Today's Study:

20 - Be Full of the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:
18 ...but be full of the Spirit;
19 Joining with one another in holy songs of praise and of the Spirit, using your voice in songs and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving praise at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;
(Bible in Basic English)

The Aposle Paul instructs us here that to keep our faith alive inside us, we need to keep on being full of the Spirit!
So how is it possible for Christians to keep on being full of the Holy Spirit?

Yesterday we examined the things we do together with other Christians to keep us being full of the Holy Spirit.
Today we want to look at what we do when we are alone to keep us full of the Holy Spirit:
making melody in your heart to the Lord
giving praise at all times

To keep being full of the Holy Spirit is very simple. Can you keep a melody going inside you today and dedicate that melody to the Lord? Then you can be full of the Holy Spirit.

The problem comes with the second instruction, which is to give praise at all times.
There are times in life when giving praise is the last thing I would think of doing, or when giving praise is the last thing I would ever want to do.

However, if we follow the instruction of giving praise at all times, and especially when I don't want to do so, several things begin to happen inside me:
a new discipline begins to take root in my life which will bless me forever
I will be able to pick up on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in these times of difficulty and stress
godly guidance in times of stress and difficulty is a really beneficial thing for me
praise in times of stress and difficulty keeps me calm and at peace on the inside, so that I can be a blessing to others in the situation around me
being a blessing to others in a situation of difficulty brings glory to the Lord.

Prayer:
Father, today I ask Your help in developing this discipline of keeping a melody in my heart to You at all times, so that I can give praise to You at all times, especially when I wouldn't normally think of doing so.
My desire is to bring glory to You, Lord,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.



See you tomorrow, God willing,
when you'll find a new thought here to challenge you!
Meanwhile, have a great day walking with the Lord!

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Today's Pithy Pointer:




    LB stands for "The Living Bible",
    by Tyndale House Publishers
    NKJV stands for
    "The New King James Bible",
    by Thomas Nelson Publishers