“20-2-Seek” means twenty days to seek God. This guide is a great tool to help you spend time with God and learn more about Him. By using 20-2-Seek, you will learn what it looks like to have special times with God on a daily basis.
God wants to have a relationship with YOU and it is important to have personal time with God so you can understand what He is like. Once you have gone through the twenty days, you will either be able to branch off on your own with God, or find another devotional in the app to help you along.
Each day of 20-2-Seek, you will be presented with a prayer to pray, verses to read, and a lesson. These are the basic essentials. If you want to go deeper into the topic presented, you can read through the “Going Deeper” section. You will also be able to read about Christianity, as well as traditions in the church and why we do them.
If you have questions about anything, make sure you talk to your parents, small group leader, youth pastor, or contact us. I hope this book helps you in your pursuit of knowing Jesus.
Blessings to you,
Joshua Knudsen
Day 6- Who Is The Holy Spirit?
“…the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father…” John 15:26
Pray: Ask the Holy Spirit to show you who He really is.
Read: John 14:15-18; John:16:5-15
You may have heard of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost but never really had an understanding of who or what He is or does. First, 1 John 5:7 Says, “…there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” (parentheses mine) This union is called the Trinity, or the Godhead. Sounds kinda weird right? What this means is that there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and they are One. We do not believe in 3 Gods but in One God in three persons.
What?! I know it’s kind of crazy to understand and there isn’t a perfect way to describe it, but an example would be an egg. You have the shell, the yolk, and the white. They all are different in texture, feel and taste but yet they make one egg. So, we have three persons but one God.
The Holy Spirit is not just a power or a force, He is God. He is divine in every way and worthy of our love and praise just as the Father and Jesus are. The role of the Holy Spirit is exciting for you and me. Jesus was so excited for us before He returned to heaven (see Going Deeper) because He knew What the Holy Spirit would do for us. When Jesus went to heaven and the Holy Spirit came to live with us and inside of us He came to be our helper!
-Stop- When you accept Christ into your life, it is the Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of you! The Spirit inside of us is what makes us new and children of God. Romans 8:15-17
According to John 16:5-15 and John 14:15-18 which you read, the Holy Spirit is here to:
Guide us- He teaches us what is right and what is wrong and shows us who Jesus is. He also shows us the plans and the desires of the Father.
Convict us- He shows you when you have disobeyed God so that you can repent and have a relationship with the Father again.
Helper- He helps us by giving us strength, comfort, power and by never leaving us. He is the answer to loneliness!
-Try this- thank the Holy Spirit for being there with you. Think about the fact that He’s there with you and next to you. Thank Him for loving you and speaking to you. Ask Him to help you hear His voice more clearly.
Going deeper-Read John 7:37-39; Numbers 11:25; Ezekiel 36:26 see what a great role the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of people.
-Why do we do that?- Why do we take communion? In Luke 22:14-20 Jesus did the famous “Last Supper” with His disciples. The bread represented His body and the wine His blood. He told the disciples to take communion in remembrance of His sacrifice. When we take it, we remember His death and we stand on the power of His blood.
Pray for- Your parents, teachers, and pastors. Ask God to bless them and give them the wisdom to lead.
Day 7-Baptism of the Spirit
Read: Matthew 3:11; Joel 2:28; Acts 1:4,5
Ask Holy Spirit to speak to you and open your eyes to the truth.
Many heroes from comic books are ordinary people who became extraordinary because of some outside force. The Green Lantern had the ring, Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider, and Daredevil was blinded but gained heightened senses. The Holy Spirit has been giving people the power to do supernatural things for thousands of years. Hundreds of years before Jesus came God was telling the people of a time when the Spirit would be available to all people. They would be filled and empowered to do great things for God.
In Acts 2 the fulfillment of the promise was finally given. Jesus told the disciples to wait in the city of Jerusalem until THE PROMISE of the baptism of the Holy Spirit came to them. (Acts 1) They did and when the Holy Spirit came they were given great power to do supernatural things like miracles, healings, speak in a spiritual language, and, most importantly, tell people boldly about Jesus! The great news is that God wants the same thing for you. The Promise is for you also!
-Stop- Baptize comes from the Greek word baptizo which means to submerge or overwhelm.
God wants to completely cover you with the Holy Spirit and give you the power you need to reach the destiny He has for you and, more importantly, to glorify God and bring people to Jesus.
Holy Spirit gives you the power to:
Defeat sin- He gives us the strength to overcome temptation! Romans 8:2,13
Strengthen others- Holy Spirit Gives you special gifts that you are to use to encourage others. Read about these different gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. Ask your parent, pastor, or youth pastor to explain them to you if you don’t understand what they are.
Strengthen ourselves- The Holy Spirit will give you power when you feel weak. Ephesians 3:16
Tell people about Jesus- Holy Spirit gives you boldness and courage to tell people about the love and greatness of Jesus. Just ask Him for help. Acts 1:8
-Going Deeper- Read Joel 2:28; John 7:37-39; Acts 1:4-5 to see the promise of the Holy Spirit.
-Prayer- Ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you and empower you. (Ask your pastor, youth pastor, or parent to pray for you if you would like.) Pray for your friends who don’t know Jesus that they would come to know Him. Ask God for a better understanding of His love for you and others.
Day 8-Walk It Out!
Pray: Ask God to speak to you from His Word, the Bible.
Read: Galatians 5:16-26
In the movie, The Emperor’s New Groove, Kronk, the villain’s minion, is deciding on whether or not He should kill Emperor Kuzco. Suddenly, a tiny angel and devil that look exactly like Him appear on either shoulder and begin to try to influence Him on what He should do. The devil is saying to kill him and the angel is saying not to. Back and forth they argue about what he should do until poor Kronk is overwhelmed with their bickering and tells them both to “Be gone!” Often this is how we feel when we are trying to make the right choice about something but we have the desire to do the wrong thing.
The Holy Spirit lives inside of you and will and can empower you to defeat your lust for sin and to help you do what is right.
-Stop- Lusting is not just desiring someone of the opposite sex, it is desiring the forbidden.
How do we defeat this horrible villain we call sin as it tempts us at every turn?! Fortunately, you have been enabled with superpowers because you have been filled with and baptized in the Holy Spirit! With His help you can fight off the urges and pressures you feel to do what you know is wrong and enjoy the blessings of doing what is right. But how?
What did Galatians 5:16 say? “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” The word "walk" in the Greek is peripateo. It means to regulate your life by. This means you should regulate your life based on the Sdpirit of God. Regulate means to control based on rules. The Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to you. You may feel that discomfort of the Spirit saying, “Don’t do that” or the push from inside saying, “Yes, do that!” This is the Spirit of God inside of you. When this happens, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the ability to obey and keep asking until you do.
Here are 4 ways to help you walk in the Spirit:
- Every morning and throughout the day ask Holy Spirit to fill you and empower you to obey Him. Ephesians 5:18 says to be filled with the Spirit. The thought here is to be filled over and over and over and over and over and…you get it.
- Read your Bible daily to learn about what God thinks about things so you can figure out what is right and wrong. (The Holy Spirit will never tell you to do something different than the Bible, so you most know what the Bible says to determine if what you’re hearing/feeling is Holy Spirit.
- Each day ask Holy Spirit to speak to you and teach you how to hear His voice.
- Fill yourself with good things. (Read Philippians 4:8)If you fill your heart and mind with the world you will be more likely to walk in the flesh than in the spirit.
-Going Deeper- Read Romans 8:1-17. Notice how, through the Spirit, you have power over sin.
-What is that?- What is the “flesh”? When you accept Christ, the Spirit comes to live inside of you. This is the real you. You are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) But also inside of you are the old desires to do wrong. This is what the Bible calls your “flesh” because it your natural nature instead of your supernatural spiritual nature.
-Prayer- Ask God to help you walk in the Spirit. Pray for wisdom for our state and national government officials. (Romans 13)
Day 9-Everyone Loves Gifts
Prayer: Ask the Spirit to reveal His gifts to you.
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Everyone likes gifts. When I was little I wanted a pony, well, a stallion actually. A black one with four white socks and a white star on his forehead…I never got him. As tragic as that is, the good news is that I have been given gifts even better than a horse! The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit gives us gifts so that we can help others and so we can show the power of God to a world that needs to know Jesus.
In the section of scripture you just read, Paul the Apostle tells the Corinthians many of the spiritual gifts we can receive. A spiritual gift is not the ability to do natural things better, but it is the supernatural ability given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is the manifestation or evidence that the Holy Spirit is working. As we learn to walk in the Spirit, listen to His voice, obey Him and give ourselves to Him more fully, we can be used by God more effectively.
-Stop- Supernatural means: beyond the visible or observable universe. It is above and beyond what we can see. The Holy Spirit gives us supernatural power and abilities; power that is beyond what we can do in the natural.
Below are some of those gifts and what they are.
V.8- Word of Wisdom: the Holy Spirit shows you the mind and desire of God for a specific situation. Also, showing you what to do in a specific situation.
- Word of Knowledge: When God shows you information about a person or an event so that you can pray for them or help in their situation.
V.9- Healings: the ability to pray and see people healed of sickness and disease. God wants to do this through His children.
-Faith: the ability to believe God for something despite many obstacles.
V.10- Miracles: the Holy Spirit working beyond what is natural for God’s glory. (Like when Jesus fed over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish.)
- Prophecy: the Holy Spirit shows you the heart (thoughts and desires) of God so that you can comfort someone, strengthen them or help them.
-Discerning of spirits: God allows you to see in the spirit world and understand what is happening in a situation or a person’s motives.
- Different tongues: the Holy Spirit speaks through you in a language you have never learned. It can be for everyone to hear and be helped when there is an interpreter or just for you to speak to God and it makes your spirit stronger. Remember it is what the Holy Spirit speaks through you, not what you make up.
-Interpretation of tongues: when the Holy Spirit tells you what is being said when someone speaks in tongues in a public setting so that everyone can be blessed by what God is saying.
These gifts are given to us through the Holy Spirit. When we use them it is not something to brag about or be prideful. The Spirit will often give us the ability to use any of these gifts in a certain situation. We simply need to be willing and ready to obey and be used by God and for His glory.
-Going Deeper- Finish reading 1 Corinthians 12. Think about how the body of Christ is to work together. Unity is a big deal to God. Also, you will see more of the gifts given to us by our Loving King. If you want to learn what gifts you may have, talk with one of your leaders at church!
-Why Do We Do That?- What does “Hallelujah” mean? It means “Praise the LORD!”
-Prayer- Pray for God to show you more of Him. Pray for the ability to be bold and help telling people about Jesus. Pray for your unsaved friends.
Day 10-Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
Pray: Sit quietly for 1 minute and ask the Holy Spirit to let you feel His love. (Go longer if you want.)
Read: Galatians 5:16-26
There is a meal at IHOP called the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity. It has bacon, eggs, and pancakes topped with your choice of blueberries, strawberries, apples, or bananas. In my personal and professional food eating opinion it is delicious. I love the fruit topping…I’m getting hungry. Anyway, in the verses you just read the Bible describes what it looks like when we live by the flesh: hatred, jealousy, selfishness, and much more. But it also tells us what it looks like when we walk in the Spirit and allow Him to change us. Verse 22 and 23 say that the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.
Fruit is commonly known as the tasty, juicy plant that we eat and drink. Here the word fruit means something that is produced. Like “the fruit of your labor”.
The fruit of the Spirit, is the character traits produced in you by the Spirit. You do not work your way into these things but allow the Spirit of God to develop them in you over time. How does this work?
Let’s say you struggle with anger and when things don’t go your way you explode in anger. Now that you are walking in the Spirit you ask Him to help you and show when you have sinned in this area. The next time you have an explosion of anger and you feel the conviction of the Spirit telling you that you were wrong, you repent and ask Him for strength and self-control. The next time you feel an outburst about to happen you ask the Holy Spirit to help you have SELF-CONTROL. Over time you will see the Holy Spirit produce the fruit of self-control in you. Don’t give up! It is the Spirit’s job to make you all that God has called you to be. He will do it.
-Try This- Ask God to show you where you need more fruit of the Spirit in your life and ask Him to do it.
-Going Deeper- Read Philippians 1:6. What does it mean to you to know that God will continue to work on you until He returns to take you to heaven? Read Romans 8:39. What does it say God predestined you to? To be like Jesus! Ask Jesus to make you more like Him.
-Why Do We Do That?- Why do we hold hands when we pray? This is a sign of unity. God loves unity. In John 17 Jesus’ prayer was that we would be unified. We hold hands to show this.