PREPARING FOR A FRESH ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS TODAY
- Key Verse
- John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16, NLT)
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Central Truth
John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus.
Reflections
John the Baptist was preparing the way of the Lord: making the paths straight, filling every valley, making crooked places straight, etc. As he was crying in the wilderness, he was both interceding and calling for the people of his day to be prepared to meet the Lord when He came. As John prepared the way for the Lord to come by preaching the Kingdom and baptizing those who confess Christ as Lord, we are to prepare the way of the Lord, for a greater manifestation of His glory today.
God wants to visit us again in this day to bring the Church into alignment with His purposes, to recalibrate the Church to be vessels for His supernatural works, so we will impact the world around us like the first century believers. How else will the Church have any significance in this world? Although Jesus is our model who healed all who came to Him, multiplied food, stilled the wind and waves, preached the Gospel, etc., we sometimes forget He limited Himself by laying aside His Deity and acted as a man who was rightly related to the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus wants us to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, not just once, but to keep on being filled with the Spirit to partner with what He wants to do through us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News, and signs and wonders are to follow those who believe. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is His presence upon us for ministry. Because the purpose of the anointing is to make the supernatural natural, I am crying out to the Lord for a greater anointing to rest upon me and flow through me. This is a call for each of us: to seek the presence of God to come upon us in a greater measure. As we prepare ourselves and also intercede for those around us to be prepared for this coming move of God that is already beginning, God will use us to impact the people around us.
Discussion Questions
1. Can you think of others in Scripture where the Holy Spirit empowered them and signs and wonders followed them?2. What did they do in order to be empowered for ministry?
3. Do you think the Lord waits for us to become desperate for Him? Why?
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