May 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6, NIV).

Devotional

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personal dignity imparts a pledge that the work he commences, he shall carry forward to a final and glorious completion. Because he is God, he will finish what he has begun.

Never forget that the believer's growth in his experience of the truth is just as much the work of the eternal Spirit as was the first production of divine life in the soul. The believer's dependence on the Holy Spirit by no means ceases at conversion.

There are after-stages along which it is the Holy Spirit's office to conduct the believing soul. He gives deeper views of sin's exceeding sinfulness. He imparts a more thorough knowledge of self. He grants more enlarged discoveries of Christ. He enables a more simple and habitual resting upon the finished work of Christ. He works increasing conformity to the Divine image. He gives daily victory over indwelling sin. He is constantly fitting the saints in light for their inheritance. The one and self-same Spirit who first breathed into his soul the breath of spiritual life works all of these.

The believer cannot advance a step without the Holy Spirit. He cannot achieve a victory without the Holy Spirit. He cannot exist a moment without the Holy Spirit. As he needed him at the first, so he needs him all through his journey.

And so he will have him. He will have him until the soul passes over Jordan. To the last ebbing of life, the blessed Spirit will be his Teacher, his Comforter, and his Guide. To the end, he will testify of Jesus. To the last, he will apply the atoning blood. And to the very entrance of the happy saint into glory, the eternal Spirit of God—ever faithful and ever loving—will be present to whisper words of pardon, assurance, and peace.

O Holy Spirit! Please build us up in the infinite dignity of your person and in the surpassing greatness and glory of your work!

To thee, O Comforter Divine
for all thy grace and pow'r benign,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, whose faithful love had place
in God's great covenant of grace,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, whose faithful voice doth win
the wand'ring from the ways of sin,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, whose faithful pow'r doth heal,
enlighten, sanctify, and seal,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, whose faithful truth is shown
by ev'ry promise made our own,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, our Teacher and our Friend,
our faithful Leader to the end,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, by Jesus Christ sent down,
of all his gifts the sum and crown,
sing we Alleluia.

To thee, who art with God the Son
and God the Father ever One
sing we Alleluia.

(Frances R. Havergal, 1872)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.