First On His Agenda

First on His Agenda

Read: John 16:12-15

“The Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

John 16:15

“‘Be ye holy’ is the great and fundamental law of our faith.”

—Matthew Henry

IN WORD The things we often crave the most from the Holy Spirit are His direction and His power. We want Him as our guide and our enabler. We want to know which relationships He wants us to focus on, which career direction to take, and which area of service to perform. Then we want Him to empower us to perform these things. And this is well within the ability and the assigned role of the Spirit to give us. Jesus has promised it to us. Everything that He would be for us if He were physically present, as He was for the disciples, is ours in the gift of His Spirit. The Spirit makes Jesus known to us in every way.

But the Holy Spirit has higher priorities for us than the ones for which we usually beseech Him. First and foremost He wants to give us the guidance and power to be holy—to be sanctified. He wants to bring to life the cleansing words of Jesus and make the kingdom of God the treasure of our hearts. The guidance about careers, relationships, and service—and the power to perform them well—are primary in our mind, but secondary in His. In order to receive them, they must be secondary in ours as well. We want works, then character. He insists on reversing the order.

IN DEED Have you sought special guidance from the Holy Spirit? Have you pleaded with Him for His power? Is there some act of service, area of ministry, or life decision that occupies your thoughts? Perhaps the Holy Spirit wants to meet you there, but has a prior item on His agenda. Perhaps He is waiting to fulfill His primary purpose for you before moving on to His secondary purpose. If He were to follow our agenda, we would move from one area of service to another without ever being made into His likeness. But He wants first things first. Let Him have His way. Let Him saturate you with Jesus’ words and ways. Make His holiness your first pursuit. Then God will be glorified in everything you do.