The Spirit at Work in Believers' Lives, Part 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pray in the Spirit at all times

A key part of a believer's spiritual armor is prayer - prayer in the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 speaks about this defensive/offensive weapon in our spiritual armory, "Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints."

Let us pray.

Holy Spirit God, attend our prayers and make this house and our hearts Your home. Lord, descend with all your gracious powers, we pray, Holy Spirit come!

Come as light, teach us, and reveal our need – our hidden and secret weaknesses show us. Stir within us a desire to have peace with You, to turn from darkness and to become light. Lord lead us in that narrow path of life where all the righteous go.

Come Holy Spirit fire! Purge our soul with your Spirit-wrapped Gospel. Cause our hearts to burn with desire to know You and worship You in truth, so that our soul and body may be a holy offering in our Redeemer’s name. O Spirit, shape us to look and be like Christ, and empower us to do His will always.

O Spirit - Come as the dew and refresh us with a fresh anointing of You. O Emmanuel – Spirit of God with us and in us, may Your life-creating power move freely in this place and through us, and unify us in Your purpose.

Holy Spirit come as the dove of true peace founded in Your precious love. Produce in us Your Love, so that it flows into us deeply and teaches us how to be a humble community ready and eager to do Your will and glorify Your name in our thoughts, in our words, and in our deeds.  May You draw us nearer to the Father and the Son, may you speak your Word into us and sanctify us with your truth.

O Holy Spirit, come. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

                                                         Adapted from Hymn #509, 1982 Hymnal.

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 6

~~~~~~~~~In The Last Days, I Shall Pour My Spirit Out on Men and Women and They Will Prophesy

Acts 2 - the account of that first Pentecost two thousand years ago following Jesus' ascension to heaven - the startling outpouring and indwelling of The Holy Spirit on worshipers at Jerusalem recalls God's promise from Joel that He would bathe believers - men, women, sons and daughters, in His Holy Spirit and empower them to prophesy and carry out God's will. When believers became moved by the Spirit, lives were changed and people were saved.

Our last story also comes from Laurie Kehler's book, This Outside Life - Finding God in the Heart of Nature, chapter 5, "Wind". She ends the chapter with a story from 1949 in The Hebrides. She describes The Hebridean islands as a "remote, wild, and wooly place" located off the northwest coast of Scotland. She says that they are "battered by the bitter North Atlantic weather," causing those who live in the islands to be of resilient character and not easily impressed. Yet, she talks about two senior citizens - sisters - who had "soft hearts." They had lived in their community during their lives and were at that time in their 80s - one of them blind, and had seen their community change and not for the better. The youth were drinking and partying as a lifestyle. The once Christian community was living outside of who they were - the sisters remarking that they had even abandoned the practice of regarding the sabbath day. Compared to today, Laurie notes, the 1949 era community seems kind of not so bad, maybe even typical. "But," she adds, "that doesn't mean it didn't concern God." 

Being stirred and moved by He who is in them, the sisters began praying in earnest. These elderly women would get down on their 80+ year-old knees twice a week from 10pm to 2am and pray for God to restore the people in the community. Just two old women who in the scheme of things were powerless. Yet they believed and trusted God to act.

And act He did. He poured out His Spirit upon that community in an awesome way. Laurie says that "people who had never darkened the doors of a church" were now compelled to come at all hours. These revived believers would worship hours at a time (and we balk when our service goes over 90 minutes!). The church would be filled to the rafters with persons at three o'clock in the morning, and those who couldn't fit into the small building worshiped outside. She says that even people gathered "in the fields or walking along the road" were overcome by the presence of God. Even those who were unable to travel to church were bathed with the Holy Spirit. (Like in the camp in the wilderness as recorded in Numbers 11:16-29, when God poured out His Spirit and anointed the leadership) The work of the Spirit in the community was true revival, restoration, and sanctification. Their lifestyles changed willingly, they repented and returned to the God who saves, and the results were in closing of the bars and changed habits, behaviors, and commitment to God's purpose. Some members of the community even became missionaries or 'ambassadors' of God's grace throughout the world.

Laurie tells that the minister who was called to preach when the Spirit was changing hearts and minds confessed that he had nothing to do with bringing revival to the island, that God the Holy Spirit was the One moving in the community. He reports, that "he knew it was God's work, not his. He states, 'The Spirit of God was moving in such a way that I couldn't preach. I just stood and gazed upon the wondrous movings of God.'"

The people of the Hebrides were not clergy people, they were not Bible scholars, no – they were teenagers, they were young adults, they were middle-aged adults, they were elderly people living from day to day. Just regular people. But upon being filled and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they willingly surrendered to the awesome work He had purposed to do in their lives, and in the lives of countless others around the world because of the obedience of the Hebridean people to the Spirit’s call.

Can God the Holy Spirit move in our lives like He did in the lives of first century Christians? Like He did in the lives of the Ten Boom sisters? Like He did in the wealthy businessman’s life? Like He does in the lives of the pastors and Christians under trials and persecution? Like He did in the lives of the wayward community in The Hebrides?

As He has in the lives of persons in our own worship community?

His promise is to lavish the Father’s children with love and spiritual riches beyond our ability to comprehend, yet He will not force His way. Now seriously, pause and think.

 But what if many, if not most, within a worship community like ours were to invite the Spirit into their hearts and humble themselves like Jesus did in willing surrender to the Spirit’s ministry, what if? Can you just imagine what He could do in such a community as that?   

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 5

~~~~~~~~~~~You Will Do Greater Works than These When the Spirit Comes Upon You

John 14:12-17 assures us that we will be empowered through Christ and the Spirit to do great works in Christ's name. Verse 12 says: " the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." 

Christian author Laurie Kehler, in her book, “This Outside Life--Finding God in the Heart of Nature,” in chapter 5, talks about Jesus’ reference to the wind in speaking about the Holy Spirit as recorded in John 3:5-8, as well as the Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost described in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2. She says with regard to the acts of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in individual Christians’ lives, “Our Western minds are uncomfortable with things we cannot explain or control… we think that if we cannot wrap our minds around something completely and put a tidy label on it, it must not be true.” 

She goes on to say that she had only been a Christian a few years when this man named Rick had just returned from the mission field in Africa. As he was telling his accounts of what took place there, many persons within listening distance edged farther away. But Laurie got closer. "Rick was saying, 'It’s incredible! The blind are seeing and the lame are really walking!'” The listening crowd became even more thin. He was reporting on events and circumstances in villages where he had been. To his surprise, and despite "his pre-conceived notions about theology and the r God moves, he was a witness to the movement of the Holy Spirit and the healing power of Jesus’ name." Laurie continues, "It didn’t matter how he thought things should be like in the kingdom of God or what his theology was. What mattered was the Spirit was moving with or without him. Yes, the wind blows wherever it pleases!"

In another story, a woman named Suzanne on vacation with a group of Christian travelers happened upon a village. The people of the village asked them, “Are you Christians?” The travelers replied yes, and the villagers said, “Oh good. We will get the sick now.” The travelers looked back and forth at each other in "shock and surprise," and "a lot of discomfort." The villagers lined up and said, “You can pray now and we can be healed, right?” Suzanne confesses that they did not know what to do, and that their faith was not a whole lot, "but with their little bit of faith, they started placing hands on people and prayed for them." As she is recalling this years later, she says she is "still in shock, as it was so surreal and out of our control. It wasn’t about what we said or did – it was all about the power of Jesus’ name. We prayed for those people and they were healed. Right before our eyes."

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Not by Power, Nor by Might, But by My Spirit, Says the Lord

Christians do spiritual battle every day in many ways. Therefore God, in Ephesians 6 commands believers to put on spiritual armor, the protection of the Holy Spirit daily because, as verse 12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” John 14:16, 17a, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth…” 

In Sudan a few years ago, several church leaders and pastors had come together, and during their worship rebels came in and captured and beat them, dragging them off to the bush where they could do their evil deeds under cover. However, they did not know the Lord and His love for His anointed ones! From out of nowhere a swarm of wild bees came and attacked the soldiers while the imprisoned pastors looked on. The bees never came near the believers, but instead chased after the soldiers as they ran away, allowing the pastors to free themselves and escape. 

Through yielding to the Holy Spirit, we, too, will see God’s power and authority, as Zechariah 4:6 promises, “Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.”  

You can hear of this miraculous deliverance on youtube – search for Sudan – A Swarm of Wild Bees.

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Putting on Christ

Romans 13:14 says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Colossians 3:5 instructs “Put to death therefore, whatever in you is earthly…these are the ways [the lifestyles] you once followed.” And John 3:5 is clear: ”Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.”

There was a gentleman whose life was spent 110% with the business that made him wealthy, powerful, and arrogant. He engaged in ruthless practices just enough within the law to achieve success. And by the standards of many he really was a very successful man, even though on the inside his heart was not right. He was living what some of us might call “the dream.” He was kind of like the immoral businessmen in shows like “Mad Men.”

But–God had purposed from before time to make him one of His children. It was not because the man was smart, looked good in a suit, or because of his impressive resumé. No, it was God’s grace being worked out through the Holy Spirit that would cause the man to become aware of his sinful life and pride, and the need for God’s forgiveness. The Spirit created in him the desire to repent and bow down before God’s throne of grace. In that moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit sealed him for God. The change he sensed in himself was powerful and compelling.

When he came to church on the day of his baptism (his church immerses believers in a baptismal pool), he chose not to wear a baptism robe for the ceremony. Instead, he chose to be baptized in one of his ‘power suits’ because for him it no longer held the power and significance of his former life. He wanted to die to that former self and put off ungodly practices such as greed, idolatry, and immorality – all those things he associated with his past life, taking them down into the baptismal waters to show the change the Spirit had created in him. And then to be raised up from the water to show he was being raised to new life, reborn spiritually and clothed instead with Christ. Only the Spirit of God can raise us from spiritual death to new life in Christ, and testify to our hearts that we are God’s.

This man was not a priest or special clergy – he was like any person in our family, in our jobs or schools who is in need of the Savior. A businessman who would come to know true wealth in Christ. Romans 8:11: “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you; He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.”

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You

John 14:18a,26 says “I will not leave you orphaned…The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all I have said.” … 
Our first story comes from The Hiding Place, the biography of Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian whose family saved a number of Jews from the Nazis, and were themselves arrested and put in concentration camps. In telling about their lives under Nazi persecution, Corrie shows how God the Holy Spirit was with them and comforting them, and performing miracles that were seen and experienced not only by them but also by their fellow prisoners. God protected the precious little Bible that they with God’s help were able to keep with them for some time in their captivity, and He made it possible for them to hold Bible study and worship – turning the circumstances of evil into a sacred place. 

God dwelt with Corrie and her sister, and though sometimes Corrie became overwhelmed by the difficult trials, her sister would always speak the Word into her and pray. 

At the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbruck, one of the miracles the Spirit used to confirm Christ’s presence with them relates to a small bottle. Betsie, Corrie’s older sister, was sickly during much of her life, and required daily infusions of vitamins to help strengthen her physical frame. Under the Spirit’s watch, Betsie’s vitamins had been smuggled in and preserved. Corrie would put a drop or two of the liquid vitamin onto Betsie’s daily black bread ration. 

It would be daily that The Spirit moved more of their fellow prisoners to thirst for Bible study and worship. Hearing their prison mates from different nationalities translate the Bible words being read so that others could understand was like divine music. 

And it would also be daily that Betsie was moved to share her small bottle of vitamins with other ill women, starting with one or two women, then the number kept growing. Corrie was worried that all of the vitamins in the small vial would be used up, leaving her sister without. Yet, the more generous Betsie was with the drops, the more the bottle filled. Corrie was amazed! The small bottle should have given up its last drop after only a few days, but the more the medicine was needed, the more it would come from the bottle. 

Like with the widow of Zarapheth who gave the prophet Elijah a room in her home, whose oil and meal were almost gone but by God’s miracle through Elijah, she never ran out of meal and oil, and survived the famine in the land. 

The miracle of the never-ending vitamin drops were a source of awe to the women being helped by them and a turning point for their faith. That divine delivery continued for a while until one day a fellow prisoner obtained a large supply of vitamins and yeast compound, sharing it with Corrie. Corrie was grateful to God for this windfall. She happily took enough for Betsie, thinking maybe they should finish the small bottle of vitamins first. 

But, when she got back to their bunk and Corrie took out the small bottle and tipped it, nothing came out. No matter which way she turned it or how hard she shook it, not another drop appeared! 

In many such ways the Spirit continued to move in their lives even in those persecutions, working in & through them to save others for Christ, even enemies. They were just regular people, old women who had given themselves to Christ, learning how when younger to submit and depend on the work of Christ’s Spirit. They and their family are now with the Lord, but the accounts of their living by the Spirit still lead others to Christ.

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 1

I am posting the sermon/response to the Word that highlighted the June 30 youth/young adult service at church. The final stories are in Laurie Kehler's book, "This Outside Life - Finding God in the Heart of Nature." They are summarized here for legal issues or are directly quoted in excerpts. I highly recommend this resource as a must have in your faith library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Who is The Holy Spirit?

The reading from Galatians 5 tells us that the Holy Spirit produces fruit – love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering and patience, faithfulness, self-control. We are commanded in this passage to live by the Spirit if we are to be successful in our faith walk. So, like, Who then is this Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Briefly:  He is God, part of the Trinity, co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and The Son. He has always been God, is sentient, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. In the personhood of the Holy Spirit, God relates to believers intimately, living inside us. He gifts the Church, the Body of Christ with Himself to build it up and to empower the members of the Body to live for Christ. He further endows the Body with special gifts to glorify God, serve others and to bring Christ to others. The Holy Spirit is a ‘He’, not an ‘it’. God the Holy Spirit is the living personhood of God. He is not a ghost; older translations of the Bible refer to the Spirit as a ghost because in the 16^th and 17^th centuries the original Hebrew and Greek words for spirit were often translated as ‘ghost’ reflecting the common language of the time describing an unseen person. In modern English the meaning and use of the word ghost has  differing implications. Thus, the better translation is God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Jesus and/or Christ, which further confirms His Godhead. Holy Spirit God exalts the Son and teaches about Him and the Father as Jesus promised in John 14-16. He is life-giving – as Paul tells us in Romans 8, and Ephesians 2. His fruit described in Galatians is a picture revelation and description of the essence of God’s character. When we yield ourselves willingly to His creative power in us, the Holy Spirit endeavors to imprint that character in us as He works through us and in us to shape us into Christ’s very image. Without the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, it is impossible for us to be faithful followers of Christ as He says in Romans 8:9-11. 

Today, we want to share a some stories with you about how God the Holy Spirit living in believers, and poured out upon the Body of Christ works out God’s purposes and proves to be the Advocate and Helper for all who believe.