Today’s reading: Nehemiah 8, 9, 10; Psalm 23, 53, 83, 113, 143; Proverbs 23
Nehemiah 9:20, “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.”
To this day I am reminded of one of my least shining moments in life. I remember well how I was preaching at the Church we were attending at the time. I wanted to relate to the people how God had spoken to me and given me that message that I had prepared for that evening. I said, “Picture this. I was standing in the shower with shampoo running out of my hair.” All of a sudden the entire Church erupted into laughter. I had no idea what I had just said. I had just told the entire Church to picture me naked, in the shower with shampoo running out of my hair. Oops! My wife asked me at dinner after the service if I realized what I said. I had no idea.
Now, I know that was not from the Holy Spirit. I am thankful for the times that I have stood to preach or teach God’s word and He was manifested through it. It is such an awesome experience to be used by God and to know that He is in control. It is times like this that you see things happen that please God.
I remember one time early on in my ministry when someone trusted Christ as an indirect result of the message that God had given me. One of the teens from the Church was under conviction and another teenager talked with him after the service and he trust Christ as his Saviour. Praise God!
The Scripture today reminded me how that I do not do things on my own. I need to do them in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts we are told that we will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on us (Acts 1:8). The word power in that verse is the Greek word from which we get our English word dynamite. We can be empowered by someone that is all powerful.
If we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit we can live a life that God will bless. Look at Nehemiah 10:28-29, “And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;” God will work through us if we will yield ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Who is leading you?