As we celebrate all that God has done and is doing with and through The Joshua Center, it is a good thing to take a moment to fully embrace the 5-strand DNA of this ministry:

Awakening Courageous Leaders
Committed to Changing the Culture
Advancing the Kingdom of God
Accurately Handling the Word of Truth
All Fueled by The Person and The Power of the Holy Spirit

May you be blessed and encouraged by the Holy Spirit of a Living and Loving God!

As we are just a couple of days away from celebrating Pentecost at the time of this podcast’s recording, we are invited to embrace the Spirit of Truth all the more. Jesus promised that it would be “better” for Him to leave so that He could send His Spirit. If indeed the truth shall set us free, then the more of the Holy Spirit we are filled with, the more free we are to worship and serve God. May Pentecost bring a whole new revelation of the Spirit of Truth to each one of us!

Come on, how in the world are we to be expected to pray “at all times”? Seriously, no one can hope to pray “without ceasing,” can they? As impossible as these commands appear to be, there is indeed a very clear answer to set our prayer lives at the highest of bars. When we begin to understand the true nature of “praying in the Presence of God,” our prayers and petitions take on a supernatural energy that can only be fueled by the Holy Spirit.

On Wednesday afternoon of this week, I did what probably makes the top 10 list of hardest things I’ve ever done, maybe even the top 5. I helped make the decision to have Meshach put down, our Great Dane of almost 10 years. While it was absolutely the right decision, even that knowledge doesn’t take away the incredible pain of losing a “family member.” As I have reflected on that moment over the last 24 hours, the Holy Spirit has continued to encourage me with two Biblical truths:  death is an enemy that will die one day, and on that day, all of creation, including animals, will be fully restored.

This beautiful prophetic passage from Isaiah points powerfully to the fullness of the Trinity in both the coming Messiah and the coming Kingdom. Yahweh speaks to the prophet and exhorts him to declare the coming Messiah who will have the sevenfold Spirit resting upon Him — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not only that, but Isaiah paints a vivid portrait of that eternal Kingdom coming to earth, where “nothing will harm nor hurt on all My holy mountain.” Amen!

Riddle me this: I turn 61 on Sunday but 28 on Saturday. How is this possible? If you know me at all, you already know the answer. Almost three decades later, I cannot help but tear up with emotion as I think about the reality of me being born again, all by God’s great grace, love, and power.

Praise the Father for His desire that I be saved. Praise the Son for His finished work on the cross that provides the way of my salvation. And praise the Spirit for His applying the blood to my sin nature and living within me to seal my salvation.

On this Good Friday edition of The Person and the Power podcast, we take a look at the incredible nuances found in the Jewish understanding of Passover and the sacrifices of the lambs. The more we understand deeper revelation, the more we see the jaw-dropping connections between Jesus and the Jewish people, and the more we shake our heads and ask, “How did they miss Him?”

Both the Old and New Testaments make it abundantly clear that we will always have the poor among us and that we should strive to take care of the poor as best as we can. It is one thing to send a check for homeless ministries or serve at a soup kitchen; it is quite another to actually befriend those in need as a part of our lives. We might need the Spirit of God to lead us into those kinds of relationships.

“May the Holy Spirit touch your heart with compassion and concern for the poor and marginalized, and may He give you opportunities to become friends with your neighbors in need.”

Just as the earth needs rain to enliven plants and trees, you need the Holy Spirit to flood your being with new life and to strengthen you with His gifts. Amen! And as Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well, “Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” May we always be receptive to the “rain” of the Holy Spirit!

Most of us know the song, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” (You’re welcome; it’s now stuck in your head!) But as familiar as we may be with this chorus, are we equally familiar with the cooperative effort required of us to have joy in our lives? As we see in the letter to the Philippians, there are a series of commands for us to do in order for us to be able to rejoice. And the end result of that joy? Peace. Sure sounds like the fruit of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t it?!

We see throughout the Bible several passages of Scripture that point to our prayer lives being connected to and fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. But even with those verses, much of our prayer language does not include a real reliance on the Holy Spirit.  In some sense, our prayer language indicts us. May we continue to grow in the revelation that without the Holy Spirit, we really have no hope of a fruitful and confident prayer life. And may we grow in deeper trust as the Holy Spirit answers those prayers in a better way than we can imagine.

“We recognize the works of the flesh in our lives and feel doomed to repeat them over and over. But we don’t have to… the Holy Spirit brings us antidotes that we can use to break free of them.”

Paul sets the tone for Galatians 5 with one word: freedom. And that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit wants to bring into our lives as we allow Him to do the supernatural work that only He can do. But He can only do that supernatural work as we cooperate with Him.

So many times in our attempt to rediscover our worth and our identity, we turn to things that may give us a temporary sense of value, but in the long run can never be sustained and ultimately ends up empty. All the while there is a Source of our truest and purest identity: the Holy Spirit of a living and loving God. Only He can restore us back to the created image of God. And we will know the difference between something fading and something lasting; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!

Some of the latest statistics show a disturbing and very un-Biblical understanding of spiritual gifts among those who identify themselves as born-again Christians. If we have any hope of serving in the Kingdom of God in our “spiritual sweet spot,” then we must have a deeper and greater grasp of the Holy Spirit, our spiritual gifts, and how we should be using them.

Like so much of what the Holy Spirit does, unfortunately, spiritual gifts have been a source of consternation, confusion, and chaos for the Church over the years. But when we fully embrace the truth and power of the gift or gifts that He alone has given us to use for the Kingdom, it’s a beautiful thing. In fact, it becomes our “spiritual sweet spot” when we finally surrender to the Holy Spirit and truly utilize the gifts we have been given.

Critical questions:  Do you know the spiritual gift or gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you? And have you found your “sweet spot” in using that gift?

From the booklet Prayers to the Holy Spirit: “May you come to experience the Holy Spirit more personally and grasp more perfectly who He is and what He means for your life.”

In order to experience the grace of Jesus and the love of the Father, we must cultivate a deep and profound relationship with the Person living within us: the Holy Spirit!

“O Holy Spirit, I want to know You more and love You more.  Draw me into Your Presence and reveal Yourself to me.”

From the very beginning, we see the Spirit of God deeply involved in the work of creation. Here in this passage of Scripture, we see the psalmist ask the Lord to send His Spirit to “renew” or “re-create” the face of the earth. As the breath of God, it is good and right to pray to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to come and renew and refresh the hearts of the faithful.

If there ever is a passage to fully embrace CIE (Context Is Everything), it might be right here in the third chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God to Nicodemus as He uses the language and imagery of being “born again.” Unfortunately and unwisely, we have used the phrase “born of water” to imply water baptism and have thus opened up a decisive and unnecessary can of worms.

A true and authentic experience with the Holy Spirit can never be just about emotions and goosebumps. It must include the two-punch formula of Acts 1:8. Yes, we will receive power – the first punch. But that power is never about us. The second punch? Becoming a bold witness to Jesus Christ in all the world. Ask, Seek, and Knock in prayer to experience the Holy Spirit and be prepared to be His witness.

As we learn to Ask, Seek, and Knock even more effectively and efficiently in our prayer lives, it is incumbent that we understand more keenly the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And as our prayer lives become more vibrant and more Kingdom-focused, then it is a no-brainer that we will experience the Holy Spirit more and more. Go ahead; ask to experience the Holy Spirit, and be prepared for the answers to those prayers!