Day 20

Be Still:  Dear Father, please help us to see Your larger picture in our lives.  Increase our trust in You.  In Jesus’ name, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen

Be Strengthened:  John 16:1-11

¹"All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. ²They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. ³They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

⁵"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.

⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

Be Stretched:  Jesus said it was for the disciples’ good that He was going away so the Holy Spirit would be sent.  As Christians we have been promised the Holy Spirit lives in us.  Spend time today meditating on the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Do you sense His presence in your life?  If so, in what ways?  If not, why do you think that is?  Have you ever been convicted of sin in your life by the Holy Spirit?  Pray to the Counselor, inviting Him to be an active part of your life.  Ask Him to give you the strength to face, and in His power, defeat, anything that is keeping you from living in Jesus.