Acts

Spirit Gift

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Walk in His Spirit

Speak in His Spirit

Rest in His Spirit

Serve in His Spirit

Love in His Spirit

Be Strong in His Spirit

Be wise in His Spirit

Hear His Spirit

 

Do you realize

the gift the Holy spirit is?  

 

And do you realize 

how many times you are trying

to do it all in your own strength?

 

Trust the Holy Spirit in you

to be everything for you

 

– Susie Stewart

 

But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

– Acts 6:10 (NIV)

 

I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

– John 14:25-27 (MSG)

 

A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words.

– Romans 8:26 (VOICE)

 

Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves.

– 1 Corinthians 16:9 (GW)

 

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

– Isaiah 11:2 (NLT)

 

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

– 2 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV)

 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

– Acts 1:8 (NIV)

 

When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.

– 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Andy Stewart

 

Breath and Beat

/ Susie Stewart / 4 Comments

Stop for a moment

and notice each breath you take

 

Put your hand on your heart

and feel it pulse

 

Life within you

given by God

 

Each breath a gift

each heartbeat His to give

 

You are alive

 

Are you alive in Him?

Or are you merely existing?

 

Does His heart beat in you?

Does the Life-Giving Spirit breathe in you?

 

– Susie Stewart

 

His speech shaped the entire cosmos.
Immersed in the practice of creating,
all things that exist were birthed in Him.
His breath filled all things
with a living, breathing light—

– John 1:3,4 (VOICE)

 

…in Him we live and move and have our being…

– Acts 17:28 (NIV)

 

God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

– Genesis 2:7 (MSG)

 

For the Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

– Job 33:4 (NLT)

 

He Himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need.

– Acts 17:25 (NLT)

 

I will give them a new will—an undivided heart—and plant a new spirit within them; I will remove their cold, stony heart and replace it with a warm heart of flesh.

– Ezekiel 11:19 (VOICE)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Place With Purpose

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Notice God’s unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world.  God plants His saints in the most useless places.  We say – God intends me to be here because I am so useful.  Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use.  God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

– Oswald Chambers

 

Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.

– Luke 2:36-38 (NLT)

 

And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

– Acts 20:22-24 (NLT)

 

There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”

So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.

– Acts 9:36-41 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Life

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

God is not far

from any of us

 

He made us

and in Him

we live and move

and have our being

 

We exist because

of Him

 

He gave us breath

and movement

and life

 

Our being here

is because

of Him

 

Our living

should be

for Him

 

Living out loud

in light of who He is

 

– Susie Stewart

 

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve His needs—for He has no needs. He Himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need. From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries.

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him—though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead.”

– Acts 17:24-31 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Darkness

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Spiritual darkness is the absence of God’s truth in our hearts and lives.  We can have an education and still be in darkness.  We can study philosophy and religion and still be in darkness.  We can go to church or do social work in our community and still live in darkness.  We can be sincere or be tolerant of others and what they believe and still be in darkness.

Darkness is unbelief.  Darkness is deception, keeping us from the knowledge of God.  Darkness is separation, keeping us from the fellowship of God.  Darkness is isolation, keeping us from the presence of God.  Darkness is something we should treat as an enemy, yet when we are in sin, we treat it as a friend.  We like darkness – it hides us from being exposed for who we really are.  The sin in us runs deep and the darkness is our cloak.

Although we may be hiding from Him, He is not hiding from us.  Jesus seeks us out in our darkness.  He is standing near us, clothed with white garments…covered with glory…reaching out with arms of mercy…inviting us into the marvelous light of His forgiveness and love.

– Roy Lessin

 

Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.

– Luke 1:78,79 (NLT)

 

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.

– 1 John 1:5 (NLT)

 

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

– 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NLT)

 

…Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

– Acts 26:17,18 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Strong

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The Christian often tries to forget his weakness;  God wants us to remember it, to feel it deeply.  The Christian wants to conquer his weakness and to be freed from it;  God wants us to rest and even rejoice in it.  The Christian mourns over his weakness;  Christ teaches His servant to say, “I take pleasure in infirmities.”  The Christian thinks his weaknesses are his greatest hindrance in the life and service of God;  God tells us that it is the secret of strength and success.  It is our weakness, heartily accepted and continually realized, that give us our claim and access to the strength of Him who has said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

…And if we want to know how the power is bestowed, the answer is simple:  Christ gives His power in us by giving His life in us.  He does not, as so many believers imagine, take the feeble life He finds in them and impart a little strength to aid them in their feeble efforts.  No, it is in the giving His own life in us that He gives us His power.  The Holy Spirit came down to the disciples direct from the heart of their exalted Lord, bringing down into them the glorious life of heaven into which He had entered.  And so His people are still taught to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  When He strengthens them, it is not by taking away the sense of feebleness and giving in its place the feeling of strength.  By no means.   But, in a very wonderful way, leaving and even increasing the sense of utter helplessness, He gives them along with it the consciousness of strength in Him.  The feebleness and the strength are side by side;  as the one grows, the other also grows, until they understand the saying, “When I am weak, then am I strong…I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:10,9).

…He lives a most joyous and blessed life, not because He is no longer feeble, but because, being utterly helpless, he consents and expects to have the mighty Savior work in him.

– Andrew Murray

 

For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NLT)

 

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

– 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NLT)

 

“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

– Luke 24:49 (NLT)

 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere.”

– Acts 1:8 (NLT)

 

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

– Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart