November/December 2016

Every Christian longs that they would know more of the power of the Holy Spirit at work their life. Without the Spirit, we are powerless.

Unfortunately, Christians often disagree as to what we should expect from the Spirit. How does he work in our lives and in the church and the world? That’s why we’ve dedicated several articles in this issue to the Spirit’s work.

We begin by exploring how the Spirit ordinarily works in and through the believer to fulfil God’s purposes in our lives. The Spirit loves to change us, and make us more like Christ. We then look at an example of the extraordinary work of the Spirit – in a nation you may not be all that familiar with.

Stuart Olyott expertly guides us through the question, What is praying in the Spirit? and there are few questions as vital if we are to know the Spirit’s power in our lives. We hear from Sheila Stephen on how the Spirit has worked in her life, before Jonathan Thomas opens up the vital link between the Holy Spirit and God’s Word.

Thankfully, longing for the work of the Spirit never means we can (or should) do nothing until God visits us in power. So there’s plenty more in the magazine, too – a look at evangelism through ideas as diverse as sport and apologetics, testimony about the way God has grown one rural village church, insight into the life of Christmas Evans, the one-eyed preacher of Wales, and much more.

Our prayer is that this edition of the magazine will be used by God to deepen your longing to know more of the Spirit’s work, and that through it God will continue to make you more like Christ. In other words, we pray that that it will rouse you to praise and stir you into action.

We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might… and giving joyful thanks to the Father.

(Col 1:9-12)