holy fire

Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ... —Luke 10:21 NLT Key Thought All too frequently, we pursue the wrong things hoping that they will make us happy. Real joy, however, comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we look at the life of Jesus and at the lives...

[Jesus, in the synagogue, reading from Isaiah:] "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD's...

[The LORD said:] "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." —Joel 2:28-29 NIV Key Thought Throughout the...

When you send your Spirit, [all creatures] are created, and you renew the face of the ground. —Psalm 104:30 NIV Key Thought Psalm 104 praises God as creator and sustainer of the earth. One of the dimensions of his providential care has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit...

Yes, weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured down on us from above and the badlands desert grows crops and the fertile fields become forests. —Isaiah 32:15 MESSAGE Key Thought Throughout the Old Testament prophets, there are statements made about the coming of a new day for God's people...

"As for me, this is my covenant with [those who repent of their sins]," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants — from this time...

Then Jesus came to [the eleven disciples] and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded...

Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: "What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They replied, "He is the son of David." Jesus responded, "Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah 'my Lord'? For David said, 'The...

[Jesus:] "So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven — except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in...

[Jesus:] "But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you." —Matthew 12:28 NLT Key Thought Jesus healed broken people. The results of his miracles were beyond dispute, even to his critics. His miracles forced everyone in his day — and they...

"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations." —Matthew 12:18 NIV Key Thought Matthew is quoting a prophecy from Isaiah 42, applying it to Jesus in a time of rising conflict. In spite of the...

[After his baptism,] Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. —Matthew 4:1 NIV Key Thought We sometimes miss part of the significance of this verse because some of the wording is different from Mark and Luke. Notice carefully that Jesus was LED INTO the...

The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit — it looked like a dove — descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life." —Matthew 3:16-17 MESSAGE Key...

Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced [when she became pregnant]. While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is...

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. —Matthew 1:18 NLT Key Thought While we try to understand how the Spirit of...

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. —Romans 15:13 NIV Key Thought We live in the overflow of God's grace. David said it well in Psalm 23, "my cup overflows." Because of the Spirit's...

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. —Romans 14:17-18 NLT Key Thought Who can argue with...

I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit ... —Romans 9:1 NIV Key Thought We often use hyperbole to make an emphatic point about something that is important to us. Hyperbole is an overstatement meant to get other people's attention. The...

And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. —Romans 8:27 NLT Key Thought After the incredible promise of the previous verse and the Spirit's intercession for us (Romans 8:26 ESV), Paul adds promise...

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. —Romans 8:26 ESV Key Thought Nearly all of us have been at this desperate place. Our souls are brittle and dry. All our...