Come Holy Spirit

The aim of my book, Picked For A Purpose is to show each one of us the purpose that God has for us, which is to bear fruit for him. That fruit is to show love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But he doesn't expect us to do it alone. In fact, we can't do so without him. Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches - as we read in John 15:1-17. And just as he promised his disciples that they would have the gift of the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension so, too, he promises us John 14: 1-21 (See below for the reading)

MY STORY

In 1973, when I'd been in and out of hospital with back problems, and my marriage was in a really bad way, I went to stay with a dear friend in London. It was the first time I had driven myself there (before the days of the M25) and my friend commented on how well I'd done. I told her I'd had someone sitting next to me in the car who had directed me. It was the Lord. 'You sound just like Corrie Ten Boom,' she laughed, and she lent me a book called Nine O'Clock in the Morning. It was about baptism in the Spirit. So for three nights, when I returned home, I prayed that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit and be able to speak in tongues. When nothing happened, I told God that all that mattered to me was for his will to be done. Next morning, I found my back problems healed and I was, indeed, praying in tongues. Exactly two months later, to the day, my marriage came to an end. It was only afterwards that I realised I'd been asking God to do what I wanted him to do, and that it was as if he was a guest in my house (my heart). When I stopped asking for what I wanted and handed it all over to him, he became the owner of the house, and I was the guest.

DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been aware that you may know God as an honoured guest in your life, but you've never actually handed over ownership to him? If so, is this the time to do so?
• How, if at all, has God used traumatic events to bring you to a deeper knowledge and love of him? Do you see this as the Gardener pruning you so that you may bear more fruit?
• Are you filled with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus as the true vine and you a branch?

PRAYER

• Lord, we thank you for your life, your death, your resurrection and the gift of your Holy Spirit in us. Help us, Lord, to be overflowing with your love, joy, power and justice so that we might participate in seeing your will done on earth as in heaven.
• Lord, we pray for the leaders of this earth: Theresa May, Donald Trump, Kim John Yung and others that they might yield to your perfect will and bring peace to the world.
• And Lord we ask that young people, who are said to be the most unhappy generation in decades, might come to know and love you, and for each one to know themselves as having been chosen by you: your precious child.

John Chapter 15: The Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹ "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

COME HOLY SPIRIT

We talked a while ago about the purpose God has for us, which is to bear fruit for him. That fruit is to show love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But he doesn't expect us to do it alone. In fact, we can't do so without him. Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches - as we read in John 15:1-17. And just as he promised his disciples that they would have the gift of the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension so, too, he promises us John 14: 1-21

MY STORY

In 1973, when I'd been in and out of hospital with back problems, and my marriage was in a really bad way, I went to stay with a dear friend in London. It was the first time I had driven myself there (before the days of the M25) and my friend commented on how well I'd done. I told her I'd had someone sitting next to me in the car who had directed me. It was the Lord. 'You sound just like Corrie Ten Boom,' she laughed, and she lent me a book called Nine O'Clock in the Morning. It was about baptism in the Spirit. So for three nights, when I returned home, I prayed that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit and be able to speak in tongues. When nothing happened, I told God that all that mattered to me was for his will to be done. Next morning, I found my back problems healed and I was, indeed, praying in tongues. Exactly two months later, to the day, my marriage came to an end. It was only afterwards that I realised I'd been asking God to do what I wanted him to do, and that it was as if he was a guest in my house (my heart). When I stopped asking for what I wanted and handed it all over to him, he became the owner of the house, and I was the guest.

DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been aware that you may know God as an honoured guest in your life, but you've never actually handed over ownership to him? If so, is this the time to do so?
• How, if at all, has God used traumatic events to bring you to a deeper knowledge and love of him? Do you see this as the Gardener pruning you so that you may bear more fruit?
• Are you filled with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus as the true vine and you a branch?

PRAYER

• Lord, we thank you for your life, your death, your resurrection and the gift of your Holy Spirit in us. Help us, Lord, to be overflowing with your love, joy, power and justice so that we might participate in seeing your will done on earth as in heaven.
• Lord, we pray for the leaders of this earth: Theresa May, Donald Trump, Kim John Yung and others that they might yield to your perfect will and bring peace to the world.
• And Lord we ask that young people, who are said to be the most unhappy generation in decades, might come to know and love you, and for each one to know themselves as having been chosen by you: your precious child.

John Chapter 15: The Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹ "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.