going to sleep, then repeating the entire litany of responsibility the next day—just intensified my yearning.
Looking back, I know that the yearning in the deep well of my being was a yearning for a life of significance, for a cause to live for that was bigger than myself. It was a yearning for purpose.
Have you, too, sensed a restless emptiness deep within? We all do at times. One reason is that we are created in the image of God, with a capacity to know Him in a personal, permanent relationship, for the purpose of bringing Him glory. Until that purpose is fulfilled, we will be empty, deeply dissatisfied, and unfulfilled as we continually try to fill the void with substitutes.
But what about those of us who have established a personal, permanent relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ? Why are some of us also restless and dissatisfied, yearning for something greater? The only viable answer seems to be the Holy Spirit, who begins to work in us a desire to live for a purpose greater than ourselves.
In some ways, our lives are like a symphony. And the Holy Spirit is the conductor. He is the one who brings forth the beautiful music of a life that glorifies God. Like the conductor pointing his baton, the Holy Spirit quickens us, guides us, ignites us, shapes us, and equips us until our lives resound with the glory of the Lord. This is the yearning we each have deep within us, the desire to glorify God with our lives.
When have you felt most purposeful in your life? Why do you think that was?
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
Day 5 : Living by the Precepts of the Holy Spirit
While I can’t remember the specific year that I confessed my sin, claimed Jesus as my Savior, and invited Him to live in my heart, I do remember, following that decision, I began to have a strong desire to read my Bible. That began a lifelong love affair with God’s Word.
Every day without fail, my mother led our family in devotions. She would gather everyone who was in the house into the kitchen, where she would read a portion of Scripture, then pray. The consistency of my mother’s effort, as well as her obvious love for God’s Word and belief in its relevancy for all of us as we began our day, made a deep impact.
When my father was home, he led family devotions, usually in the evening. He also would read a portion of Scripture, but he would then stop, ask questions, make comments, and lead us in a discussion of what he had read.
By her example my mother taught me to love and read my Bible every day—preferably in the morning. My father, by his example, taught me to think about what I was reading. Those two life lessons are perhaps the most valuable ones my parents handed down to me.
My first “real” Bible was a navy leather-bound King James Version, Scofield edition. Mother and Daddy gave it to me at my baptism. It is a treasure that I still have safely on my bookshelf. In the flyleaf, my mother wrote these words: To Anne—(who on this January 13, 1957 publicly took her stand for Christ, her Savior), we give this Book, your one sure guide in an unsure world. Read it, study it, love it, live it. In it you will find a verse for every occasion. Hide them in your heart.
Although my mother’s words were written over sixty years ago, their wisdom transcends generations, cultures, world events, time, and age. I have done my best to truly take her encouragement to heart and live it out.
My love of reading, studying, applying, and obeying my Bible has led me to the deep conviction that it is more than just great literature. There is something supernatural about it. What makes it so unique? The Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit could make Scripture “God-breathed,” alive, and truly life-changing—throughout all generations.
In what way have you experienced the Bible as God’s living Word?
2 Timothy 3:14-17 MSG
But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
Day 6 : Reflecting the Purity of the Holy Spirit
Years ago I was the dinner guest of the president of a well-respected theological seminary. As we conversed, he confided that the number-one problem he faced with the students at his school was pornography. He then told me they had become aware of the problem because the students used the computers in the library that were tucked back behind the stacks of books. In an area they believed to be private, they were indulging their sinful habit, not realizing that what they viewed was traceable.
I’m still stunned by the seminary president’s revelation. But I’ve seen the bitter fruit borne in the lives of pastors, some of whom have multiple academic degrees, some of whom lead megachurches, some of whom may speak in tongues or exhibit other manifestations of the Spirit, and some of whom are gifted orators, yet secretly struggle with sexual immorality or addiction.
What has happened to purity within the lives of those who call themselves by God’s name? Is the lack of purity an indication that the Holy Spirit is withdrawing Himself? Because make no mistake about it, the Holy Spirit is indeed pure. He is holy.
I believe the church today is in desperate need of revival. Not a tent meeting or a series of services to save the lost, but a spiritual awakening that will compel God’s people to repent of our sin, return to the cross, and recommit ourselves to living lives that reflect His purity.
One of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit is to make us holy as He is holy. Our responsibility is to cooperate with Him if we truly want to experience and reflect His purity. Choice by choice by choice. When He says something needs to go, get rid of it. Now. When He says a relationship needs to be severed, sever it. When He says we need to offer forgiveness to that person, offer forgiveness to that person. When He says to ask someone else for forgiveness, ask that person for forgiveness. If He says to break that habit, break that habit. Now. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t rationalize. Don’t excuse or defend yourself. Do what He says, when He says it.
What sin do you need to confess and turn away from—in action or reaction, thought or word, attitude or habit—because it is tarnishing the reflection of the Holy Spirit’s purity in you?
1 Timothy 4:11-14 MSG
Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.
Day 7 : Trusting in the Providence of the Holy Spirit
When I received Jesus as my Savior, my assumption had been that the Holy Spirit was “assigned” to me. I thought He had come into my life because He had no option. I was now His “job”—His responsibility.
Then one day the words of Ephesians 4:30 gripped me. While I understand that Scripture is warning us not to intentionally, willfully sin, the word grieve caught and held my attention. I reflected on grief in my own life and knew I had experienced that emotion only when I loved someone deeply.
This realization turned the light on in my thinking as I realized that if I can grieve the Holy Spirit, it’s because He loves me. The Holy Spirit loves me! He’s not just a professional partner. He’s not just assigned to me. He doesn’t live within me because He has to—He lives within me because He wants to live within me. He deeply cares about what I do and who I become. Not only is He spiritually and practically involved in my life; He is also emotionally caught up in who I am and who I am to become.
What a difference that simple truth has made in my perspective. I can be myself with the Holy Spirit. I don’t have to be “on.” I can relax and be transparent with Him. I can trust Him completely because He truly loves me!
And the Holy Spirit loves you too! It doesn’t matter how small or how large your concern is. He cares. He understands. He wants what’s best for you. He desires for you to fulfill your God-given potential. He wants to ease your burden, solve your problem, comfort your broken heart, bind up your wounds, bring you through the valley of the shadow, shower you with blessing upon blessing. And yes, He wants to make you holy—because He loves you! Stop trying to impress Him. Stop working so hard to earn His love. Live with the confidence that you are deeply, unconditionally, permanently loved by Him.
In (or into) what situation do you need to invite God right now? It may be an immediate crisis or an ongoing struggle. Give Him absolute freedom and authority to take charge. Trust Him to bring you through. He will. And your faith in Him will be stronger as a result.
Ephesians 4:30 MSG
Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
We hope this Plan encouraged you. Learn More about Jesus In Me by Anne Graham Lotz.
