Day, March 6—Spirit of the Living God

Spirit of the Living God
fall fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God
fall fresh on me.
Melt me, mold me,
fill me, use me
Spirit of the Living God
fall fresh on me. (“Spirit of the Living God” by Daniel Iverson)

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.” (John 16:7–11 NLT)

Between what has become known as the Last Supper and Jesus’s intense time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shared His last teachings, encouragements, and instructions to His disciples. In the midst of this was a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come in the weeks ahead: Jesus would die, but His death would be only temporary, after which He would return to the Father and the Holy Spirit—the Advocate—would be sent to instruct His followers in all truth and righteousness and convict the world of its sin.

It’s easy to fall back on the Holy Spirit as Comforter, Friend, and Advocate. All of those roles are necessary and good, but another crucial role of the Spirit is to convict us. It is through the Spirit convicting us of our sins and encouraging us to follow the way of Jesus that we are able to be shaped, molded, and formed into the image of Christ; without that work of the Spirit, which is often difficult for us to take, all of our efforts are simply worthless self-righteousness. Invite the Holy Spirit to fall fresh on you today, pointing out the sin and darkness in your heart so that He can begin working with you to be shaped into the image of Jesus; in conjunction with that prayer, actively listen for His voice and be aware of when the Spirit is prompting you to hear what He has to say.

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