Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Francesca Battistelli singing … Holy Spirit … poignantly singing of how we must pursue the filling of the Holy Spirit.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ephesians 3:16 [NLT] … 16 I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit .
…Paul’s prayer that the Ephesian Christians be filled and empowered by God’s Spirit.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ephesians 3:14-21 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul’s prayer that his fellow Christians be filled to overflowing with the essence of Christ from His Holy Spirit.
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Reference Passage : … Exodus 31:3-5 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… In the building of the Tabernacle, Moses was led by God to a Spirit-filled craftsman who could do the fine metal work in the place God would dwell.
Reference Passage : … Acts 2:17 [NLT] … 17 In the last days, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people ...
… When Peter preached to the crowd at Pentecost, he quoted [above] from the Prophet Amos [see Amos 2:28-32] of the coming and filling of the Holy Spirit upon those who truly believed in Christ, repenting and surrendering to His Spirit.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 5:22-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK ...
… The more we are filled with God’s Spirit, the more the fruit of the Spirit will be expressed in/out of our lives as Christians.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] … 6 And I am certain that God, Who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
… Over time, the more we are in surrender to God’s Spirit the more of our lives will be made over into the images of Christlikeness.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Adam Holz, used a rather humorous picture of a dog loving to play with a sprinkler head to illustrate our pursuit of more and more of God’s Spirit as Christians. … The ODB author wrote: Most summer mornings, a delightful drama plays out in the park behind our house. It involves a sprinkler. And a bulldog. About 6:30 or so, the sprinklers come on. Shortly thereafter, Fifi the bulldog (our family’s name for her) arrives.
Fifi’s owner lets her off her leash. The bulldog sprints with all her might to the nearest sprinkler, attacking the stream of water as it douses her face. If Fifi could eat the sprinkler, I think she would. It’s a portrait of utter exuberance, of Fifi’s seemingly infinite desire to be drenched by the liquid she can never get enough of. [See photo]
I love that ODB word picture, don’t you; … of the bulldog, who’re know for their tenacity, not being able to get his fill of that sprinkler [again, see photo]? It was like the Apostle Paul prayed for his fellow Christians [see highlight passage] … that they would be so filled with the Holy Spirit that they could not get enough of their pursuit of their relationship with Christ. … And just as Peter wanted the mob to be filled with God’s Spirit at Pentecost (see Acts, Chapter 2).
And I see a bit of myself as “Fifi,” the dog, in some ways. For example, … I compulsively come to a “quiet place” each morning, using the ODB devotionals, and I doggedly pursue God’s Spirit as I pray and open to study and journal from God’s word, … not being able to get enough of what the Lord has to “sprinkle” on me from His truth and in my prayer time.
Oh, … how I pray, as Paul did for the Ephesian Christians, that any reader here is able to be filled by the sprinkler-head of God’s truth, … not being able to get enough of the Spirit’s love/grace … just as Francesca Battistelli sings in the linked song.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your ever-filing Holy Spirit.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to seek to be filled with God’s Spirit each day, … thru our devotional pursuits of His truth and love and grace. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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