Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Today, I am thankful for many things! First of all, I am thankful for the current Bible Study I am doing with my mom and sisters at our church. We are reading the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan and studying the Holy Spirit! It has been so challenging especially regarding complete surrender and obedience to the Holy Spirit which is definitely something I need to work on. Daily! Tonight, we were discussing how the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the common good and edification of the saints. Francis Chan encourages the reader to pray each time you come into groups of believers, "Lord, by your Holy Spirit help me to minister to the people in the group." I was challenged. I definitely look at the work of the Holy Spirit as something big and in the forefront and forget that loving the people right there in front of you is the work of the Holy Spirit as well. It got me to thinking how thankful I am for one of my very closest friends. I am thankful that we can be honest with one another and although she lives over 5,000 miles away pray for one another and keep each other accountable(the best we can). It is such an encouragement to share fellowship with one another through the love of Jesus. This Bible study has also encouraged me to consider daily Godly living as a work of the Spirit. Because it is! In our fallen state, the way the Lord would have us to live and the things He calls us to do are impossible. BUT the Holy Spirit provides all the strength, resources, and anything else we need to complete the task. This just reminded me of one of the simple everyday images of the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a family I know that recently added 3 older children to their family of five. The addition of these precious children added more medical issues/bills and many hard parenting days. The things that many of us would easily say no thank you to. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, this family has tackled the hard task before them and has been blessed for it! And the kids are blessed by it too! It is a blessing to know them and watch them live by the power of the Holy Spirit!