Trusting in the Providence of the Holy Spirit

When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, He comes in—in the person of the Holy Spirit. But what does He do? What is His role in your life? Anne Graham Lotz will explain some of the things she learned about the Holy Spirit in this episode.

today on the johnny Coburg show. My guest is anne Graham lots, she was called the best preacher in the family by her late father Billy Graham An is an international speaker and a best selling author when an lost her husband of 49 years, she felt both shock and intense grief than just a few years later, her beloved father Billy Graham passed away and then six months after his funeral and was diagnosed with breast cancer. Yet through it all, she relied on the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit to help her. We invite you to join us on this edition of the johnny Karberg show to here and explain how you can rely on the Holy Spirit to be your constant companion. No matter what you are facing. Welcome to our program. I’m john anchor Berg and my guest is the honored and Graham lots, I am so glad that you took time to come and to talk to our audience and they’re all waiting to hear what you have to say and folks what a topic we’ve got today. We’ve been talking about the Holy Spirit all through these programs and today we’re talking about if the Holy Spirit loves you and he does and you love the spirit back and you enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit because he can give joy to you when you shouldn’t have joy. Okay, he’s just supernatural in that sense and you rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help you in different circumstances and you embrace the purpose of the Holy Spirit and you lived by the precepts of the Holy Spirit. And you reflect on the purity of the Holy Spirit. And uh you look at that list and every once in a while you got to say, I don’t know if I can carry out that whole list. And and to the folks that look at that list and say boy, that’s a tall order to keep on doing that on a constant basis. Have you ever faced that yourself? Of course it is. So our focus isn’t on the tall order. Our focus is on just surrendering the Holy Spirit and the wonderful thing john is that the Holy Spirit prays for us. And then I found out that the Holy Spirit came into me because he loves me. He he wants to come into me and he prays for me on the inside. So he knows how I feel. He knows the longings of my heart, he knows my desires, my hopes, my dreams, he knows what needs to be corrected And and he ever lives before the throne of God because he is God. And so he can pray for me without words. In romans 8 26 it says that he prays for us without words. And there’s been times, especially in the last five years since my husband went to heaven. And then my father then my cancer journey when I didn’t have words for prayer. You know there are times when all I do is lie in bed and moan or groan or there have been many tears. And even though we talked about the Holy Spirit being our comfort, he comforts yes, but that doesn’t mean we don’t weep. And so there have been tears. But at the same time I’ve been uh enormously encouraged in the fact that the Holy Spirit prays for me at those times when I don’t have words myself and he knows how to get answers to his prayers. You know, he presents my prayers to the father and the right format. But um, but then I came across the word in um Ephesians 4 30 I think it is that says that the Holy Spirit were not to grieve him and grief, you know, I didn’t know that until my mother went to heaven and I grieved for her. I still do because I love her and I miss her. And then my husband went to heaven and I grieved for him because I loved him and I miss him and my father went to heaven and I grieved for him because I loved him. Grief is a love word. And I thought if I can grieve the Holy Spirit and I know we grieve him through our sin or neglect our resistance. Our um disobedience. But but grief is a love word. And and so I thought if I can grieve him, it means that the Holy Spirit living in me loves me. And that was an aha moment for me and the Holy Spirit isn’t just assigned to me. He’s in me because he wants to be in me. He loves me. When I do the right thing, he rejoices because he knows that’s gonna put me on a track to receive the fullness of God’s blessing and all the abundant life that jesus promised when I do the wrong thing he grieves because he knows that’s going to hinder me from experience God’s best in my life. So the Holy Spirit prays for me without words, with a heart of love. And um and it’s he’s emotionally involved in my life. Yeah, let’s put it up on the screen so that people can see this one. I don’t want them to forget it. We’re gonna refer to this first quite a few times. It’s romans 8 26. In the same way the spirit helps us in. Our weakness is for we do not know how we ought to pray a lot of times Lord, I got all kinds of needs. I don’t even know where to start. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words because he loves us and that is very reassuring. Also, the very fact that when I learned that the Holy Spirit of God love me, okay, that was life changing. That’s somebody that important. God himself who lives inside of me, knows all about me, knows all about my sins and my failings knows about my thoughts. He knows everything because he’s God and he still loves me. I hope the audience grabs what that means. But I want to talk about as well. Our topic here, which is, can we really trust him? Okay. And you’ve got some neat stories and I will let you decide what part of the stories you want to talk about. But the fact is one is we trust in his pledge. And uh I like your little illustration in your book here. This is a great book. If you love illustration, this is this is a lady that’s full of fun, joy energy. And uh she tries about just anything And her illustrations are a blast to read and they come and they point toward what God has done in her life. And here’s one of them. When she was about 17, she said she didn’t ever want to get married. Okay, I’ll just give that secret away and let me tell you the rest. But along the way something did happen. And a guy came to you and asked you to marry him, tell me what happened. The guy was Danny Lots. I was 17 years of age, he was 28, had just gotten out of the air force and he sat across the table at a soda shop and he said he was in love with me and he wanted to marry me and I told him he could just hit the road because I didn’t want to get married. I was looking at going to college and all that. And but anyway, he asked if he could pursue the relationship and I said, you know, it’s a free world, he could do what he wanted. And so he set up his dental practice in our state. And then every weekend he came to visit me and I became very ill, so I couldn’t go off to college and how God does things, I couldn’t leave. And so I was stuck right there in my father’s house and he came up, my mother fell in love with him first, I think, and then I fell in love by february. We were engaged and I was married when he was 29 I was 18, but what he did in february, when he told me that he loved me, he presented the proposal again and will you marry me? And um and I said yes, then he asked me the kind of ring I wanted, and so I told him I wanted one more or less like my mother’s ring. And so two weeks later, he came up to the house and he had the little black box and uh and and it was the engagement ring and he put it on my finger and I was so excited. Um all night, I just stared at the engagement ring, you know, the next morning I got up early, I went down to mother’s room and I showed her what Danny had given me. And the thing that was exciting about the engagement ring is that it carried with Danny’s pledge to be my husband that I would be his wife. So, so although we weren’t married at that moment, we still had 10 months. We were married in september of that year. But but I knew because he had given me that ring, that one day I would be mrs Danny lots. And uh, and then of course, on my wedding day, he put on the wedding band. I put on that engagement ring and never took it off actually for 50 some years. But but that engagement ring was his pledge. And the Holy Spirit, this is how when we were just talking about him loving us, he’s committed to us. So we can be embarrassed and ashamed of all the sin in our life, but you don’t have to be, you can trust him. He’s committed to your well being. He’s committed to your future. He’s committed to help you with your past and your present. He’s your pledge. So that he’s the engagement ring. So when God looks at you, he sees the engagement ring in the bible describes it as being God’s seal in your life. And without that seal, can I tell you, john without that seal, God will not recognize you as being valid, God will not recognize that your sins have been forgiven that you have eternal life, you will not have a heavenly home. You must have the seal, the pledge of the Holy Spirit which you receive when you put your faith in jesus at the cross and you claim him as your savior and surrender your life to him, receive eternal life. He offers and invite him to come in. He comes in and the person of the Holy Spirit, who is your another illustration you have is trust in his seal. Okay, in the old days back going back even to the Apostle paul and earlier than that. The fact is, people had a symbol or writing of some type that was carved into a hard surface of Mettler stones. And when it was pressed into clay or was into wax or something, the seal left an impression that carried it with it, the authority of the person to whom it belonged. It was commonly attached to documents in order to convey their authenticity, authority or ownership. And here’s what the Apostle paul said, he says you talking to christians also were included in christ. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation here it is. Having believed you were marked in him with a seal and what is it? The promise of the Holy Spirit talk about that a little bit. Well, I think that’s almost self explanatory that when you place your faith in jesus and claim him as your savior and Lord then you are marked, you’re sealed. And not just um you know, we can’t see the mark and we can’t see the Holy Spirit, but God, the father looks at you and he looks at me and he sees his own mark. He sees his seal, he sees the pledge of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And just like when Danny asked me to marry him, it was still 10 months before I became his wife, we’ve we’ve received the Holy Spirit. We won’t actually come into fulfillment of everything that God has promised until one day when we go to heaven, either through death or through his return. But until then we know that he’s going to keep his promises because he’s given us his seal. Yeah, I love what you said in the book with seal apparently is also visible in the unseen world because it identifies us throughout the universe as authentic Children of God. And so God, the Holy Spirit is proof of ownership. And if people have questions are they really saved. Did God really forgive my sins? Do I really belong to him? They shouldn’t lack assurance because when they invited christ into their life, regardless of what’s happened since that time. The fact is God sealed them with his Holy Spirit. Talk a little bit more about that. Well, it’s it’s permanent. You know, the seal can’t be broken. You did nothing to deserve the seal except you receive jesus by faith as your savior and Lord, you can do nothing to to undeserved it, you know. So that once that seal is in your life, once the Holy Spirit comes in, that is a permanent relationship that marks you forever as being a child of God. And I love what you said, Jesus himself reaffirmed that no one can snatch us from his his hand or his father’s hand when we’re sealed. Okay? Not any sin, not any person, not any circumstance, not any disease, not any demon, not ourselves, not even death. Okay, let’s go to another one. Trust in his understanding. You love the fact that your mother, she understood you, you know, I pray that I understand my Children the way my mother understood me, but I didn’t have to explain things to her. I didn’t have to defend myself. I didn’t have to make excuses. My mother just got me. She just understood. And she would have these little pithy statements where she could just quickly capture um whatever the issue was, and come through with enormous wisdom and which she was very witty. But she loved jesus. She loved her bible. She’s the one that taught me not only to read it every day, but just to see her point over the scripture and reading and studying. She taught me to love God’s word because it’s through the word that we get to know, jesus, that’s what that passage is from john 16 when it says in verse 13, that the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the one that takes the things of God’s word. And he reveals jesus to us through the pages of our bibles. And my mother got that and she understood and we had that bond because we both were in love with jesus through his word. And you’d love to hear your mom pray for you. Yes, I did. And even when she was very feeble, I would ask her mother just pray. And her voice came out halting and sort of thin. But I mean, she knew the one to whom she was bringing my daddy did to apply that to the Holy Spirit. He’s utterly trustworthy. Why he’s utterly trustworthy because he is God. And so he can’t be less than himself. You can confide in him. You can take him at his word, you can depend on him. He’s um he’s trustworthy. The Holy Spirit is one person that you can lean 100% on knowing that he will never let you down. He is absolutely trustworthy. I love the list that you put in your book. He lives within us. So he’s intimately familiar with all of our ways. Listen, folks with all of your desires, all of your doubts, all of your decisions, all of your dreams, your feelings, your fears, your problems, your pressure is your sickness is your suffering, your wounds, your worries, our secrets and our selfishness. He knows all about it because he’s got and he lives inside of you. He knows all about you. And the psalmist said O Lord you have searched me and you know me, you would know when I sit when I rise you perceive my thoughts from afar off for a word is on my tongue. You know it completely. O Lord. And then he asked the question where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? And what’s the answer to that? Nowhere, nowhere. Why? Because God is everywhere. And the Holy Spirit is omnipresent which means he is everywhere. God the father God the Son God the Holy Spirit, they’re omnipotent. They have almighty power there. Um mission, they know everything. They’ve never had a new thought that means the Holy Spirit has always been thinking of me. You know, always consumed with my my life, my needs, my desires, my well being. But he’s also um I’m not present. So he’s fully present with me, fully present with you, fully present behind these cameras, fully present with the people who are watching and listen. The Holy Spirit is present with you wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you’re doing wherever you live, The Holy Spirit is with you. He lives in you. He will never leave you nor forsake you and he’s committed to you. So it’s a wonderful thing to know that there’s nowhere we can go that he is not. Yeah you said that even when your mom was dying, you would ask her to pray for you and it really brought tears to your eyes because she knew you so well apply that to the Holy Spirit because he also praised for us and he loves us. And so I had to make a transition in a sense. Um not that she was a substitute for the Holy Spirit, but that I needed to learn to lean on him more. And so what I’ve written in the book that you so graciously held up is my experience of the Holy Spirit as a divine daily companion. And I’ve, I’ve had to grow in that and learn more about who he is and how I can reveal things to him and trust him and lean on him and pray to him. And when I don’t have words Just knowing that he’s praying for me and doing it with wisdom and um knows how to articulate what I need and presented to the father. So I love what you said in the book. The fact is the one who lives inside of us who is very God. He has access 24\/7 to the inner sanctum of the throne room in heaven. And he knows precisely with the will of God. The father is for us and he applies all of this to his prayers so that he can articulate accurately our issues and sync them up perfectly with God’s will. The bible says the spirit helps us in our weakness is we do not know what we ought to pray for. But the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express and then it says, do not grieve. The Holy Spirit with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all the bitterness, the rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as christ God forgave you. And because he loves you, what does he try to do? What is the Holy Spirit trying to do? He’s trying to conform us to the image of jesus. And I think sometimes in church gossip is paraded as prayer requests, but did you know, so and so we really need to pray for her and, and then we just gossip, you know, and and that’s not pleasing to the Holy Spirit, but we can sit here and point our finger at all different sins, but it’s the Holy Spirit who will bring a specific sin in our hearts and lives to our minds, but but that’s coupled with reading the word. So it’s not just reading a list as I did, but read the word as you did and and let the list of sins that are in scripture. Um, you know, think about them, what, how they apply to your life. And so we need to ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the sin that’s keeping us from reflecting, jesus, keeping us from being pleasing to God. Keeping us from being that pure holy person that’s he wants us to be, which is the one that’s blessed and filled with joy and hope and peace. And so the things that Holy Spirit offers as were filled with him are things that I think we’re looking for striving for. But in all sorts of crazy places. Yeah. Now let me ask the audience something before I ask and something. Okay, those of you that are listening and you listen to how much the Holy Spirit loves you and is in you and all the things he wants to do for you and how he wants to show jesus through your life and and show you things about jesus and bring your prayers right to the father’s throne. Okay, let me ask you this, what is your priority? Do you want to get to know him better? Do you want to live for the Lord, jesus? I hope that if you let things slip that today, you would recommit yourself two following the precepts of the Holy Spirit that you would want jesus to be glorified in your life and that you’d be willing to let the Holy Spirit point out sins and point out things and give you the strength to overcome those things and so you need to stay focused, stop looking at what might have been could have been should have been stop rolling your eyes in cynical doubt or confusion. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all the truth, the truth that you might not know. Get to know jesus so well that you love him, that you love him completely with all of your heart and you just have to serve him now. And some of our people, they’re not in that spot, they are listening to you and the Holy Spirit is talking to them and they have a yearning to be that way. They know there’s a lot of things they got it correct. They need encouragement but they want they have their whole life filled with the Holy Spirit and to serve them and to read their bible and to know God and to know and love the Lord, jesus. I’d like you to end by praying for them that they will be able to do that. That they will start ok even with all the baggage they might have, they will start with the confidence that God is able to get them where he wants to get them. Would you pray for them? I would love to and I will tell you that the Holy Spirit um the yearning that we have to know God. The yearning, we have to be more like jesus, The yearning, we have to be more in sync with the Holy Spirit that comes from the Holy Spirit. So so that’s evidence already that he’s working in your heart and in your life um to conform you to God’s will to conform to the image of jesus and give you that desire and what he begins in you, he will complete. So don’t worry about cleaning yourself up, you just come as you are, you surrender your life with the Holy Spirit and he’ll he’ll take care of you, he will show you what needs to be put out. So let me pray for you. So father God, we bow before one who is holy ha lifted up, you’re seated on the throne and yet you say that you dwell with those who have humble contract hearts. So we come to you Lord confessing once again that we are sinners, we have um nothing in ourselves that would deserve any blessing of heaven at all, but we come to you in the name of jesus. And just as the Holy Spirit can go into that inner sanctum, so can we, we can enter into that most holy place through the blood of jesus. And um and you have promised that you would bend down your ear, you would hear our prayer that you would answer our prayer, your prayer, hearing prayer, answering miracle working covenant keeping God. And so we thank you that your covenant has been sealed. We have been marked with the pledge of the Holy Spirit. So we thank you that from the moment of our salvation until the moment we see you face to face, The Holy Spirit is responsible for getting getting us from the first step to the last in a way that brings you pleasure. Lord, I pray for each one of us that we would make it our priority to cooperate with the Holy Spirit that we would surrender to his lordship, his authority in our lives, knowing that he wants the best for us and knowing also that his priority is jesus, He wants us to know jesus to love, jesus, to serve jesus to tell other people about jesus and Lord God. We want to be in sync with the Holy Spirit. So we just asked now your blessing on all that we’ve discussed that you would um work it into our hearts and minds that from this day forward we would begin to live in a way that’s pleasing to you as we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit and filled with him and we pray this please in jesus name and for his glory. Amen. Amen folks, I believe the Lord has been speaking to you today. So I hope that you’ll follow anne’s words. Don’t forget them and, and I want to say thank you for coming and sharing God’s word in such a powerful way to our people. I think a lot of people around the world, they’re going to remember what you’ve said from God’s word God’s going to use it. And folks, I thank you for watching today, I’m gonna tell you a little bit about in his book. And so I’ve got a personal word for you. If you’ll just stay tuned, I’ll talk to you in just a moment. Stay tuned, john will be right back, Jesus said he came to seek and to save those who are lost. He says it was because God so loved the world. He loved you so much that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You see, Jesus came into the world to pay for your sins. He died on the cross and then he rose again so that you can be completely forgiven and spend eternity with him. This isn’t something that you can earn through your own good works. He offers it to you as a free gift which you can receive through putting your faith in him if you would like to do this right now by asking Jesus to be your savior. I invite you to join me in this simple prayer, just say, Dear God, thank you for loving me. I know I’m a sinner. I ask for your forgiveness right now. I believe that jesus is your son and that he died for all my sins on the cross. I also believe that you raised him from the dead and right now I want to trust him as my savior and follow him as my Lord from this day forward, please give me the strength to live for you. I ask this in jesus name. Amen you know folks, one day I said a prayer just like that and if you prayed this today, I want you to know what God promises to do for you. The bible says who so ever shall call upon the name of the Lord, that’s you. If you just prayed this prayer and if you did, I want you to see what God says he will do, he says shall be saved. That’s what God does. He promises to save you. Now, if you’d like to watch this program again or share it with a friend, you can do so for free, right on your phone on our app, just go to the app store on your device and search for anchor. Berg. Once you download it, you can watch this series over and over again. As well as 100 other programs anytime, anywhere Absolutely free. You can find these programs by tapping on the program’s icon on our apps homepage there. You can also find our large collection of question and answer videos where we have leading scholars answering your tough questions about the faith. Along with this, our app lets you read and even listen to the bible in over 1000 different languages. Simply tap on the bible icon displayed on the main page of our app. Once it opens, you can find your language by tapping on the box at the top. 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