Day 4: Nourishing Your Spirit

Spiritual Focus

Today is dedicated to spiritual nourishment. Allocate additional time to meditation or prayer, seeking inspiration and peace that only being in the presence of Jesus brings.

Spiritual Practices

• Read the following devotional and write down what stands out the most.

• Practice attentiveness to the Holy Spirit speaking. What stands out the most to you is what the Holy Spirit wants to talk to you about.

This day is about connecting beyond the physical and nurturing the soul.

Power: Evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit

Steps to be free so we may operate in power?

(Unforgiveness is your enemy!!!!!!)

There are three marks of the Holy Spirit in one’s life: Bold Witness, Power, and Prophecy. May I continue speaking about His Power this morning—Power for Healing and Power of Love.

Matthew 10:7–8 states:

“As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out the demons.

Freely you have received; freely give.”

Did you see that? You and I were just told you have freely received and thus you must freely give what Christ has given you—THE WORD, LIFE, PRAYER FOR HEALING, CASTING OUT DEMONS.

Power For What!?

My friends, The Kingdom of God is Here!

I do not have enough space in this short devotional to share the entirety of this topic, so I will share my heart with you this morning. We MUST take the Bible at His Word!

Jesus taught us to pray:

“Lord, may your kingdom be on earth as it is in heaven.”

Part of the filling of the Spirit has been repentance and forgiveness. His power comes into our hearts and forgives us as we repent. I cannot overstate the importance of this to you.

“He will have compassion upon us; he will vanquish (tread underfoot) our sins and will cast them into the depths of the ocean.”

—Micah 7:19

Did you just hear that? You are forgiven, sins are in the abyss, and Jesus remembers your sins no more.

Get up off your mat of unforgiveness and open your heart. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and receive the Power of Healing and the Power of Love.

HEALING

In Acts 3, after Pentecost, Peter and John meet a man who is crippled and begging. They command the man to rise, walk, and the man is healed.

This action drew a crowd as well as religious leaders who were mad that ordinary folk like you and I were displaying the Power of God. Read Acts 4:8–10.

If you actually believe what the Bible says, you will make religious people unhappy, and that is ok. We are here on earth to obey Jesus, not people, not even religious people.

The apostles are not the only ones who heal.

“Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.”

—Acts 6:8

I am convinced that a vast majority of healing goes hand in hand with demonic deliverance (discussed in a later devotional). Some reading this may need deliverance from tormenting thoughts.

POWER OF GOD’S LOVE

“God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

—Romans 5:5

When I experienced my first Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the most prominent visceral feeling was God’s overwhelming love for me.

Years ago, the Holy Spirit delivered me from tormenting thoughts. I saw a vision of me standing on an eight-lane highway, stone rubble all around, with hundreds of demons standing roughly fifty feet away from me, held back by an invisible Holy Spirit forcefield.

When I saw this vision, I began to weep, and the Lord said to me:

“You are loved. I have always loved you. No demon in hell will ever torment you again.”

Closing Exhortation

Friends, I don’t care how you slice these thoughts up. One thing is for sure:

The Kingdom of God is at hand today, and He is going to use you to heal the sick, cast out demons, preach the gospel, and watch the dead arise.

Let’s take the King at His Word.

Meditation Questions

1. Do I live in unforgiveness?

2. Lord, I ask forgiveness for others and for myself. Free me today.

3. If you have completed #2, then I pray this with you:

   Lord, give me the overwhelming understanding of your love.

   Let me love people well in Jesus’ name.

   (All Holy Spirit power flows out of godly love for others. Matthew 9:36)

Meditative Passages

• Romans 5:5

• Acts 3

• Acts 6:8

• Matthew 10:7–8

• Matthew 9:36