1. The Holy Spirit gives us freedom from anything that tries to hinder our Godly progress. Paul wrote, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Cor. 3:17) Through the Almighty power of the Spirit of God we are able to overcome any problem that tries to inhibit us from accomplishing God’s will.
Application: Ask the Lord for greater liberty given by the Spirit to help you prevail over any critic, opposition or difficulty.
2. The Holy Spirit gives us grace to overcome people who oppose us and what we are working to accomplish. John wrote, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world." (I John 5:3,4)
Application: Ask the Lord to give you greater confidence in the Spirit’s power to help you overcome any opposition to His will.
3. The Holy Spirit delivers us from any oppressive authority that tries to control us. Powerful people often try to pretend that they have God like powers to control others. One day the Pharisees assembled in the Sanhedrin and said,
"Here is this man (Jesus) performing miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation...So from that day on they plotted to take his life." (John 11:48,53)
Application: Ask the Lord to give you the supernatural trust and obedience to persevere as Jesus did knowing that God can even the use the sinister plots of oppressors for His greater purposes.
4. The Holy Spirit hastens the progress of Christ’s church when people try to use delay tactics. Jesus knew something about procrastinators when He said,
"Do not say four more months and then comes the harvest. I tell you look on the fields, for they are white for harvesting." (John 4:35)
Application: Ask the Lord to help you find people who will refuse to be discouraged by the many procrastinators in your organizations. Remember, the Spirit of God works on God’s time table not on man’s scheduling.
5. The Holy Spirit draws out people who are naturally withdrawn. Some people refuse to cooperate with change by withdrawing into solitude, isolation or intransigence. Paul wrote,
"For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household... In Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." (Eph. 2:18,22)
Application: Ask the Lord to use the Spirit of God to draw out people that are naturally shy, withdrawn or hesitant to speak out for His purposes. The Spirit needs many contributors in the body of Christ to accomplish all of His plans.
6. The Holy Spirit deals with perfectionists who are often stumbling blocks to God’s will. It is a sad fact that many people are so interested in doing little things right that they fail to accomplish God’s bigger purposes like evangelism, church planting or showing love for one another. The Pharisees often tried to use their perfectionism to trap Jesus. They said,
"Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Jesus, knowing their evil intent said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?... Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s." (Matt. 22:18,21)
Application: Ask the Lord for the wisdom and tact to deal appropriately with perfectionists as Jesus did.
7. The Holy Spirit provides wisdom to respond to questioners and fault finders who try to hinder God’s will. One day the Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating food with ’unclean hands’. Jesus said, ’Isaiah was right about you hypocrites; as it is written:’
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’"(Mark 7:6,7)
Application: Ask the Lord to help you gain the wisdom, tact and self-control to respond appropriately to fault finders and questioners
8. The Holy Spirit helps fight your battles with people who want to use you and your organization for their own selfish ambitions. One day the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and asked a favor of him.
"Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." Jesus said, ’Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?... The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt. 20:20-28)
Application: Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom, tolerance and diplomatic skill to handle self-promoters.
9. The Holy Spirit gives you the focus on Christ when those around you try to pressure you into pleasing men rather than God. Jesus said,
"Everything the Pharisees do is done for men to see; they love the place of honor at banquets and they love to be greeted in the market places and to have men call them Rabbi. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt. 23:5,7,12)
Application: Ask God for the ability to focus on God and His promises when people try to pressure you into becoming a man pleaser.
10. The Holy Spirit gives you peace, self-control and self-discipline when complainers try to upset you. One day the disciples woke Jesus and said, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown? Jesus said,
"Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? He said, Hush be still and the waves became perfectly calm." (Mark 4:37-40)
Application: Ask God to give you an extra measure of the Spirit’s peace, self-control and self-discipline when you are being pressured by complainers.
