Monday, 10 October 2016

Devotional 11/10/16 – John 16:13 How the Spirit speaks

17:57 Posted by Matthew Beaney No comments


Following on from yesterday’s blog, how does the Spirit speak?
To meditate/pray upon
John 16:13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
Acts 14:1-3 ‘Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.’
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 ‘Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good.’
The Spirit speaks as He guides us into truth; this can happen in innumerable ways; He will usually cause a scripture to impact you with special force as you read it personally; as it is taught in church, in Community Group or another setting; a scripture or an application will hit you with special force.
But the scriptures also tell us that we are to expect and eagerly desire for God to speak through prophecy.
When was the last time you felt God speak to you through a prophetic word? Prophecy will always agree with the bible and should be carefully considered. If you think that God may be leading you in an important decision, it’s very important that one submits and checks these with elders in your local church. Just because one feels that something is from God does not mean that it is from God!
Gordon Fee has written on prophecy,
‘With the outpouring of the Spirit at the end of the age, the early Christians understood the prophecy of Joel 2:28—30 to have been fulfilled, so that ‘prophecy’ not only became a phenomenon, but was also potentially available to all, since all now possessed the Spirit in fullness.  This especially fits what we learn In the Pauline letters.  It appears to have been a widespread phenomenon’ God’s Empowering Presence, P. 170

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