The Year of The Holy Spirit

I woke up on January 2nd to the voice of the Lord encouraging me to read Ephesians 4. Being my favorite book in the Bible, Ephesians is one that I’m quite familiar with. But it was His gentle whisper that led me to believe He was about to disclose a secret from His heart to mine. Isn’t it always a joy to accept those tender invitations?

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I quickly flipped to Ephesians 4, and my eyes landed on this:

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“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say, ‘When He ascended into the heights, He led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to His people” (Ephesians 4: 3-8, emphasis added).

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There it was, almost perched in the text…a paradox I often feel called to contend for, steward, and bring forth – ONE and yet many, ONE and yet diversity, UNITY and yet a beautiful manifold expression.

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God began to breathe upon this text and whispered to me a cry of His heart that has also been a cry of mine for many years. But this time it is as if He is speaking specifically about THIS YEAR. NOW, is the time to look at the second part of this passage…the “However...”

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For years, I believe in order to contend for our unified faith and our singular calling to the Lord FIRST, not to individual giftings or callings, we have preached well that our first calling is to HIM, that there is ONE faith that unifies, the unifying faith of the Gospel, but it is time to move into the manifold expression of that faith that the Spirit alone authors and empowers. We have ONE FAITH, yes, ONE LORD, of course, ONE PRIMARY CALLING TO HIM, obviously, but when He comes and imparts HIMSELF, the personal giftings, callings, and unique graces that come are manifold and diverse.  We must invite, honor, celebrate and receive and believe for these unique giftings and expressions to come. If it truly is the Holy Spirit coming, He will pour Himself out uniquely.

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ONE LORD and ONE FAITH does not equal ONE EXPRESSION. This simply cannot be so. Jesus is coming back for a Bride that is WHOLE AND COMPLETE, lacking in nothing. He’s coming for a Body that doesn't have any missing limbs, yet, I fear in our preaching, we have at times preached ONE EXPRESSION, when we should rather be preaching ONE LORD and ONE GOSPEL and ONE SPIRIT who comes with gifts, authoring a wide variety of expressions.  “When our ONE LORD ascended, He gave GIFTS to men!”

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Why? The “why” is important. Why the unique giftings and callings? They are not for man to build a name for himself or revel in his “calling” but rather for the good of the whole. Ephesians 4 goes on to say that these gifts are designed to bring maturity, wholeness and a unity of faith to the Body. There it is! Our diversity of gifting is actually intended to bring unity and is necessary for the Body to actually grow into the “full and complete standard of Christ” (vv. 11-13). The “why” is simple…I need YOU to be exactly who God made YOU to be, so that you can fit perfectly into the whole and bring maturity and completion to the Body of Christ that is expanding and growing throughout the earth.

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So, what does this mean?

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This is what I am contending for and believing for in 2026, and I’m asking you to pray and believe with me… In all of our worship gatherings and Gospel nights and discipleship experiences, I believe that at the preaching of our ONE LORD and ONE FAITH, we will see the Holy Spirit pour Himself out in power, and we will see Him give gifts to people.

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Some will be gifted prophetically, some apostolically, some as pastors, and so on. We will see the Holy Spirit birth Himself in people, and we will see the unique Ephesians 2:10, pre-planned good works flowing through peoples’ lives. And then we will see God place these beautiful ones into the family of God, the Body of Christ, exactly where He wants them so that the “whole body fits together perfectly,” and “as each part does its own special work,” we will see an increasingly healthy Bride who is growing and “full of love” (Ephesians 4:16).

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May it be so in 2026, Lord. Let us see an outpouring of your Holy Spirit!

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