Did You Receive the Gift from Jesus?

Did You Receive the Gift from Jesus?

Star Date: 05.28.2025

Before Jesus returned to the Father, He made a promise—not just to His disciples standing on the Mount of Olives, but to us. To everyone who would follow Him, generation after generation.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”
—John 14:16–17

This was the gift: the Holy Spirit.

Not just a presence. Not just a comforter. Not just a guide.
A person of the Trinity who would dwell within us.
To empower. To remind. To convict. To comfort. To strengthen.

I know this is true—not just because Scripture tells me, but because I’ve experienced it.

Some time ago, I was on a three-day retreat. Our pastor announced there would be a special “laying on of hands” prayer service. Before it began, I sat with a small group of men and confessed a truth I had been carrying for years: I couldn’t forgive. The wounds I carried were too deep. The pain was too heavy. I told them I felt helpless—chained to the past.

But something happened during that prayer service.
I can’t fully explain it… only that I was caught up. As the hands of others rested on me in prayer, I felt engulfed—completely overtaken—by something not of this world. A holy trance. When I finally opened my eyes, the congregation was nearly empty. The lights were off.

And something else was gone, too:
My grudges.

The heavy burden of bitterness I had been carrying for years…
Vanished.
Lifted.
Healed.

Not by my own doing.
But by the gift Jesus promised.
The Holy Spirit.

So I ask you today:

Have you received this gift?

Not “do you understand it all” or “have you earned it.”
But have you opened your heart to Him?

“The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
—Acts 2:39

That includes you. That includes me. That includes today.

If you’ve felt weak, weary, uncertain, or stuck, maybe the next step isn’t to try harder but to receive deeper.
The Holy Spirit isn’t a self-help program or a spiritual upgrade.
He is the very presence of Jesus with us and within us—empowering us to do what we could never do on our own.

So today, I invite you to pray this with me:

“Jesus, thank You for Your promise. I receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Fill me. Lead me. Teach me. Strengthen me. I want everything You have for me—today, and always. Amen.”

You are not alone. You are not forgotten.
You are gifted—with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

Let Him in.
Let Him speak.
Let Him move.

Because He’s already here.
And He’s been waiting for you to say yes.

—Michael
Live Long and Prosper

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Romans 8:26–27 

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”