When scripture says the Holy Spirit “abides” in us, it means God’s Spirit comes in and possesses our bodies, making it his temple. Because the Holy Spirit knows the mind and voice of the Father, he speaks God’s thoughts to us. “However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come” (John 16:13, NKJV). The Holy Spirit is the voice of God to us!

If you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you, he will instruct you personally. Please know that he doesn’t speak only to pastors, prophets and teachers; he speaks to all followers of Jesus. This is evident all through the New Testament as the Holy Spirit led and guided his people, constantly saying to them, “Go here, go there…enter this town…anoint that person…” The early believers were led everywhere and in everything by the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit never speaks a single word contrary to the scriptures. He never gives us a “new revelation” apart from God’s Word. Instead, he uses the scriptures to speak clearly to us. He opens up to us his revealed Word to lead, guide, comfort us and show us things to come. The Word promises us, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

I am convinced God speaks only to those who, like Moses, “come and stand by him.” This means we have to spend quality time with the Lord daily, waiting on him to open our hearts fully to hear his voice, not being rushed in his presence, believing he loves to speak to us. He won’t keep anything from us, and he’ll never allow us to be deceived or left in confusion.

Even in the most difficult times, we’ll enjoy a time of great rejoicing because God will reveal himself to us as never before.

The instability of today’s global market has left people hard-pressed to find the wisest places to invest. After all, there are no investment strategies that can guarantee dividends in the midst of an uncertain future…except one. The Lord offers a divine principle that, if heeded, will sustain his people in the coming days: learn to invest in people.

If we truly share God’s heart, other people ought to be our focus. This concept is contrary to our natural instincts, particularly in a time of calamity. Our entire focus turns inward, and our tendency is to withdraw our hand from doing good and instead begin to cry out about ourselves. When the disciples found themselves in the midst of a storm and saw that Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat, they began to cry out, “Master, do you not care if we perish?” (see Mark 4:35-39).

They completely neglected the fact that other little ships were traveling in the same storm with them. The disciples were the only ones in the storm who actually saw God and knew that he was with them. You would think that their cry would be “Master, wake up. There are people out there in little boats who are perishing. We have you here with us; you have told us that we are going to the other side, and that is sufficient. But others don’t have you with them. You must do something!” Of course, other people were not their chief concern at the moment. Usually the last thing on our minds during a calamity is investing in other people.

However, giving to others, particularly in our own time of need, is what will actually sustain us. We must never forget that people are the focus of God. He came into the world to redeem fallen humanity, to save you and me. He did not come to make us feel better about ourselves or to give us a bigger slice of the socioeconomic pie. As the well-known verse tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16, NKJV). He found the redemption of our souls worth the price of his own blood and the keeping and consecrating of our lives worth the deposit of his very own Spirit. What an incredible investment he has made in humanity! Let us give to others out of gratitude for this great gift.

Scripture gives us a sobering reminder of what God truly desires from us. “So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22, NKJV).

Obedience is better than sacrifice. I say it is also better than blessing. This is the deepest meaning in the story of Abram offering Isaac on the altar. God said, “Go and do this.” He obeyed. Did Abram leave that altar saying, “God changed his mind”? I don’t think so. God wanted obedience, and Abram obeyed.

I have experienced that. God told me to negotiate and then gave me every evidence that I should claim a certain thing. I did everything in my power to obtain it, but I didn’t get it! What now? Shall I question God? Should I doubt that he spoke to me? Will I believe that Satan hindered me? No. I sought the Lord diligently. He said, “Do this,” and I did it. I will rest in the peace of obedience. That makes it better than blessing. God shows you only one side of the coin: obedience.

The servant must obey without question. When a master commands his servant to go, he goes. That, too, is faith.

Can a man purpose in his heart to trust God when it appears that the Lord is breaking a promise? Can a man still speak the language of faith when all his leadings “blow up” in his face? The giants of faith did! They said, as Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him” (Job 13:15).Men of great faith faced the fieriest trials.

God has peculiar ways of developing faith. The deeper into God you go, the more peculiar your testing will be. Do not fall into the temptation of believing that afflictions are proof that you are displeasing the Lord. Miracles are produced only amidst impossibilities. If you desire to be a child of faith, ready yourself for a life of most peculiar tests. Faith comes by using what you have. Don’t wait for obstacles to be removed. Go forth anyhow! The most critical part of faith is “the last half hour.”

I was reading recently about a historical event called the Great Ejection. In 1662 in England, two thousand Puritan ministers said that God, not the king, should have authority of the Church of England. They were promptly removed from their posts on a single day that became known as “Black Bartholomew’s Day.” Many of them were thrown into jail and others were executed. Some of them were forced to leave their parish and their people, and others were kicked out of the country. The influence of their choice echoed down through history and helped inspire the Great Awakening.

A book was created from a collection of these men’s sermons, as many as could be gathered from those who survived. I was reading this book and thinking about how similarly our own modern government is beginning to treat believers. America’s society is starting to tell people what they can and cannot say or speak out against. Then one Puritan pastor’s words particularly stuck out to me.

He said that the problem with England was not the king who was kicking them out. It was not the moral depravity in their nation. It was him. He hadn’t prayed enough. He hadn’t loved enough. He hadn’t cared enough. He hadn’t been in the Word enough. As a pastor, he was not as broken as he should have been to lead people to the place of repentance where they needed to be.

I think the same is true today. Our greatest need is for deliverance, but many of us are tempted to focus on the backslidden, lukewarm condition of the church. We may be lured into saying our nation needs to be delivered first from its spiritual decline and the social issues with open sexual perversity.

However, I think the greatest need for deliverance that we have is inside me and you.

You and I will be on a lifelong journey of deliverance and sanctification. The greatest need for change is in each one of our lives. It’s by the grace of God that he woos us into his presence. He restores that desire for repentance, holiness and love. If enough of us Christians allow Christ to transform and heal our own hearts, then we will see a fire and passion reviving churches and impacting culture.

Jesus has been given all authority and power in heaven and on earth. In John 13, he was about to be handed over to the Romans and nailed to the cross. He was preparing through his resurrection to ascend into Heaven and be seated at the right hand of God. He was perfectly in the will of God, on the verge of enacting the greatest moment in human history.

However, at this critical moment, he does not give any orders. Instead, he gives an example of humility. Jesus takes a basin and washes the feet of his disciples. It was the duty usually reserved for slaves who had to wash the feet of their masters after long days of walking on dusty roads. “He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you’” (John 13:12-15, NRSV). Jesus voluntarily takes on the tasks of a servant, calling his disciples and all believers throughout time to follow in his footsteps and imitate him.

Jesus knew that nothing is more powerful than the model of our lives. If this was true in the time of Jesus, it is even more so today. The young generation is especially characterized by a zero tolerance policy for the whole “Do as I say and not as I do” line of thinking. Your behavior will speak louder than sermons or any advice in the lives of others, particularly young people.

Many Christians quote one particular passage of Paul’s writings with a misunderstanding of what he was writing about. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4, NKJV). Most of us think of strongholds or bondages such as sexual trespasses, drug addictions, alcoholism or other outward sins we put at the top of the ‘worst-sins’ list. However, Paul is referring here to something much worse than our human measuring of sins.

He isn’t speaking of demonic possession. In my opinion, the devil cannot enter the heart of any overcoming Christian and claim a place in that person.

The figurative meaning of Paul’s word for stronghold in Greek is “holding firmly to an argument.” A stronghold is an accusation planted firmly in your mind. Satan establishes strongholds in the hearts of God’s people by planting falsehoods and misconceptions about God’s nature. For instance, the enemy may plant a lie in your mind that you’re unworthy of God’s grace. He may whisper to you repeatedly, “You’ll never be free of your besetting sin. You haven’t tried hard enough. God has lost patience with you because of your constant ups and downs.”

The devil may try to convince you that you have a right to bitterness and that God doesn’t mind your animosity. If you keep listening to his lies, you’ll begin to believe them. These lies can become Satan’s strongholds.

The only weapon that scares the devil is the same one that scared him in the wilderness temptations of Jesus. That weapon is the truth of the living Word of God. According to Micah, we are to cling to this promise: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18–19). We do not subdue our own sins. God will subdue them through repentance and faith.