Is The Holy Spirit Pricking You?

Jesus asked Saul on the road to Damascus why he persecuted Him (Acts 9:4).

 

You don’t have to be an unbeliever like Saul was for Jesus to ask you this question. 

 

Jesus also told Saul not to kick against the pricks in Acts 9:5 in the KJV and NKJV translations. This statement to Saul is not included in most other translations. 

 

The Holy Spirit knows our human nature. We are tempted to kick against the pricks of the Holy Spirit, guiding us toward what is best for our lives. Our natural mind kicks against His revelation of truth because the natural mind can’t understand it. 

 

The truth of God’s Word comes against what is not true. It reveals any untruth that is real within us. What we believe becomes who we are (Proverbs 23:7). If we believe anything that comes against the truth the Holy Spirit wishes to reveal to us, then the thing we believe is a lie on which we have based our lives. We can’t rationalize God’s truth with our natural minds. The only way we can understand God’s truth is with the spiritual mind that is ours in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14–16).

 

Is the Holy Spirit pricking you about something you believe? Is He trying to reveal something new to you through God’s Word? Does this something challenge what you believe?  Will you pray about it? Will you test it with other Scripture? Will you be open to the Holy Spirit and not rush Him by needing an immediate answer? If what you believe is a lie, you want it out of your life. You can’t judge His Word with your natural mind. You can only understand it spiritually.

It is only when we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth of God’s Word that we can know if what we believe is based on tradition or on His truth. If what we have believed is God’s truth, it will withstand the test. If what we have believed is not His truth, we need to realize that any change doesn’t happen quickly. Renewing our minds with God’s truth until we believe it in our hearts is a process. To be conformed to His image, we must intentionally, persistently, and continually seek His truth (Romans 12:1–2).

 

God can handle your questioning. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is pricking something you believe. God's truth will always prevail. But it will only prevail in your life when you allow it to challenge any belief you hold on to that is not His truth. 

 

God’s Word is the final authority, but it makes no difference if we don’t understand it. His truth only becomes our truth when we choose to believe it by faith—when we take possession of it and make it ours.

 

No matter how much head knowledge we may have, it can never be the revelation of God’s truth, taking root in our heart and changing us.

Dare to seek God’s truth. Dare the Word to challenge what you have always believed. Dare to become God’s revelation in His Word. His Word is final, finished, and unchanging. Yet, it is a living Word, breathed into you by the Holy Spirit. Don’t persecute His truth. Allow His truth to prick and challenge you. Allow Jesus to come to life within you.

 

Receiving Truth

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

—1 John 5:12-13 (NKJV)

 

You have to do more than just believe God's truth. You have to receive it. 

Many people hear the message of the Gospel but never receive its truth in their hearts. They “almost believe” in Jesus for salvation. Those who do believe His Word in their hearts receive Jesus as their Savior. They have received His life. 

 

When you believe in the name of the Son of God, you have the assurance that you have received eternal life. You also have the assurance you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:12-13). What John is saying is that believing in the name of Jesus will not be ineffective for you. Believing is putting your faith in the name of Jesus. Jesus told two blind men seeking healing that they would receive according to what they believed (Matthew 9:29).

 

Why do some Christians, having put their faith in Jesus for salvation, find it hard to put their faith in the Word for what He promises? When they first received Christ as their Savior, they believed in Him by faith and confessed their belief in Him. But when the circumstances of their lives never change, they find it hard to believe what God has promised them in His Word. Yes, they say they believe these truths, but then reduce the power of these truths by asking God if the promise they are praying for is His will. This hinders the power of Holy Spirit to work out God’s Word in your life. “Almost believing” does not receive (James 1:7). 

 

God’s truth is not real for us until we take possession of it. We have to make His truth our truth.

 

Our relationship with Jesus is one that can only be lived through fellowship with Him. We have to respond to what Jesus has done for us. We have to put faith in His Word. The truth of His Word will only be realized when we live by faith and not by sight. We must trust that His truth works out what we do not currently see or experience in our lives. 

 

When you doubt because of not seeing or experiencing God’s truth, you doubt God’s will. You doubt His promises. A person who doubts God’s promises doubts his right standing with God. He may not realize this but he doubts He is worthy enough to receive from the Lord. God deemed you worthy when you believed in His Son’s love for you. 

 

If something is in the Word, it is God’s truth. Just because you might not experience His truth as your reality at this time in your life does not mean that it is not true for you. When you know what the Word says about something, you can pray for a specific outcome knowing that it is God’s will. You can have confidence that when you pray according to His will, you have what you have requested of Him (1 John 5:14-15).

 

Consider God’s truth “by His stripes, you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).  Do we say we believe it but question it in our hearts? God heals others but maybe you question if it is His will for you personally to receive healing. The Word says healing is something that Jesus accomplished for us in His finished work of grace. It is a complete and finished work. We have to do more than just say we believe it. That truth has to be sown in our hearts. It has to be protected from the lies of the enemy. That truth has to renew us in the spirit of our minds until it becomes our identity. It has to become God’s truth in the abundance of our hearts. We receive the truth of our new life in Jesus by putting on our new life (Ephesians 4:23-24). His life becomes ours. His Word becomes ours.

 

Don’t be more concerned about the opinions of men than the praise of God (John 12:42-43).  Don’t allow the things you experience in life keep you from speaking God’s truth as yours. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and you will receive the fruit of what you speak (Proverbs 18:21). His truth is life to you. Don’t doubt His truth in your heart. Anything you believe that is not God’s truth speaks death to your faith.

 

When you received Jesus, you received His truth. That truth is yours because God gave it to you. If you have the Son, you have His life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Just as you received Jesus by faith, you also have to receive His truth by faith. Renew your mind intentionally with the Word, seeking God’s truth until it begins to change your mind and heart (Romans 12:2). Speak its promise into your life and circumstances. Stand on the Word of God without wavering, and allow it to do a complete work in your spirit, soul, and body, making you thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). 

What is my promise in the Word?  I have to do more than believe it. I have to receive it.

 

 

May I Be A Gift Of His Grace

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

—Matthew 9:13

 

Jesus had just been asked by the Pharisees why he was eating with tax collectors and sinners. He told them that it was because healthy people don’t need a doctor; sick people do. And then Jesus told them to learn the meaning of this Scripture: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” 

 

God’s Word is for us. We also are to show love and mercy. This scripture is initially found in Hosea 6:6. Hosea demonstrated love and mercy toward his wife, Gomer, who was a prostitute. God demonstrates His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us. The love of God is what Jesus explained to the Pharisees. He did not come to call the righteous, but those who are sinners. The righteous have already received mercy. But the sinner hasn’t. 

Dying for us was not a sacrifice to Jesus. To Him, it was an offering of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and unconditional love. He never gave Himself for recognition. He gave us unearned and undeserving grace. When someone regards what they do for someone else as a sacrifice, they have revealed that their concern is about themselves. When we seek to show others that we have sacrificed, we seek recognition. And that is pride. Jesus’ gift of His life was never about Him. It was all about us. 

 

Do we have the same attitude as Christ? Do we love and shower grace on believers and unbelievers alike, or do we withhold mercy? 

Mercy says: "I forgive and care for you because Jesus loves you unconditionally." Sacrifice says:”I forgive and care for you because it is required." 

Loving should always be a gift—never a requirement. If keeping the law makes us righteous, then Jesus’ gift of His life was in vain (Galatians 2:21). It is a sacrifice to do something for someone when it is required. It is mercy when it freely flows from unconditional love.

 

“If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,” Paul writes, “but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (I Corinthians 13:3-7, NLT).

 

This is God’s love for us. It is pure grace. It is kind and patient. His love always rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.

 

“In your relationships with one another,” Paul writes, “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:5-8, NLT).

 

“Show mercy,” Jesus said. “Don’t offer sacrifice.” 

 

Sacrifice places the focus on us, and that is prideful. Mercy is full of humility. It places our focus on Jesus. Humility does not focus on “self” and what it achieves. It surrenders to Christ’s grace on Calvary. It places the well-being of others ahead of its own.

When we understand that humility doesn’t exalt itself and doesn’t have to earn what has already been earned in Christ, we receive more grace to empower our lives.

 

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6).

God gives more grace when we choose to have an attitude toward others like Christ had toward us. 

May I always be a good steward of His manifold grace. May His love just overflow in me. May my gift never be a sacrifice but an offering of His mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and love. Each day may I be a gift of His grace. 

Is This My Confidence?

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

—1 John 5:14–15

 

 

This is a powerful promise! However, many Christians don’t have this confidence in God. The reason they don’t ask God for help is because they aren’t confident that they will receive what they have asked of Him. 

 

This promise in 1 John 5:14–15 makes it clear that we must ask for God’s help according to His will. How do we know what God’s will is? God’s Word is His will. If we know what the Word says about what we are praying for, we don’t have to add “if it is your will” to the prayer and wonder if it is going to happen. When we know God's will and are praying in agreement with His Word, we can be confident that God has heard us and that we shall receive what His Word promises.

 

These verses in 1 John 5:14–15 indicate God hears us when we pray according to His will. This certainly doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t know what we pray or only hears certain prayers we pray. He hears every word that every person speaks (Matthew 12:36). But these verses in 1 John 5 are speaking of God hearing us and granting our requests. The Lord never answers prayers that do not line up with His will. 

 

In the New Testament, God has already provided everything we could ever need through the atonement of His Beloved Son, Jesus. The prayer of faith is our positive response to what Jesus has accomplished through His finished work. The prayer of faith only appropriates what the precious blood of Jesus has given us through grace.

 

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

 

The word “therefore” in Mark 11:24 indicates the message that follows is important. Jesus says that for us to have what we ask for in prayer, we have to believe we receive it. 

 

When you know what you request in prayer agrees with the Word, you can believe your answer has been provided by God. You believe that it will come to pass. This answer could be in an instant, but the word “will” in this verse signifies future tense.

 

The Lord answers our prayers that meet the prerequisites of His Word, but He moves in the spiritual realm. His actions are not always immediately evident to our physical eyes. We have to believe by faith that He is answering our prayers before we see any physical proof. If we cannot believe until we physically see something, then we have doubt. Doubt prevents us from receiving what we have requested in line with God’s will (James 1:5–7). But when what we ask of the Lord agrees with His Word, all the proof we need is our faith. It is the evidence of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

“Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away’” (Mark 11:20).

Just as the fig tree remained the same after Jesus cursed it (Mark 11:12–14), we often see ourselves or our situations remaining the same. The unseen roots of the fig tree dried up the moment Jesus spoke, but the evidence only appeared later. What we ask God for in prayer can take time. By placing our faith in the Word and the absolute truths the priceless blood of Jesus purchased for us, we can believe that when we ask according to God’s will, we know He hears us and that we have the petitions we have asked of Him. 

Is this the confidence I have in Him?

 

Discovery

Yesterday morning, when I opened my photo app on my MacBook, a photo that I hadn’t seen since I’d first taken it in 2018 appeared. It was of a contract signed by my father on January 29, 1949 to purchase a little white house on Rope Mill Road in Woodstock, Georgia. I was seven months old at the time. 

A few hours later, I discovered something else totally unexpected. Ten years ago, when dementia was claiming my father’s incredible mind, I wrote devotions to get through that difficult time. In 2020, I compiled some of them into a book. Yesterday, I discovered one devotional that I don’t even remember writing. I looked through my book to be sure I hadn’t included it. I couldn’t find it. On the cover of my book, “Walking to Daddy,” is a photo of me toddling toward my father; he's reaching out to me with open arms. This photo was taken behind that little white house on Rope Mill Road.

So today, I feel led to share this devotional. Perhaps you’re experiencing something similar or going through a hardship that’s overwhelming. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean into your own understanding. Lean into His. He's faithful.

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“So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure” (Psalm 32:11, NLT)!

I celebrate Jesus! I rejoice in His faithfulness no matter my storm—no matter my hurting heart. He tells me that I am to be glad. This means that I am joyfully willing, prepared, and eager to follow His leading. In my obedience, I have His blessed assurance He is guiding me. He will not forsake me.

Each day is hard, and the days stretch into the future with a sadness of loss that comes from seeing my father gradually lose himself. But right now, God’s purpose for me is to walk this road—to love Him as He first loved me—to gain understanding from His perspective—to glean His wisdom in the midst of pain, and to take great joy in the smallest blessings. 

I draw closer to my father in the moments that are quickly waning. I draw closer to the Lord because that is the only way I can walk this path. There is a tenderness of heart that only He can mold in me. There is a joy that He alone is able to perfect. If I faithfully walk this path, I receive His promise of abundance. My life is full of Him. In my weakness, I know His overwhelming strength. 

There is no greater peace than knowing He has given Himself to my need—that He has taken this burden and imparted His power. He is alive in me in depths that I would have never known if I had refused. Faithful is He to do in me what He has asked of me. This journey purifies my heart. I rejoice in Him! His purpose is my greatest promise!  

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Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

James 4:8