And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph 6:17) If we view the Bible as a good book, a historical reference, a “guide” for life, then we have missed the point of God giving us His Word.

Jesus came to show us how to live, then He sent the Holy Spirit to give us the power to live it. The Word of God is a powerful weapon of the Spirit. Jesus was very effective in rebuking the devil with scripture. It is exactly what we need to do as well.

Do you live in fear? Memorize Psalm 91. Declare it. Let it sink into your heart and your spirit. Knowing the promises of God are a sure weapon against the assaults of the enemy. Don’t think you are being assaulted? Consider if you are struggling with finances, health, relationships, doubt, anxiety. Anything that does not agree with the goodness and peace of God does not come from God. There is an answer for all of life’s issues in the Bible. Claim them and believe the power of what God has given us.

His Word is a flaming sword of the Spirit meant for us to use for the kingdom. Read the Word with thoughts of potential. Then practice using your sword.

The Holy Spirits give us all truth.

Jesus made a very shocking revelation about the Holy Spirit. 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. (Jhn 16:13)

The Holy Spirit is here to guide us into all truth. That is critical because, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (Jhn 8:32) Without knowing truth, we cannot be free. But there is more than freedom being offered. We’ve been given the keys to understanding all the truth of God, who He is, what is available to us, how to use it, how to be successful in our jobs, our dreams, and our destiny.

So why does it seem like we don’t know anything? Think about receiving this truth as a giant basin of dirty water. The dirt doesn’t come from God, it comes from us and what we received from the enemy. When we give our lives to God, He begins to clean us up. Little by little the water is purified. It takes time because He only do what we’re willing to let Him do.

But if we submit our hearts to Him and repent and forgive and follow His direction in love, we begin to see that the basin contains gold that we couldn’t see before. It’s been there all along, we just couldn’t see it through the muck of our own making.

You have all truth. It’s yours as a believer. Now ask God to clean up your life so you can access the wonder that He’s given.

Loving difficult people is hard to do. We want to love nice people, people we like and who love us back. But Jesus said, For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (Mat 5:46) The challenge is to love, really love people who you don’t even like.

People you don’t like probably don’t like you either, and when you respond in love, it’s going to startle them. They have to ask themselves why you would do that. It’s a way to show the grace of God to them and it may be the only way they’ll see it.

But it’s still hard to do. Chances are, you can’t do it in your own power. You need the Holy Spirit to love through you. Then you have all of heaven to bless with. That’s more than enough love for that difficult person.

But that power of love doesn’t just turn off and on like a faucet. It has to be cultivated in you. You have to allow the Holy Spirit to transform you so what you express is genuine. That takes some humility to be changed. It takes a desire to be changed, and it takes time. Lay your heart open to God and let Him make you into someone He can love through, even to difficult people.

Why we need the Holy Spirit

There are so many reasons why we need the Holy Spirit, but I recently found a great one. Jesus had so many things to teach the disciples that He just couldn’t. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (John 16:12) They didn’t have the maturity of faith to understand the things of heaven that Jesus wanted to tell them.

Then Jesus told them, However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit is here for us to bring us healing, joy, and salvation, and also to continue the education that Jesus started.

He will guide us into truth. There are deep things, hidden things that only He can teach. And we don’t have to be seminary graduates to learn it either. Anyone with a hungry heart can be led of God. But it does take a quiet heart to hear Him. It takes patience to sit with Him and absorb His peace. A heart full of fear, constant activity, frustration, or anger won’t be able to hear Him above the noise.

Start first with clearing the noise. Ask Him to strip away anything that distracts you from His voice. It may take time. It may take a long time. But little by little, you’ll hear Him better and better. And you’ll be amazed at what that sounds like.

The prophetic is God speaking to us.

“The prophetic” is terminology used in the church to talk about the active gift of prophecy. When someone says, “I don’t believe in ‘the prophetic'”, they mean that they don’t believe that the prophetic gift is for use today. They are wrong.

All the gifts of the Spirit are alive and well, thank you very much. And the prophetic gift is as important today as it was when the Holy Spirit released Himself to us. The prophetic gift is all about hearing God. It may be communicated in an idea, a picture, colors, a feeling, or a physical sensation. Usually, the person receiving the prophetic word will understand the message because it will usually confirm what that person already knows.

The prophetic gift is wonderful to practice and receive. Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (1Cor 14:1) Why? Because God is so encouraging. Even when we need to be reprimanded, He is kind. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. (1Cor 14:3)

We all want to hear from God and know what He wants to do in our lives. Receiving a prophetic word is amazingly comforting, and it draws the giver and receiver together in a spiritual bond like nothing else. Pursue the prophetic and let God speak to you. You will love it.

Find your joy.

You know how some people see the glass half full and others half empty? It’s a choice. You decide your own outlook on life. You may be cautious, but you can still be optimistic. God gave us joy. It’s up to us whether we decide to claim it.

All the fruits of the Holy Spirit are ours. You don’t have to pick one or figure out which one suits you. God gave you everything. So joy is yours, but you may need to look for it. In the turmoil of problem solving, the peace of God is with you. When you stop and decide to live in that peace, joy is not far away.

You decide. You control whether you want to have actual joy in your life. If you really can’t see any reason to be joyful, then ask God to help you. Ask Him to take away everything that blocks His joy in your life. You may need to repent or forgive or humble yourself. What ever you feel convicted to do, do it.

Then claim your joy. Tell God that you will live with His joy and thank Him for it. Then start looking for it everywhere you go. Once you start finding it, it will come easier and easier. Be thankful and full of joy. It’s God’s blessing to you.

Becoming a better you.

Criticizing other people isn’t actually helpful, because we already know our faults. We know where we lose our temper, our patience, and our joy. We can really beat ourselves up about it too. Maybe you know all that and want to change. Maybe you don’t think it’s possible. Maybe you don’t care — you know your faults and everyone else can live with it.

Our personalities are not written in stone. We can be molded and shaped by the hand of God. Unhealthy attitudes can be replaced with good, blessed attitudes from heaven. We can be a better version of ourselves.

How is that possible? By submitting to the Holy Spirit. He sees and knows everything about you. Put yourself in His hands. Ask Him to do a work in you. He may show you memories of events you need to forgive. He may show you where you need to repent. He may show you the root issues that will untangle a web of bad thinking.

And the awesome thing is, for every bad attitude that you let go of, He can replace it with something wonderful. If you don’t allow God to clean you up, you are leaving an abundance of blessings on the table that you’ll never enjoy. It’s worth the effort and you’ll be so happy.

Have you ever been around someone with an attitude that you just have to forgive them for? And then you wonder, how is it possible that they don’t see that what they’re saying is offensive or completely lacking faith? It’s a little scary, because it makes me wonder how blind I am to my own faults. I mean really blind.

The Holy Spirit is the best help there is.

That’s why we need the Holy Spirit so much. He’s not blind to anything. He sees exactly what we are, and He really, really loves us. He’s not shocked by our faults, but He does want to change us. And He’s amazingly kind about it. When He puts His finger on a problem area, He waits for us to ask for help. And, not only will He fix it for us, He’ll replace it with His own blessing.

But this is not an automatic process. You have to sit with Him and ask for help. You have to want to be changed. But first you have to recognize that you need to be changed. We all have areas we know about, and we all have blind spots. Ask God to show you what He wants to fix. He’ll bring up memories and you’ll know. Just confess anything you need to and give it to Him. Then ask Him to replace the stuff you got rid of for something awesome from Him.

It’s a step by step process. It’s called growth. And the Holy Spirit is the best help there is.