Seeing With the New Heart
Devotional Credit, Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
Photo Credit, Unsplash
Some movements stir crowds, yet leave hearts unchanged. T. Austin-Sparks reminds us that the natural person can analyze, emote, and decide, and still miss the things of the Spirit. I have chased that path before, trying to reason my way into renewal or ride a wave of emotion, only to discover that life in Jesus is not self-generated. Life is received.
What the Lord gives is not a bigger push for the old self. He gives new birth by the Spirit. He takes people who were dead in sin and makes them alive together in His Son. He forms a people who know Him, not as a theory, but as an indwelling Presence. This is not psychology dressed in church clothes. This is the Holy Spirit making Jesus known within ordinary men and women.
Austin-Sparks also warns that religious systems can harden around human control. I am grateful for the correction. We are not rescued by our systems. We are rescued by the Lord Himself, and then fitted together as His Body. The focus is not on the heroic individual. The focus is on Jesus the Head and His people abiding in Him.
So here is the invitation today. Bring your mind, your emotions, and your will, then lay them in the care of the Spirit. Let Him lead. Let the Word renew your thinking. Let your desires be shaped by the risen Lord who lives in you. We belong to a people formed from above, and we get to walk as those who have truly been made new. Thank you, T. Austin-Sparks, for pointing our attention to the Spirit’s work at the center.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I open your eyes to the things that come from Me, and I do this in union with My Son. I give you a new heart and a new spirit. I place My Spirit within you so that you walk in My ways from the inside. I make you alive together with the Messiah. I seal you for the day of redemption. I pour My love into your heart, and I supply the power that raises Jesus from the dead, working in your mortal body.
You did not enter this life by argument or emotion. You were born from above, not by human will, but by My Word and Spirit. Now, as you received Jesus the Lord, so keep walking in Him, rooted and built up, established in the faith. Present yourself to Me, and I will express the life of Jesus through you. I write My desires on your heart. I renew your mind so that you discern what pleases Me. I supply both the willing and the doing.
I form you together with all who call on the name of the Lord. By one Spirit you were baptized into one Body. There is one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. I distribute gifts for the common good. I lead you to speak the truth in love. I make you a living testimony, a people who declare the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of a phone that has gone to zero percent. You can swipe the screen, tap the icons, and press every button, but nothing happens. The only thing that changes anything is connecting to the power source. Once you plug it in, the phone receives what it could never produce on its own. That is how the Holy Spirit works in a believer. We do not animate ourselves by trying harder. We receive and rely, and then activity flows with purpose.
A simple way to walk this out, when a heated thread or meeting is about to start, connect before you act. Turn inward to the Lord who lives in you and say, Lord, I trust You to work from within me right now, shape my words, steady my tone, and express Your patience through me in this conversation. Then step in. Participate. Answer with honesty and kindness. You are not manufacturing peace. You are depending on the Life within you.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You for giving me new birth by Your Spirit and placing me in Jesus. Thank You for sealing me, renewing my mind by Your Word, and providing all I need for life and godliness. Today I present myself to You, counting on Your indwelling Spirit to express the life of Jesus through my thoughts, my decisions, and my relationships. I rest in Your faithful work in me and among Your people, and I rejoice that You complete what You begin.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
1 Corinthians 2:14, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Ephesians 2:4-10, Romans 8:9-11, Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 5:5, John 3:5-8, John 1:12-13, 1 Peter 1:23, Titus 3:5-6, Colossians 2:6-7, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:1-6, 1 Corinthians 12:7, Ephesians 4:15-16, 1 Peter 2:9