by George Runyan | Mar 5, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:9 – Pray then, in this way, Our Father who is in heaven.
In the beginning, God intended that earthly fathers would reflect the nature of His Father’s heart. Unfortunately, disobedience got in the way and man was separated from the heavenly Father through sin. Adam lost the ability to convey God’s true nature to his wife and his children. Jesus came with the purpose of revealing the Father to humanity. He promised His disciples that “He would not leave them as orphans” (John 14:18). The fourteenth chapter of the book of John is about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Again, Jesus said to His disciples, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, all that I said to you” (John 14:26).
A major portion of our salvation is rooted in getting to know our Father in Heaven. What a blessing we have in our developing relationship with the Holy Spirit as He helps us to know the Father. We will soon be ushered into our Father’s Holy Presence to stand before His throne in heaven. In the present moment, we are invited to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Prayer is a work of the Holy Spirit as He guides us to know how to pray. “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit helps our weaknesses” (Romans 8:26).
An old hymn says, “I am weak, but Thou art strong.” I come to the Lord in my natural weakness, but my heavenly Father meets with me and gives me strength as I grow in my relationship with Him. Let the Holy Spirit lead you into increasing knowledge and fellowship with your heavenly Father. He loves you so much! He proved it by sending Jesus and then sending the Holy Spirit to indwell your life.
Ask the Holy Spirit to increase your revelation of the Father. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you. Ask for more of the Father’s nature to be manifested in your life. Finally, ask to be one who reveals the Father to others.
by George Runyan | Mar 4, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:9 – Pray then, in this way.
As Jesus continued His teachings on the mountain, He began to instruct about prayer. Jesus gave us a pattern of prayer and the Holy Spirit uses this pattern to guide us as we pray. Many know this prayer as The Lord’s Prayer. It was not meant to be recited, but to be a pattern of critical areas for which we are to seek God.
The first area the Spirit of God wants to help us with is the fact that God is our Father. The Jews knew of God as a Father, but Jesus revealed Him as Our Father. What a revelation the Spirit of God has given! He is not a father who is distant, but the Father who is personal and close! Spirit-led prayer is meant to develop intimacy with our heavenly Father. Many believers confess a relationship with Christ, but still do not know a relationship with their heavenly Father. In many cases, it is because they have not known a true relationship with their earthly father.
In the upper room at the Last Supper, Phillip asked Jesus “to show them the Father” (John 14:8). Jesus was disappointed in the request because the purpose of His time with the disciples was to reveal His Father. They had missed one of the most important reasons of His mission. We too, can be blessed by Jesus’ presence in the gifts and His nature, but miss what the Holy Spirit wants us to know. The Father! Jesus said to His disciples, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ (John 14:9)? Could it be that the Holy Spirit might say the same thing to us?
To know the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of the Father and the spirit of the Son, is to know the Father. Every day, speak to God as Your Father and make it even more personal by relating to Him as your Father. I want to know Him more and more as my Father who is my all in all. If that is your desire, begin to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father to you. He desires to be known as Daddy, in the original language, “Abba.” By His power, He has made you His child. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
by George Runyan | Mar 3, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:9 – Pray then, in this way.
As Jesus continued His teachings on the mountain, He began to instruct about prayer. Jesus gave us a pattern of prayer and the Holy Spirit uses this pattern to guide us as we pray. Many know this prayer as The Lord’s Prayer. It was not meant to be recited, but to be a pattern of critical areas for which we are to seek God.
The first area the Spirit of God wants to help us with is the fact that God is our Father. The Jews knew of God as a Father, but Jesus revealed Him as Our Father. What a revelation the Spirit of God has given! He is not a father who is distant, but the Father who is personal and close! Spirit-led prayer is meant to develop intimacy with our heavenly Father. Many believers confess a relationship with Christ, but still do not know a relationship with their heavenly Father. In many cases, it is because they have not known a true relationship with their earthly father.
In the upper room at the Last Supper, Phillip asked Jesus “to show them the Father” (John 14:8). Jesus was disappointed in the request because the purpose of His time with the disciples was to reveal His Father. They had missed one of the most important reasons of His mission. We too, can be blessed by Jesus’ presence in the gifts and His nature, but miss what the Holy Spirit wants us to know. The Father! Jesus said to His disciples, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ (John 14:9)? Could it be that the Holy Spirit might say the same thing to us?
To know the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of the Father and the spirit of the Son, is to know the Father. Every day, speak to God as Your Father and make it even more personal by relating to Him as your Father. I want to know Him more and more as my Father who is my all in all. If that is your desire, begin to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father to you. He desires to be known as Daddy, in the original language, “Abba.” By His power, He has made you His child. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
by George Runyan | Mar 2, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Romans 12:6 – Each of us is to exercise our gifts.
In our devotion yesterday, I spoke of exercising the gifts. Paul makes the point that we are to exercise or use the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God gives us gifts, but we must receive them and put them to use. Many believers have received gifts from God, but do not use them regularly, if at all. I know of those who were prayed for to receive the gift of prophecy and then prophesied, but did not continue to exercise the gift and it fell dormant. What is the purpose of receiving a gift if the one receiving the gift never uses it?
The gifts of God are meant to be used. In most cases, they are used to benefit others by revealing God’s love for them. Not exercising the gifts which the Holy Spirit chooses to give, denies others an experience of God’s grace through our life. It is important that we seek God for how He wants to use our lives. It is equally important to develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, the helper, so we learn to be sensitive to His leading and gifting through us. As we increase our devotion to God, we will become increasingly sensitive to the Spirit’s leading and to His empowerment.
Father, I make myself available to Your Holy Spirit. Lord, show me the gifts You desire to give and release through my life. I ask to be used effectively in ministering Your love to others. I desperately need Your presence and Your gifts to be operating in my life.
by George Runyan | Mar 1, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Romans 12:6 – We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.
The promise of the Father as recorded in Luke 24:49 was that the Holy Spirit would be given to everyone who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we speak of grace, we are speaking of God’s gift. We receive the grace of God when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings with Him everything the Father has made available in Christ. Paul is helping us understand that we are given different gifts according to the grace in our life. Romans 12:6 list some of those gifts. Each gift operates according to the measure of grace the Holy Spirit gives to an individual believer.
As we develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we should become increasingly aware of how the Spirit of God chooses to use our lives. We should become aware of the individual grace given to us to help others in their need. The Holy Spirit desires for us to receive His grace that has been freely made available to each believer. Some think, when the grace of God is given to a believer, the gift operating in and through them is complete and fully developed. Grace is simply God’s gift, whether it is our initial salvation, the receiving of the Holy Spirit in power, or one of the gifts of the Spirit spoken of here in the Romans passage and throughout 1 Corinthians 12-14.
Each gift of the Spirit must be nurtured and developed. We grow in our salvation, learning how to apply what the Lord gives us on a daily basis. A particular gift such as prophecy must be exercised in order for us to learn how to become effective in the gift’s operation. The gifts of healing are another example. One must begin to pray for the sick in order for the gift to be imparted. The more people for whom we pray, the more experience we will gain in exercising this beautiful grace of God. Our daily walk with the Lord should be one of learning and growing in His grace.
Ask the Lord to make clear to you the grace He has and wants to give you. Ask Him to guide you in the operation of His gifts. Ask Him to help you grow in the application of His grace in your life. Pray to become increasingly effective in ministering His power to those in need of His wonderful grace.
by George Runyan | Feb 29, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Acts 3:19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time (NASU).
For 2K years of human history God has been working to fulfill his purpose in humankind, establishing the Kingdom of God in all the nations of the world.
God wants to send refreshing to our lives, but also to the nations!
That refreshing is in Jesus presence through the Holy Spirit.
Note what Peter says: whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things.
Paul addresses this in Ephesians 4:1-13
The calling of God is manifested in a number of ways in the life of a believer:
1. A total surrender to our King whereby in suffering we consider ourselves His prisoner
2. A walk worthy of our calling
3. Reflected in humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love
4. being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the abond of peace
We know by Paul’s word here that:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
What is Christ’s gift? Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (NASU).
We have all been joined to Christ in His death (Romans 6)
We all have been raised to life by the Holy Spirit
We are members of His body
We were born part of the “one human” race, divided and filled with prejudice and hatred
We have been born again and by the Spirit made “one new man” in Christ and like the human body with its many members, the body of Christ also is a body with many members.
