by George Runyan | Jan 14, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
1 Samuel 10:10 – The Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them.
Saul was sent by his father to find some lost donkeys. Saul sought to find the Prophet Samuel to see if he could help in finding the donkeys. Instead Saul encountered the Word of the Lord spoken through Samuel. Samuel told Saul that “he had been chosen to rule over God’s people.” As Saul left Samuel, he met a group of prophets who were prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul mightily and he prophesied with them. Saul was changed into another man.
Revelation 19:10 states “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Prophecy is directly related to testifying of God’s will and purposes. Samuel prophesied God’s will regarding Saul. When Saul got close to the prophets, he too prophesied and was counted among the prophets. All the Scriptures point to Jesus as God’s one and only King. When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are prophesying. God wants all His people to have the spirit of prophecy. Moses declared, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them” (Numbers 11:29)! Paul taught that we can all prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14:31.
A prophet is a spokesperson for God. We are all called to be led by the Spirit to speak for God. The Scriptures are abundantly clear of how God has willed for His sons and daughters to be filled with His Holy Spirit and be His voice to a lost and dying world. In summary, Jesus is the Prophet Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Prophecy is the “testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 19:10). “You can all prophesy one by one” (1 Corinthians 14:31).
Let me encourage you to spend time in the presence of God asking Him for the spirit of prophecy. It is one of the gifts of the Spirit God desires for all His people to embrace and use to testify of Jesus and His will. The gift is not motivated by emotions or individual opinions. The Father desires for His people to be able to hear His voice and testify of all He has given through His Son.
Father, fill me with the Holy Spirit and cause me to speak with a prophetic voice of the Lordship of Jesus Christ for Your glory.
by George Runyan | Jan 13, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Luke 4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He Anointed Me to preach the Gospel.
It is one thing to be born of the Spirit and entirely another to be anointed of the Spirit. Jesus was both born of the Spirit and thirty years later anointed to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. The preaching of the gospel is not something that an individual decides one day. Only the Holy Spirit has the authority to call a person to preach the gospel. Only the Holy Spirit can commission one to go with the good news of the kingdom. Only the Holy Spirit can convey on us the authority that produces eternal results.
There are many people who, for one reason or another, try to do the work of God by their own initiation. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 7:22-23 when he speaks of those who went in His name but were not sent by Him. He calls them lawless because they went without His authority. When the Lord calls a person, it can be years before that person is ready to fulfill the call placed upon their life. The Holy Spirit spends the majority of the time preparing the one He has called through many trials and tribulations. He has to put to death the natural ambition that we all possess. The call of God emerges through much pain and disappointment. This can include rejection from family and close friends.
When Jesus was anointed of the Holy Spirit, He had already experienced the rejection of family and friends. His brothers thought He had a demon. He was known as Mary’s boy, in other words illegitimate. This carried into His ministry life. Isaiah declares, “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).
The Holy Spirit is calling many today. He has come to rest upon believers and anoint them as He did with God’s only begotten Son. Jesus could stand and declare, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (Luke 4:18) because He had chosen to submit to His Father’s desires as He lived a human life. Only a few are willing to go through the disciplines it will require. God is looking for willing sons and daughters who will say, “Here I am, send me.” Inquire of the Lord what He might say to you regarding His call and anointing in your life. Will you be part of that few?
Pray, asking the Father to anoint you for the call He has in your life. Father, I choose to do Your will in all that I do for the rest of my life, regardless of the cost, as You supply me with grace.
by George Runyan | Jan 12, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Luke 4:1-2 – Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.
Jesus had to be temped, as it was written, “One who has been tempted in all things as we are” (Hebrews 4:15). Being directed by the Holy Spirit and using the Word of God, He overcame the evil one. God does not tempt anyone (James 1:13), but temptation will come to all, especially after we have determined to follow Jesus.
The Holy Spirit has been given to enable us to follow, obey, overcome, and help others experience God’s amazing grace. The Holy Spirit is always present to empower each believer to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). He will establish us in the Word of God, He will lead us to divine appointments, He will guide us to overcome temptation, and He will release His gifts so that we can effectively give witness to Christ as the Risen Lord. So many believers try to work out salvation in their own strength and understanding. This has brought many to a place of discouragement and infancy rather than “growing up into the full measure of the stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
One distinctive change which is meant to take place when we become believers and followers of Christ is a life led by the Spirit. Paul shares in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 that the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit. It is only the spiritual man which can appraise all things. Are you led by your natural reasoning most of the time or have you become a spiritual man, one led by the Holy Spirit?
Father, I want to be the spiritual individual You will me to be. I choose to surrender my thoughts and my ways to You. I invite the Holy Spirit to take control of all areas in my life. Father, fill me daily with your Holy presence and lead me through the wilderness of this life, into Your purpose of ministering to others Your wonderful grace.
by George Runyan | Jan 11, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Luke 3:21-22 – Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.
Jesus is the perfect man before God and sets the pattern for all of us. Thirty years before His baptism, Jesus was born from a divine act of God through the person of the Holy Spirit as Mary conceived. Now, thirty years later, Jesus came to John, His cousin, to be baptized in water. The Jews understood baptism as a cleansing, but Jesus was baptized in witness of His coming death, burial, and resurrection. For Jesus, it was His public testimony of His commitment to the will of His Father. The Father’s response was to open heaven and send the Holy Spirit in “bodily form” to anoint Jesus for His ministry. After Jesus’ ascension, the Father poured out His Spirit upon those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today, the Holy Spirit is here with us. He is not only with each believer, but He has come to indwell each one who is trusting Christ. Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to come on you and indwell you? Just as with Jesus, every believer that has trusted Christ has been born of the Spirit of God. In the same way that Jesus came to the waters of baptism submitting Himself to the will of God, we too must yield to the full will of the Father as we consider our life on earth. This will take the power of God through His indwelling Spirit. Many believers, once they trust Jesus for their salvation through forgiveness of sin, do not go on to being filled daily with the Holy Spirit. We need empowerment to live the life of a disciple, to witness with power, and to overcome the evil one who ever waits to tempt and distract us from the Father’s will.
Many times, in the book of Acts and throughout the apostle’s letters, we are instructed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. On one occasion, Paul says “… be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:18-19).
Today, let us yield to the Father as Jesus did. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower you for the call of God in your life. Ask Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit every day. Then open yourself to receive of the Spirit’s presence and guidance.
by George Runyan | Jan 10, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Luke 24:49 – Behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
Everything the Lord does, He does with purpose and in the context of His own timing. The disciples had experienced the Holy Spirit’s power while Jesus was with them. Now, our Lord was going back to the Father, taking His place at the Father’s right hand. He was about to receive the Promise of the Father and give the Holy Spirit to everyone who believed one Him. The Spirit came to empower believers for the work which God has appointed in establishing His kingdom on earth.
The disciples waited for the promise. After ten days, He fell upon them like a great blast of wind and mighty manifestations. Today, He is here with us, but we still need to wait before the Lord with expectation for the empowerment of the Spirit’s presence. Many times, we read the Scriptures and assume the promises of God are automatic. This is not an accurate understanding of how God works in fulfilling His promises. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Seeking the Lord is foundational to receiving His promises.
Many believers depend upon others who have sought the Lord. Some depend upon their pastors to study and seek God for understanding of His Word. Some depend on the faith of others in receiving the promises of God. The Father desires that all His children would seek Him personally. As believers, we should be thirsty for righteousness. It is only through our relationship with the Holy Spirit that we can receive all that the Lord has for us to fulfill His will in our lives.
If you have not committed yourself to wait upon the Holy Spirit, why not begin today? Ask the Father for the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself in increasing ways. Expect Him to manifest His presence to you and open up your understanding to the Word of God and its application in and through your life.
by George Runyan | Jan 9, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
John 7:37 – If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
There are two different kinds of thirst that human beings experience. The natural thirst for water and the spiritual thirst for God. A person can go without food for many days. The body will begin to draw from its own resources until they are depleted and the person begins to die of starvation. This is not true of our need for water. In a very short time the body dehydrates from a lack of water. The body does not store water like a camel which has a reservoir that holds water for long periods.
Jesus begins to reveal that He is their source which can satisfy spiritual thirst. Only by coming to Jesus can one be refreshed with a supply of living water. He goes on to explain in verse 38 that the one who believes in Him will experience this living water flowing like a river from one’s innermost being. The spiritual water that Jesus is referring to is not from an outside source, but the source will be within the believer. Literally, this means from the person’s “belly”. Jesus states that this is the promise of Scripture. He is referencing Isaiah 58:11, “You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”
John 7:39 explains that Jesus was referring to the coming work of the Spirit in the life of those who believed. First, Jesus had to be raised from the dead, glorified, and seated next to the Father. The Spirit was manifested on the day of Pentecost when the promised Holy Spirit came with a number of manifestations, as revealed in Acts 2. Every believer needs to have their personal Pentecost. The disciples believed on Jesus, but they needed to receive the Holy Spirit. Have you asked to receive the Holy Spirit? Can you relate to Jesus’ words “that from your innermost being will flow living water”? If not, why not ask Him today to give you the Holy Spirit and the promised “living water.” Perhaps you have received, but you need to be filled again with the Spirit. The Bible teaches that there are many fillings that one might experience.
Today, receive the Holy Spirit and let Him release the living waters from your innermost being! Why not pray right now? Father, I ask today that Jesus would fill me with the Holy Spirit. I recognize I need to be filled daily and sometimes more than once in the period of a day.
