Monday
Luke 24.48-49 “You are witnesses of these things.I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The mission of the Church is to be a community of witness, its reason for existence is to be a living testimony to the Gospel. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to energise, vitalise, direct and empower the Church. “You are the Body of Christ”, wrote Paul – “and individually members of it.” Luke is telling where all this started. Jesus’ first followers are in disarray, scared and no idea how to even start without Jesus, are reassured by the promise of the Father. They will receive through the Holy Spirit, all that they need and more than they can know. The courage to witness, the words to speak, the strategies to be developed – through the Spirit it will all be God’s doing.
Tuesday
John 14.15-17 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”
The promise of the gift of the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit is to those who obey the command of Jesus. These words of Jesus have strings attached, formed by tough and resilient cords of faith in him, and love lived outwardly to others. To wash one another’s feet and to follow Jesus as the Way and the Truth and the Life, these are commands to be obeyed. To love Jesus is to trust him, to follow faithfully after him and to set our hearts on what pleases Him. The promised Spirit fulfils that other promise: “Lo I am with you always”, to the ends of the earth and the end of the age.
Wednesday
John 16.13 “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”
Jesus is the truth and it is the role of the Holy Spirit to take of the things of God and make them known to us. In that sense the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of Jesus, the One who spells out the full meaning of who Jesus is; the eternal Word made flesh; the Light of the world; the Good Shepherd; the judgement and mercy of God; the crucified and risen Saviour; the love of God incarnate. “The One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Thursday
Galatians 5.25 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
This is what living in the promise of the Spirit looks like; being led and guided and enabled in our discipleship by the Spirit of God. Much of Paul’s pastoral theology has to do with walking in the Spirit of Christ That’s why he lists the fruit of the Spirit, those hallmarks of Christ-like character. That’s why more than one he spells out the gifts of the Spirit, and in Ephesians says there is one body and one Spirit and such grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. To live by the Spirit is to live in the power of Christ, bearing the fruit and displaying the unsearchable riches of His grace.
Friday
Romans 8.14-16 “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God…and by him we cry ‘Abba Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
The Spirit is the guarantee of our status as children of God. That heart cry “Abba Father” is a cry of recognition, giving voice to that deep sense of belonging of those who are in Christ and who know the reality of Christ in them, the hope of glory. Assurance is not self-generated, it is evidence of the gifted presence of the Spirit. Each day, each moment, each step, each relationship, each choice and every decision takes place within the sphere of the Spirit. Jesus did say “I will not leave you as orphans.” The Spirit is Jesus way of keeping that promise.
Saturday
1 Thessalonians 5.19 “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
This is one of eight short imperatives that lead up to Paul talking about sanctification. Yes that refers to our personal holiness, but it includes being a community of holiness. The fire of the Spirit is quenched by self-serving, divisive talk, failure of care and compassion, comfortable complacency with the way things are, curated anger and an unforgiving spirit – in short, all those choices, attitudes and actions that ignores, silences and refuses the guiding impetus of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s fire by contrast ignites everything in us that will burn, providing the energy for love expressed in obedience, fuelled by gratitude and replenished daily by God’s grace.
Sunday
Acts 2. 1-4 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them”
Everything in this past week’s TFTD leads up to and beyond Luke’s dramatic story of God yet again interrupting, disrupting and realigning our human history. Now the real mission of the Church begins. Tongue-tied witnesses find their voices, and even the words and language to speak into the life of the world around them. “Holy Spirit, we welcome you. Come as the wind, the renewable energy that drives your people into the hope-filled future that is your Kingdom.”
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