HOLY SPIRIT MOVES

I love the Holy Spirit! This is one of my favorite topics—and relationships. Over the years I have seen the Holy Spirit do amazing things. From salvation, to healing, to signs and wonders, I have come to appreciate my limited knowledge of how he works and makes himself known. Having seen him work on five different continents in very different ways, my heart is more open to what he wants to do—and how he chooses to do it then ever before.

When I was growing up some TV shows encouraged you to sing-a-long. They would put the words on the screen and then a bouncing ball would bounce from word to word to help you sing along. Some people today think that the Holy Spirit is like the bouncing ball, touching the earth every now and then to help us out.

One of the great mistakes we make is to believe that what we know about the early church is the "holy grail" of church life. For some reason it is thought that the Holy Spirit began everything at Pentecost, established the church by about 300 AD and then disappeared. Wrong. The Holy Spirit has been with us from the beginning. He has been working in the church since he came and he will continue to do so until Jesus returns.

So...we need to respect what the Holy Spirit has done in history. Not everything is his doing for sure, but he has been at work through the ages. In the midst of the worst of the church there has always been a light in the world. In the midst of the Dark Ages, for example, there was a move of God in Ireland. In our prejudice and pride we often do not see it. We forget that the church (one, holy, catholic and universal) has consistently challenged the world and brought great improvement throughout its history. There are periods of disgrace, the Crusades, for example. There are periods where it may be very difficult to see the Spirit working. Our faith and God’s word tell us that he was and is still alive and living on earth.

This work is not just in signs and wonders, though if we look through history we will see these in various places, but in the very foundations of our current world cultures. The church in all of its glory and sinfulness has been the primary cause of positive change in the human condition. It has even promoted tolerance in the midst of prejudicial intolerance. Tolerance is seen in the way Jesus loved people. He understood that they, Jews and non-Jews, were made in the image of God. We see this prejudicial intolerance in the church in the treatment of heretics during the Inquisition, the reformation and the way one reformer (movement) treated another, and today, in the treatment of homosexuals, drug addicts and myriad other "sinners." We are told to love our enemies and yet we find ourselves much closer to hate than love.

As you consider this topic it would be good to do some personal investigation into church history. It is not all pretty. But open your eyes to see beyond the prejudices you were raised with to see the work of God throughout the history of the church.

From the personal perspective we need to embrace the work of Holy Spirit since He came at Pentecost.

You might want to view Francis Schaeffer’s series “How Should We Then Live?” It is available on DVD from Amazon and other locations. A quick search at any of the online bookstores will provide you with a number of books on the subject of church history.

FOR YOUR JOURNAL

• Each of us in our own way have developed some negative attitudes towards the church. What are yours?
• Think of the churches you think of today when you hear "dead" or "cold." Explain how you think they got that way.
• Pick one historical period, as short or long as you like, and explain how the Holy Spirit was working during that time.