Daily Devotionals: (March 18th) The Dreams of Patrick II

Patrick of Ireland: A Devotional History

Reading: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14

Patrick refers a number of times in his Confession to spiritual guidance through dreams in the night. He was either a zealous mystic with a wild and vivid imagination or a man in touch with God—a man, like Enoch who walked with God and like Moses with whom the Lord spoke as to a friend. I will let Patrick speak for himself concerning his devotional life: “I would wake to pray before dawn in all weathers, snow, frost, rain; and I felt no harm and there was no listlessness in me—as I now realise, it was because the Spirit was fervent within me” (Confession, sec. 16). Notice his wording here—“the Spirit was fervent in me.” He is not speaking of his activity but of the activity of the Spirit in him.

Patrick speaks of dreams in the night in which he heard the voice of God. He says he woke out of his sleep “overjoyed” (Confession, sec. 24). As he slept again, in the dim and misty figures of a dream, he says he saw one “praying there powerfully and groaning; and meanwhile I was dumbfounded and astonished and wondered who it could be that was praying within me, but at the end of the prayer He spoke and said that He was the Spirit, and so I awoke and remembered the apostle’s words: ‘The Spirit helps the weaknesses of our prayer; for we do not know what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groans which cannot be expressed in words’ (Romans 8.26) and again: ‘The Lord our advocate intercedes for us’ (cf. l John 2.1)” (Confession, sec. 25).

Believer, does this seem foreign? It does, sadly. Perhaps it is because we are so far removed from primitive and vital Christianity. Beware of limiting the Holy Spirit; don’t let the modern Charismatic chaos make you skeptical. Don’t be content with a sterile and lifeless intellectual religion. Pray for personal revival. Walk with God, talk with Him, and “covet earnestly the best gifts”—the Spirit of God, not just dwelling but working in you.

“There is a way in which the Spirit leads the sons of God, a way that others do not know. He enlightens them with respect to their duty, by making their eye single and pure, whereby the whole body is full of light. He enables men to understand the commands and counsels of God’s Word, and rightly to apply them.”—Jonathan Edwards

All quotations from the Confession or Letter of Patrick are taken from the edition by A. B. E. Hood, 1978.

Daily Devotionals: (Feb. 12th) The Holy Ghost: Our Great Need and the Only Answer

The New Testament Church: Learning from the first disciples of Christianity

Reading: “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:4

Professional recruiting agencies are big business. Multi-million-dollar companies want executives with top academic qualifications, vast experience, drive, energy, and proven track records. No company wants fearful, timid, and untested leaders. But the church of Christ is refreshingly different.

The disciples of Christ who gathered for prayer in the upper room were regarded by many as ordinary, simple, uneducated people—what we might call blue collar men. Their numbers were small and they had very few resources. But they had faith (although weak) and a mutual love for each other even though they were hated by the world. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it, “They were just twelve men essentially and a number of others with them. They had nothing to recommend them, no great names, no degrees, no money, no means of communication or of advertising. They had nothing at all—they were nobodies.”

They were not prime candidates for a church-planting program according to the world’s standards. And yet as these very same people waited upon God in prayer they were on the verge of something that was going to turn the world upside down! In Acts 1 they prayed and in Acts 2 they were filled with power and began a ministry for God that was going to impact not only right across the Roman Empire at that time but right across the world and across the centuries that followed.

How did such a small group of people—despised in the eyes of the world—make such a dramatic impact for God throughout the world? The only answer is that these very same disciples were filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. This underscores our great need in these days. We will accomplish nothing without the power of the Holy Ghost; therefore let us pray to be filled, blessed, and used of God.

Daily Devotionals: (Feb. 5th) The Power of the Holy Spirit

The New Testament Church: Learning from the first disciples of Christianity

Reading: “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Acts 1:8

Left to itself the church of Christ is powerless and helpless. Instead of being majestic and militant it cowers in fear and dread in the midst of an unbelieving world. But the church is not left to itself. Prior to Christ’s ascension He promised His disciples, whom He had previously commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel, that they would receive power after the coming of the Holy Ghost upon them.

Had Christ promised them finance, respect, or popularity it would have been a poor substitute. But to promise them His power was to promise them the one thing that they needed most. The very substance of this promise was that the disciples would know the power of the Holy Spirit. He would fill them and in filling them would empower them for their future service. They would know power that was irresistible, unlimited, mighty, miraculous, and inexhaustible. This remains the need of the church.

But we cannot presume on the Holy Spirit—He can remove his presence. We are no match for a wicked world, and our gospel work will never succeed if we try to go it alone. Our best efforts will be doomed to failure. We will be like a shaven Samson, acting as if all is well, but full of empty boasts, powerless and ineffective. There really is no substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit. Without Him we can do nothing, and although we may work, we will surely work in vain. This is what I need to pray for my church and for my pastor. It is this power I need in my life!