In his sermon entitled, "The Lord, the Giver of Life," Pastor Shawn invited us to explore how the Spirit gives life through encounter, formation, and mission, and how we can become more open to His presence and leading.
We invite you to spend the next five days reflecting and praying through this devotional based on that message.
We invite you to spend the next five days reflecting and praying through this devotional based on that message.
How to Use This Guide
Each day, begin by taking a slow breath. Let it remind you that the word for Spirit in both Hebrew and Greek is the word for breath and wind. Ask the Spirit to open your eyes and soften your heart before you read. After your reading, sit quietly for a moment before moving into the devotional. Resist the urge to rush. The goal is not to consume information but to encounter The Lord, the Giver of Life.
Each day, begin by taking a slow breath. Let it remind you that the word for Spirit in both Hebrew and Greek is the word for breath and wind. Ask the Spirit to open your eyes and soften your heart before you read. After your reading, sit quietly for a moment before moving into the devotional. Resist the urge to rush. The goal is not to consume information but to encounter The Lord, the Giver of Life.
Day 1: The Lord Who Is Already Here
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Genesis 28:10-17
Reflect: Jacob was not in a sanctuary. He was not in a moment of spiritual preparation. He was exhausted, displaced, and sleeping on a rock. Yet when he woke, his first response was not triumph but astonishment: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." What a statement! God was present before Jacob recognized it. The same is true for you today. In your most ordinary moment, your most unremarkable Tuesday, your most familiar and forgettable routine, the Lord is already there. The question is not whether He is present. The question is whether you are paying attention.
• Where in your daily life have you been assuming God is absent?
• What would change about how you move through your day if you genuinely expected to encounter God in ordinary moments?
• Is there a fear or a misaligned expectation that keeps you from recognizing His presence?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Try the Breath Prayer today. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, distracted, or disconnected, let that moment be a prompt. Pause, take a slow breath, and quietly say, "Come, Holy Spirit, I need you." Do this as many times as the day calls for it.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Genesis 28:10-17
Reflect: Jacob was not in a sanctuary. He was not in a moment of spiritual preparation. He was exhausted, displaced, and sleeping on a rock. Yet when he woke, his first response was not triumph but astonishment: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." What a statement! God was present before Jacob recognized it. The same is true for you today. In your most ordinary moment, your most unremarkable Tuesday, your most familiar and forgettable routine, the Lord is already there. The question is not whether He is present. The question is whether you are paying attention.
• Where in your daily life have you been assuming God is absent?
• What would change about how you move through your day if you genuinely expected to encounter God in ordinary moments?
• Is there a fear or a misaligned expectation that keeps you from recognizing His presence?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Try the Breath Prayer today. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, distracted, or disconnected, let that moment be a prompt. Pause, take a slow breath, and quietly say, "Come, Holy Spirit, I need you." Do this as many times as the day calls for it.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 2: The Spirit Who Forms You From the Inside Out
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Galatians 5:16-25
Reflect: Paul does not describe the fruit of the Spirit as something you manufacture through sheer effort or moral discipline. He describes it as something that grows. Fruit is the natural result of a living, rooted, nourished tree. You do not force an apple tree to produce apples; you tend to its roots, its soil, its water supply, and the fruit follows. The Spirit wants to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in you. But formation is not a solo project. It happens in community, in relationship, in the friction and grace of life shared with others. The Spirit forms us together.
• Which fruit of the Spirit feels most underdeveloped in your life right now?
• Is there a relationship or community in your life where the Spirit is currently doing formative work, even if it feels uncomfortable?
• What might it look like to cooperate with that work rather than resist it?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Identify a relationship in your life that is stretching you. Instead of approaching it today with the goal of resolving tension or being understood, approach it with a single question: "What is the Spirit trying to form in me through this?" Bring that question to the Lord in prayer before the interaction.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Galatians 5:16-25
Reflect: Paul does not describe the fruit of the Spirit as something you manufacture through sheer effort or moral discipline. He describes it as something that grows. Fruit is the natural result of a living, rooted, nourished tree. You do not force an apple tree to produce apples; you tend to its roots, its soil, its water supply, and the fruit follows. The Spirit wants to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in you. But formation is not a solo project. It happens in community, in relationship, in the friction and grace of life shared with others. The Spirit forms us together.
• Which fruit of the Spirit feels most underdeveloped in your life right now?
• Is there a relationship or community in your life where the Spirit is currently doing formative work, even if it feels uncomfortable?
• What might it look like to cooperate with that work rather than resist it?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Identify a relationship in your life that is stretching you. Instead of approaching it today with the goal of resolving tension or being understood, approach it with a single question: "What is the Spirit trying to form in me through this?" Bring that question to the Lord in prayer before the interaction.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 3: The Spirit Who Speaks Through What He Spoke
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and Colossians 3:14-17
Reflect: JScripture describes itself as God-breathed. That is not merely a theological statement about the origin of the Bible; it is an invitation into an ongoing encounter. The same Spirit who inspired the words of Scripture is the Spirit who breathes those words into your heart when you read them. This is why Paul can write in one letter, "be filled with the Spirit," and in another, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," and mean essentially the same thing. The Word and the Spirit are not rivals. They are partners. The more deeply you steep yourself in the story of God, the richer the picture the Spirit can paint in your life.
• Do you approach Scripture primarily as information to gather or as a place to encounter a Person?
• What could it look like to read the Bible as a communal act - either with people in your life, or in conversation with the broader community of saints across history?
• Has there ever been a passage of Scripture that the Spirit has used to speak to you in a specific and personal way? What was the circumstance?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Choose one passage of Scripture today and read it slowly, perhaps even a few times. Pay attention and even write down what stands out to you, what is hard to understand, anything that you sense may apply to you personally today. Offer these things to the Lord open-handedly, accepting that clarity may not come right away. That's okay. Carry the questions and conversation with the Lord into the rest of your day and week and see how He answers you over time.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and Colossians 3:14-17
Reflect: JScripture describes itself as God-breathed. That is not merely a theological statement about the origin of the Bible; it is an invitation into an ongoing encounter. The same Spirit who inspired the words of Scripture is the Spirit who breathes those words into your heart when you read them. This is why Paul can write in one letter, "be filled with the Spirit," and in another, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," and mean essentially the same thing. The Word and the Spirit are not rivals. They are partners. The more deeply you steep yourself in the story of God, the richer the picture the Spirit can paint in your life.
• Do you approach Scripture primarily as information to gather or as a place to encounter a Person?
• What could it look like to read the Bible as a communal act - either with people in your life, or in conversation with the broader community of saints across history?
• Has there ever been a passage of Scripture that the Spirit has used to speak to you in a specific and personal way? What was the circumstance?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Choose one passage of Scripture today and read it slowly, perhaps even a few times. Pay attention and even write down what stands out to you, what is hard to understand, anything that you sense may apply to you personally today. Offer these things to the Lord open-handedly, accepting that clarity may not come right away. That's okay. Carry the questions and conversation with the Lord into the rest of your day and week and see how He answers you over time.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 4: The Spirit Who Empowers the Witness
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: Acts 1:4-8 and Acts 2:1-21
Reflect: Jesus told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received power from on high. He did not send them out in their own strength, their own wisdom, or their own courage. He knew what they were made of. He had watched them scatter in fear on the night of his arrest. The power of the Holy Spirit is not a reward for the spiritually mature; it is a gift for the genuinely willing. Pentecost was not the end of the story; it was the beginning of one that is still being written. The same Spirit who fell on that upper room is the Spirit who wants to propel you into your workplace, your neighborhood, and your relationships this week.
• Is there an area of your life where fear has caused you to hold back from what you sense the Spirit is calling you toward?
• What would it mean practically for you to "hoist the sail" and make yourself available to the Spirit's movement this week?
• Do you think of the Spirit's power as something you access occasionally or something you are meant to remain continuously connected to?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Before you leave your home today, pause at the door. Take a breath. Pray something like this: "Spirit, I am stepping into your mission field. Lead me. Use me. Give me what I need as I need it." Then go, and pay attention.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: Acts 1:4-8 and Acts 2:1-21
Reflect: Jesus told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received power from on high. He did not send them out in their own strength, their own wisdom, or their own courage. He knew what they were made of. He had watched them scatter in fear on the night of his arrest. The power of the Holy Spirit is not a reward for the spiritually mature; it is a gift for the genuinely willing. Pentecost was not the end of the story; it was the beginning of one that is still being written. The same Spirit who fell on that upper room is the Spirit who wants to propel you into your workplace, your neighborhood, and your relationships this week.
• Is there an area of your life where fear has caused you to hold back from what you sense the Spirit is calling you toward?
• What would it mean practically for you to "hoist the sail" and make yourself available to the Spirit's movement this week?
• Do you think of the Spirit's power as something you access occasionally or something you are meant to remain continuously connected to?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Before you leave your home today, pause at the door. Take a breath. Pray something like this: "Spirit, I am stepping into your mission field. Lead me. Use me. Give me what I need as I need it." Then go, and pay attention.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Day 5: The Table, the Community, and the Fullness of God
Rest: Take 2 minutes of silence and invite God - Father, Son, and Spirit - to draw near to you in this time.
Read: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and Ephesians 5:15-21
Reflect: The Communion Table is not a ceremony of remembrance alone. It is a place of encounter, formation, and mission all at once. The indivisible Trinity - Father, Son, Spirit - who made you, who redeemed you, and who fills you are all present at this table. You receive bread and cup not merely as symbols but as a family meal, nourishment for the journey, and a proclamation to a watching world that death does not have the final word. The early church did not separate the gifts of the Spirit from the life of the gathered community. Encounter, formation, and mission were woven together every time they broke bread. They can be for you as well.
• Which of the three themes, encounter, formation, or mission, do you most need to lean into right now, and why?
• Do you feel like you lean more towards one side of these dualities - the Word and the Spirit, between theological depth and spiritual experience? If so, how could you pursue the fullness of both?
• As you look back over this five-day guide, do you notice any patterns or repeated themes? Where are you most clearly sensing the Spirit's presence?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Write a short prayer of surrender. Not a polished prayer, but an honest one. Tell God what you are afraid of, what you have been holding back, and what you want more of. Then close with something like: "Lord, I want all of you. Take all of me." Keep that prayer somewhere you will see it this week.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
Read: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and Ephesians 5:15-21
Reflect: The Communion Table is not a ceremony of remembrance alone. It is a place of encounter, formation, and mission all at once. The indivisible Trinity - Father, Son, Spirit - who made you, who redeemed you, and who fills you are all present at this table. You receive bread and cup not merely as symbols but as a family meal, nourishment for the journey, and a proclamation to a watching world that death does not have the final word. The early church did not separate the gifts of the Spirit from the life of the gathered community. Encounter, formation, and mission were woven together every time they broke bread. They can be for you as well.
• Which of the three themes, encounter, formation, or mission, do you most need to lean into right now, and why?
• Do you feel like you lean more towards one side of these dualities - the Word and the Spirit, between theological depth and spiritual experience? If so, how could you pursue the fullness of both?
• As you look back over this five-day guide, do you notice any patterns or repeated themes? Where are you most clearly sensing the Spirit's presence?
Pause and talk with the Lord honestly about all of the thoughts and feelings that arise in you as you reflect on this.
Make it Tangible: Write a short prayer of surrender. Not a polished prayer, but an honest one. Tell God what you are afraid of, what you have been holding back, and what you want more of. Then close with something like: "Lord, I want all of you. Take all of me." Keep that prayer somewhere you will see it this week.
Respond: Spend a moment thanking God for this time, invite Him to continue to speak throughout this day, and close by praying the "Our Father".
A Closing Word
The Holy Spirit is not a feeling to be chased or a force to be managed. He is a Person, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who has been building a family for two thousand years and is not finished yet. He is as close as your next breath. He is speaking through the Scriptures you have been reading this week. He is forming you in the community you belong to. And He is sending you out with gifts and power and love to be a blessing to the world around you.
Do not settle for a half-life with God. Hoist the sail.
The Holy Spirit is not a feeling to be chased or a force to be managed. He is a Person, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who has been building a family for two thousand years and is not finished yet. He is as close as your next breath. He is speaking through the Scriptures you have been reading this week. He is forming you in the community you belong to. And He is sending you out with gifts and power and love to be a blessing to the world around you.
Do not settle for a half-life with God. Hoist the sail.