The way we talk about the Holy Spirit today is far different than I remember it being 20+ years ago. Now, we acknowledge that the Spirit is alive and well…working in our world and in our lives.
I have been very happy to see that shift take place.
But we are still holding back.
The next needed shift is a move from belief in the Spirit to faith in the Spirit. From mental ascent to daily dependence…from agreement on a theory to living the reality.
The Holy Spirit needs to be leaned on for church/congregational direction and decision making. Don’t move forward if you don’t have a clear directive from the Spirit through mutual discernment and prayer on the part of the church leaders.
The conviction level is much higher if church leadership believes the Spirit gave the direction rather than just operating out of our own logic and “common sense”.
Last, if we want God-size results we must ask God for help and expect His help. Otherwise we just get human size results as part of human made decisions.
We have come a long way but we still have a long way to go. I hope and pray that 20 years from now what I am talking about has come to fruition…then we can truly be a Spirit-led body as Christ himself intended.
3 Responses
The indwelling spirit of Christ in his spiritual body is one of the main themes running from Genesis to Revelation- it is the mystery that the two shall be one flesh. We must eat his flesh, drink his blood and allow him to be our head.
Such a pity that we were raised hearing that the Spirit can only operate in the written Word- a denial of the fundamental truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
But we can’t ignore The Word. It’s life breathed. It corrects us. It gets to the heart of the matter. It divides our spirit and soul it get to the joints and marrow of who we are and who we are striving to be. It works in tandem. The Spirit speaks through The Word. Why do we see it as opposing things? My experience is when church leaders talk only of the spirit they are wanting to change or move away from what is in The Word. This concerns me. I agree with your writing. My issue is that I don’t see why it has to be seen as opposing. Why move away from scripture toward the Spirit? Hear The Word. Pray. And the Spirit will direct you. How do you know it’s the right thing to do? Go to The Word and the Spirit will speak to you. In tandem not separate and apart. I’m praying that disciples can be made, the church will grow in Spirit and in truth. (How do we know truth? The inspired Word of God.) I plan to study more on this subject as I engage in much prayer for the kingdom to grow.
Johna,
You make a great point! The Word is Christ! With great new tools like Esword and the Apostolic Bible Polyglot we are finally able to see significant institutional bias in all the early English translations. The Word is more focused on the restoration of the Garden, the restoration/resurrection of the bride Israel and the Gospel of the Kingdom than we could ever see before. The Old and New Testaments are a unity of thought and purpose.
My comments were intended to bring to mind “the Spirit is only in the Word” teaching that I grew up hearing and contrast that false paradigm to the indwelling Spirit that is so important in the Word. I share concerns over modern religion led by emotion and meeting the physical needs of man rather than being Word centered.
Thank you for responding!