God's Spirit communing with my spirit... the deepening begins...
Prayer journal October 31-November 8, 1990
In the early 1990s, my prayer life began to shift into deeper experiences of the love of God. The Holy Spirit taught me to relate and commune with the triune God by paying attention to my spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 had a profound impact on my deepening intimacy with God; “The Spirit of God searches the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” I will be forever grateful for the faithful and constant presence of the Holy Spirit who makes the Father and the Son known to us in our spirits.
October 31, 1990
Dear Lord, I sense that need to seek the gift of tongues in my life and ministry.
Your word says:
1 Corinthians 12 - Eagerly desire the greater gifts
1 Corinthians 14:1 - Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - The Spirit of God searches the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
V 10 - But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit
Are there things that you want to reveal to us by your Spirit that only come to us Spirit to spirit? I believe that there are those things.
1 Corinthians 10:31 - Whatever I do, do it all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 12:3 - Claiming Jesus as Lord or cursing him is a crucial test of any spiritual being or spiritual happening or gift.
1 Corinthians 12:11 - It is the same Spirit (Holy Spirit), of the triune God, that gives the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
November 7, 1990
Lord, in the middle of all of the responsibilities and uncompleted tasks, you need me to be faithful. I am growing up… hopefully. You need me to be a man. There are so many things to be done. I lack the motivation to do them all. Thank you for the reassuring sense in my heart that you are at work and will be faithful to grant me your peace and will accomplish your will in and through me.
November 8, 1990
I feel so unprepared to face the challenges of my life and work. How I need your help, Lord. You have broken my chains. Praise your name, Jesus. I believe your promises.
Oh God, I am prone to laziness, lack of self-control, and self-indulgence. These are terribly crippling tendencies. Reading through my journal entries over the past several years… again and again the same issues come up.
I must proclaim victory over the enemy every day. The giants of laziness, lack of self-control, self-indulgence. In my position is Jesus Christ, I appropriate his righteousness, power, and blood and I renounce these evil tendencies and their working in my life! Praise the name of Jesus. Please empower my will with your Spirit. Make me pure and keep me blameless in your sight.
Holy Spirit, thank you for teaching me and deeply encouraging me from Psalm 90.
Psalm 90
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.