THREE
BEGIN
Pray to experience joy in Christ through our theme verse:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Review the memory verse for the week:
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.( John 15:11)
READ
Read and meditate on this passage today: John 15:26–16:15
Look for what you learn about the Holy Spirit and listen for what the Spirit is saying to you through the Word of God.
John 15:26–16:15
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
How is the Spirit described? What are his titles? What does he do? How do you think the Spirit helps us experience joy in Christ?
PRAY
As the Spirit leads, let these themes guide you in your prayer today:
- Thank Jesus for sending the Spirit from the Father.
- Ask God to confirm in you how you should fast for these 21 days.
- Ask God to guide as you invite someone to be your prayer partner.
- Ask the Spirit to show you Jesus, to guide you into truth about Jesus and joy.
JOURNAL
What are you learning about the Holy Spirit as you seek to experience joy in Christ?
What do you sense God is saying to you through this passage?
SHARE
Talk with your prayer partner about what you are learning, how you are growing to experience more joy in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray together.
