So be strong and courageous!…For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)
Acts 1:4-5
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with[a] water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
After Jesus died and came back to life, the plan wasn’t for Him to stay on earth forever. He needed to go and be with God. Jesus didn’t leave the disciples alone. Before He died on the cross, Jesus had promised them the Holy Spirit, who we also call the Helper.
God is three persons in one God. He is God the Father, God the Son—who is Jesus—and God the Holy Spirit.
One day, Jesus will return to earth to finish bringing the Kingdom of God. Until then,the Holy Spirit would always be with the disciples. The disciples didn’t know when Jesus would return. However, they were given the important job of sharing the Good News as they waited.
The disciples couldn’t do this alone, so the Holy Spirit gave them power. The Helper would be there to help them with everything.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is for all disciples. A disciple is anyone who follows Jesus. When we start following Jesus, we receive the gift of the Helper and God is always with us, and we are never alone.
If you admit that you’ve sinned against God, believe in Jesus and what He did to save you, and choose to follow Him, you can be saved from your sin. When God saves us, He gives us the gift of the Helper. The Holy Spirit gives us power. He gives us power to do hard things, shows us what to do and where to go, and comforts us in sad times.
What is a disciple, and how can we become disciples of Jesus?
How does it help you to know that the Holy Spirit—the Helper—is always with you?
Thank You, God, for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our Helper. We know that You are always with us, and Your Holy Spirit gives us power to do hard things, shows us what to do and where to go, and comforts us. We love You and want to grow closer to You each day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So be strong and courageous!…For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)
Acts 2:42-47
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper[, and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
The early believers—people who followed Jesus—gathered, ate together, prayed, and worshiped together. They sold everything they had and shared it with those who needed help.
These believers had the Holy Spirit—the Helper who is always with people who follow Jesus. The Helper was helping them do what Jesus told them to do—to make more disciples. He was showing these believers how to love God, how to love each other, and how to love people in need. He also gave them peace, joy, and comfort.
When we follow Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit with us too, and like the early believers, we can share the Good News of Jesus with others. When we spend time with our friends, we can talk about all the amazing things that God has done for us and tell them about who Jesus is. We can serve others like the people in our story. We can worship anytime and anywhere, give our time and money to people who need help, and be good encouragers. We can do all of this with help from the Holy Spirit. We never do anything alone because God is always with us!
Whether we worship God by ourselves in our room, or together with friends, God is with us. When we help someone in need, God is with us! When we say kind things and encourage people who are sad, God is with us! God has given followers of Jesus the Holy Spirit to always help us.
Who is the Holy Spirit, and how does He help us?
What would someone learn about Jesus by watching how you treat others?
Thank You, God, for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our Helper. We know that You are always with us, and Your Holy Spirit gives us power to do hard things, shows us what to do and where to go, and comforts us. We love You and want to grow closer to You and share Your Good News with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So be strong and courageous!…For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)
Acts 8:29-31; 35-38
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage. 30 Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading? 31 The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
35 So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. 36 As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?” 38 He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
The Holy Spirit—the Helper God gives to people who follow Jesus—spoke to Philip and told him to go to the man in the carriage. The man was confused; he didn’t understand what he was reading. God decided to use Philip to help the man understand, and the Holy Spirit told Philip what to do. Philip explained to the man that the story was talking about Jesus. He shared the Good News of Jesus dying on the cross and coming back to life to save us from our sin. And the man believed.
Philip heard the Holy Spirit ask him to do something and obeyed. If we follow Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit. There will be times when the Holy Spirit asks us to do something. We might not hear an actual voice, but in our hearts, we can feel that we need to take action. Other times, we will know in our hearts that we shouldn’t do something.
Sometimes we might not want to listen to the Holy Spirit because we are unsure if it is really Him. One way we can be sure it’s the Holy Spirit is by reading the Bible. If what we want or what we think we should do goes against what God says in the Bible, we can know that it is not the Holy Spirit. We can also ask other Jesus-followers we trust to help us know if it’s the Holy Spirit.
Because Philip obeyed the Holy Spirit, he was able to tell the man about Jesus. And because the man heard the Good News, he began following Jesus and was baptized! The Holy Spirit told Philip what to do, and He was also with him the whole time. Whenever we are nervous or scared, we can remember that we are never alone. God is always with us!
God loves us so much, and He is always with us. If you follow Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit to teach you and help you. And if you don’t follow Jesus yet, you can always ask your parents to learn how.
Why is it important for us to see if what we think or feel agrees with what the Bible says?
How can the way you obey God help others learn about Jesus?
Thank You, God, for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our Helper. We know that You are always with us, and Your Holy Spirit gives us power to do hard things, shows us what to do and where to go, and comforts us. We love You and want our words and actions to help others learn about Your Good News. In Jesus’ name, Amen.