Category: The Spirit’s Gift of Faith

Let’s proclaim the following Scripture and confession out loud:

1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 NIV – Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Capetown Commitment – We Love God the Holy Spirit
We love the Holy Spirit within the unity of the Trinity, along with God the Father and God the Son. He is the missionary Spirit sent by the missionary Father and the missionary Son, breathing life and power into God’s missionary Church. We love and pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit because without the witness of the Spirit to Christ, our own witness is futile. Without the convicting work of the Spirit, our preaching is in vain. Without the gifts, guidance and power of the Spirit, our mission is mere human effort. And without the fruit of the Spirit, our unattractive lives cannot reflect the beauty of the gospel.

Today, let’s confess our love and need for the Spirit who breathes his life and power into us. Let’s give thanks for the Spirit’s gifts, guidance, and power that infuse our natural, everyday lives with God’s supernatural works and miracles.

Prayer: God, thank you that this is normal Christian life – to live filled with the Holy Spirit’s empowering and gifting. We can’t and don’t want to live any other way. Fill and anoint us afresh with your presence! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Spirit of God (Flame of Love)” by New Life Worship. (click here).

-JL

 

Hebrew 12:1-2 NIV – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

“Looking at the Word of God today I find that its realities are greater to me today than they were yesterday. It is the most sublime, joyful truth that God brings an enlargement. Always an enlargement. There is nothing dead, dry or barren in this life of the Spirit; God is always moving us on to something higher, and as we move on in the Spirit our faith will always rise to the occasion as different circumstances arise…It is as we are in the Spirit that the Spirit of God will operate this gift anywhere and at any time.” (Smith Wigglesworth, Ever Increasing Faith)

By the faithfulness of God, we are the joyful recipients of ever enlarging faith, hope, and love in this life of the Spirit. Let’s posture our lives in humility and obedience before the Lord so that we are always available for the Spirit to operate his gifts in and through us anywhere and at any time.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for always giving us opportunities to enlarge our faith. Help us today to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Great Are You Lord” by Sinach. (click here).

-JL

Matthew 17:20b NIV
“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Pastor Francis Chan writes, “I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power. I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him to come through…I deeply desire that the Spirit of God would do things that I know are not of me and that cannot be faked or accounted for by human reason.” (excerpt from Forgotten God)

By God’s grace, have we not experienced so many moments of God’s miraculous intervention, rescue, and blessing in our midst? Today, let’s ask again for the Spirit’s gift of faith to live where it is undeniably evident that God’s mountain-moving power is at work in and through us. Let’s pray for one another and for the children and youth of our churches, confessing our total reliance and trust in God to come through every time. May our lives of faith be to the praise and glory of our great God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, our lives belong to you. We hear your Word today and ask for faith as small as a mustard seed that pleases you and moves the mountains in our lives and the lives of others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Never Gonna Stop Singing” by Jesus Culture. (click here)

-JL

Acts 3:2-7 NIV
Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

The Spirit’s gift of faith can be described as a “mysterious surge of confidence which sometimes arises within a man in a particular situation of need or challenge and which gives him an otherly certainty and assurance that God is about to act through word or action.” (James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit)

Today, let’s bring our personal concerns and corporate ministry meetings this week before the Lord. Let’s persist in praying for God’s love and power until we receive Spirit-given faith that fills us with supernatural assurance and expectation that God will indeed work in miraculous ways.

Prayer: Father, help us to breakthrough in prayer – to be transformed in your presence and filled with supernatural expectancy for what you will do in our lives and ministries. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Breathe On Me Breath Of God” arranged by The Worship Initiative. (click here).

-JL

1 Corinthians 12:7, 9a NLT
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
The same Spirit gives great faith…

“Faith energizes all the gifts; God provides all Christians with faith to fulfill their function in Christ’s body (Rom. 12:3, 6). In this instance, however, Paul speaks of a particular endowment of faith, the sort that moves mountains (1 Cor. 13:2)…’Moving mountains’ was a Jewish figure of speech for doing what was virtually impossible, and Jesus had promised that nothing would be impossible to those who exercised even the smallest amount of faith (Mark 11:23).” (Craig Keener, Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today)

As we consider all the ways we are to love God and love others this week, how we need the Spirit’s gift of faith! Let’s ask for and receive the Spirit’s outpouring of “great faith” that will move mountains. May our eyes be opened and our hearts readied for all the opportunities where we are to step out by faith, in word and deed, “so we can help each other.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that we live as your people by the Spirit’s empowering and gifting. You know all the seemingly impossible circumstances we are currently facing. Please gift us with Spirit-given faith to step out in greater trust and obedience this week, and to see the mountains move for the benefit of your church and the advancement of your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Dry Bones” by Worship Central. (click here)

-JL