Sometime back the Associated
Press carried this dispatch: "Glasgow, Ky.--Leslie Puckett, after
struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had
stolen the motor." Associated Press.
In many Christian circles the
Holy Spirit is either neglected, forgotten, or misunderstood. The One given to
unite the body of Christ is the center of controversy. This is a nettle which
ought to be firmly grasped. So often Christian work is so rigidly programmed
that it seems we need no longer depend on Him--yet Jesus said, "Without
Me you can do nothing." ...
The late Dr. A. W. Tozer, author and
pastor, said, "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95
percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the
Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of
what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference."
n
Alan Redpath in "Christian Life" magazine. Christianity
Today, Vol. 29, no. 18.
In the book Healing the Masculine Soul, Gordon Dalbey says that when
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, he uses a Greek word, paraclete,
that was an ancient warrior's term. "Greek soldiers went into battle in
pairs," says Dalbey, "so when the enemy attacked, they could draw
together back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. One's battle partner
was the paraclete." Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight
alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and
fights for our well being. -- Tom
Tripp, Colusa, California. Leadership,
Vol. 15, no. 2.
Acts
2:1 (NIV) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be
tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them
were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues {[4] Or
languages} as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound,
a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in
his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men
who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his
own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and
converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of
God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another,
"What does this mean?" 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said,
"They have had too much wine." 14 Then Peter stood up with the
Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of
you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to
you ;listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you
suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the
prophet Joel: 17 "`In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit
on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see
visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and
women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I
will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and
fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon
to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' {[21] Joel 2:28-32}
Would we want
the Spirit to fill this place?
Zech 4:6 (NIV) So he said
to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by
power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
I
have a glove here in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when
my hand is in it, it can do many things. True, it is not the glove, but my
hand in the glove that acts. We are gloves. It is the Holy Spirit in us who is
the hand, who does the job. We have to make room for the hand so that every
finger is filled. -- Corrie Ten
Boom in Each New Day. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 1.
Believers were obedient
and waited.
Luke
24:46 (NIV) He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will
suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and
forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you
what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed
with power from on high."
Believers were together.
Togetherness is a choice.
Unity is a goal and a gift from God, which requires submission of the
individuals to God and to each other.
Eph.
5:21 (NIV) Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Believers were respondent
and yielded. Have
we stayed soft and easy to mold?
Believers were expecting. They had a sense of
expectancy. They were looking up to the Lord to see what He would do.
Believers were believers. Have you believed and
received?
Believers were ready.
Be prepared.
Wait for the Spirit to work. Don’t
go ahead!
Believers were looking for
something new. God will do a new
thing.
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I
will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will
even make a way in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert.
Believers were filled with
the Spirit. I
must decrease before He can increase.
Believers were speaking in
languages that they didn’t know. The
power of the Spirit filled them and they were given supernatural gifts to do
the work of the Lord.
There’s a sweet, sweet
spirit in this place.
When you look at our history, it is no wonder that spirituality is so
often treated with suspicion, and not infrequently with outright hostility.
For in actual practice spirituality very often develops into neurosis,
degenerates into selfishness, becomes pretentious, turns violent.
How does this happen? The short
answer is that it happens when we step outside the Gospel story and take
ourselves as the basic and authoritative text for our spirituality; we begin
exegeting ourselves as a sacred text ... True spirituality, Christian
spirituality, takes attention off of ourselves and focuses it on another, on
Jesus.
n
Eugene H. Peterson in Subversive Spirituality. Christianity Today, Vol.
41, no. 12.
Speaking to a
large audience, D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked, "How can I get the
air out of this glass?" One man shouted, "Suck it out with a
pump!" Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the
glass." After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a
pitcher of water, and filled the glass. "There," he said, "all
the air is now removed." He then went on to explain that victory in the
Christian life is not accomplished by "sucking out a sin here and
there," but by being filled with the Holy Spirit. -- Today in
the Word, September, 1991, p. 30.