Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Read Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Four observations come to mind while reading these Scriptures, each quite a striking contrast to standard sermons preached today.

When it came to clear communication, Jesus was a master. Children and adults alike had no difficulty understanding His words or following His reasoning. This is remarkable because, while He was on earth, He lived in a society that had become accustomed to cliché-ridden religious double-talk. The scribes, priests, and Pharisees who dominated the synagogue scene saw to that.

What if being close to God were simple? What if this thing called faith isn’t as complicated as it’s cracked up to be? And while I’m asking the critical questions: What if you could be liberated—I mean really set free—from all those expectations that organized religion and even a few of your intense friends heap on you? What if I could show you how to get rid of all the excess baggage?

As we look forward to flying closer to the flame as the Spirit of God controls and transforms our lives, we need to keep a few practical and helpful checkpoints in mind.

How do we recognize the Spirit’s ministry? Within us and around us every day we see evidences of His dynamic power.

What can we expect a Spirit-filled life to look like? What are things you and I can claim when the Spirit is in full control? When we are Spirit-filled and therefore rightly related to the Spirit of God:

Salvation is a gift. God reached out to you and me at the cross, where His Son paid the penalty of sin by dying in our place, and He gave us eternal life in His Son. All He asks is that we reach out in faith and take His gift.

Ours is a world of enormous pain and hurt. Every one of us knows someone who is enduring an intensely difficult time of physical or emotional trauma—or both. We know sincere people of faith who have prayed for healing in their lives . . . and still they suffer.

One of my mother’s favorite rules for us kids was, “You can’t trust your feelings.” To this day I can clearly recall her words warning us against relying on our emotions: “What you really want, son, are the facts. Facts are your friends. Feelings will change on you.”

This is a good time for me to pause and mention three basic warnings so that our flying closer to the flame will take place without fear of getting our wings singed.

Another biblical example of the work of the Holy Spirit also involves Paul. In times of great sorrow and pain, the Spirit ministers grace to us. Tucked away in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians 12 is a classic example of God’s ministry in the midst of human misery.

The verses above present a biblical example of the Holy Spirit doing a unique work in someone’s life. And remember, if He did it then, He can do it today. In times of threatening fears, the Spirit prompts calm determination and courage. Something Paul experienced in this regard during his third missionary journey is worth a second look.

This very familiar verse of Scripture points out how God’s message can penetrate deep within us. Don’t hurry past those words just because you may be familiar with the verse. God’s truths are able to enter into our “soul and spirit,” exposing to us “the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

When God created humanity, He put something of Himself in each of us. Unlike the beasts of the field or the birds of the sky or the blooming plants in the dirt, He placed within us His “image.”

When learning about the filling of the Spirit, balance is always preferred to extremes. So as I previously reminded you: Keep your balance in all things. A scriptural word for it is moderation. Stay reasonable, Christian friend.

If we are going to fly a lot closer to the sacred flame, we need to relearn and hopefully rediscover by closer examination what He has said in His Book. For example, let’s return to Ephesians 5. Here we find a list of don’ts.

Virtually every day of my life I am digging into the treasures of the Word of God. I am probably more theologically orthodox than I’ve ever been in my life. But that does not mean I have stopped learning. I am still thinking, and I am still dissatisfied with the status quo.

The Spirit of God is the One who gleans truth from within the Godhead and then reveals this wisdom to individuals like you and me. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, such deep truths are deposited into our minds. Without the Helper’s supernatural assistance, we’re sunk! He must reveal, or we don’t receive.

Ponder Paul’s self-description above: “weakness fear . . . trembling.” Now, if I were to ask you to describe Paul, I doubt that you would use any one of those three words. Because when we think of Paul, we think of a man of enormous strength and capability, a man who had the ability to speak on any subject with hardly a misplaced word.

During the Last Supper, Jesus made a sweeping prediction most of us have never accepted at face value; namely, “He [the Holy Spirit] will guide you into all truth.” Imagine!