My friends, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Eternity is at stake. Are you living a life that is pleasing to God, or are you following your own path? Perhaps now is the time to return to Him. Begin or rekindle your relationship with Jesus today.

God has given us the greatest Gift of all—His Son, who died on the cross and rose again so that we can know Him personally and spend eternity with Him in heaven: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15, NIV). Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God, just as God the Father and God the Son are also God. We speak of them as the Trinity. You ask me to explain the Trinity. Our minds can but dimly grasp these great spiritual facts, because we are finite and God is infinite. However, a Holy Spirit-filled life has a lot to do with your effectiveness as an evangelist for the cause of Christ. If you are someone who truly wants to reach the lost (a motivation all believers should share), you need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. If you have been witnessing to a friend from work, but live a sinful life indistinguishable from the nonbelievers around you, you are likely doing more harm than good for the Kingdom of God. Historians will probably call our era “the age of anxiety.” Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us. When we make anything else our goal, frustration and defeat are inevitable. Though we have less to worry about than previous generations, we have more worry. Though we have it easier than our forefathers, we have more uneasiness. Though we have less real cause for anxiety than our predecessors, we are inwardly more anxious. Calloused hands were the badge of the pioneer, but a furrowed brow is the insignia of modern man.

How do you know if you’re helping people or if they’re taking advantage of you? Read Billy Graham’s response. Are you thankful no matter what? Look at the story of a man who had every right to be bitter—but wasn’t. Thanksgiving—the giving of thanks—to God for all His blessings should be one of the most distinctive marks of the believer in Jesus Christ. We must not allow a spirit of ingratitude to harden our heart and chill our relationship with God and with others. “Thanksgiving—the giving of thanks—to God for all His blessings should be one of the most distinctive marks of the believer in Jesus Christ.” But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

I don’t know what trials you may be facing right now, but God does, and He loves you and is with you by His Holy Spirit. Cultivate a spirit of thankfulness even in the midst of trials and heartaches. Thank God Especially for His Salvation in Jesus Christ And yet in the midst of those trials we can thank God, because we know that He has promised to be with us and that He will help us. We know that He can use times of suffering to draw us closer to Himself: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2-3, NIV). ”Not one of us is exempt from some kind of trouble, … and yet in the midst of those trials we can thank God, because we know that He has promised to be with us and that He will help us.” Like Stephen, being filled with the Holy Spirit needs to be a way of life for us. Too often we only want to be filled with the Spirit on Sundays, and as soon as we leave our church service, we return to our worldly routines of mundane tasks, acceptable temptations or angry confrontations.Do you let others know that you appreciate them and are thankful for them? The Christians in Corinth were far from perfect, but Paul began his first letter to them by saying, “I always thank God for you” (1 Corinthians 1:4, NIV). When a group of believers (whom Paul had never met) came out to greet him as he approached Rome, we read that “at the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged” (Acts 28:15, NIV). Thank God for those who touch your life. Thank God in the Midst of Trials and Even Persecution The fact of the matter is that in our fast-paced society, with so many different distractions around every corner, it is easy to be filled with a worldly mindset and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. That, however, is no excuse. It is so easy to take people for granted, or even to complain and become angry because they do not meet our every wish. But we need to give thanks for those around us—our spouses, our children, our relatives, our friends and others who help us in some way. Are you constantly preoccupied with what you do not have? Or have you learned to thank God for what you do have? Thank God for the People in Your Life

The Bible teaches unmistakably that we can triumph over bereavement. The Psalmist said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Self-pity can bring no enduring comfort. The fact is, it will only add to your misery. And unremitting grief will give you little consolation in itself, for grief begets grief. Sorrow, or mourning, when it is borne in a Christian way, contains a built-in comfort. “Happy are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” There is comfort in mourning, because we know that Christ is with us. He has said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Suffering is endurable if we do not have to bear it alone; and the more compassionate the Presence, the less acute the pain. One of the best ways to get rid of discouragement is to remember that Christ is coming again. The most thrilling, glorious truth in all the world is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. When we look around and see pessimism on every side, we should remember the Bible is the only Book in the world that predicts the future. The Bible is more modern than tomorrow morning’s newspaper. The Bible accurately foretells the future, and it says that the consummation of all things shall be the coming again of Jesus Christ to this earth. If your life is dismal, depressed, and gloomy today, Christ can turn those dark clouds inside out. The sunlight of His love can still shine into the darkest part of your life. Separated from friends, unjustly accused, brutally treated—if ever a person had a right to complain, it was this man, languishing almost forgotten in a harsh Roman prison. But instead of complaints, his lips rang with words of praise and thanksgiving!The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. Finally, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will intercede for others (Acts 7:60). Stephen was falsely accused, falsely arrested, and was about to be stoned, and yet he prayed for those who were about to murder him. What compassion! The only way Stephen could do this was because he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Eternity Is at Stake When we come to Christ, it is not the end but the beginning of a whole new life! He is with us, and He wants to help us follow Him and His Word. It is the custom of many Christians to bow their heads in public places and give thanks for the food that has been placed before them. I have had scores of waiters and waitresses tell me that when we bowed our heads, it was the first time they had ever seen that happen in their restaurant. Thanksgiving is recognition of a debt that cannot be paid. We express thanks, whether or not we are able otherwise to reimburse the giver. When thanksgiving is filled with true meaning and is not just the formality of a polite “thank you,” it is the recognition of dependence.