Making Room

If we are to see a significant move of the Spirit in our church we must do more than yearn for it we must also make room for the Spirit to move. Even in a church like ours we can fail to allow the space needed for the Spirit to move in power. It is easy for us to approach a quiet time, ministry time or worship time with our own agenda. Some of that agenda may well be Spirit inspired but I know from my own experience that all too often it can come out of whatever is going on in my own life.

For us at St Andrews we seem to have an unwritten rule that noise and activity are best! There are clearly times when we can see how 'disruptive' the work of the Spirit is - not least on the day of Pentecost. However, we also have to remember that before that Jesus told his disciples to 'wait'. I wonder if we have lost the art of waiting on the Spirit? Are we willing (able even) to stay still/quiet long enough for the Spirit to have absolute freedom in our lives or ministries or our worship gatherings? Or are the agendas we bring restricting, controlling or, ultimately, squashing the work of the Spirit.

John Wimber was a master of giving the Holy Spirit room to move in power. I attended a number of meetings he led and remember times when, after inviting the Holy Spirit to come, he would encourage those gathered (up to 5000 people on one occasion) to simply wait for the Holy Spirit to manifest himself. There were times when the waiting would seem long and uncomfortable but the Spirit always came and people would experience dramatic healing. We would have missed out if John Wimber would had lost nerve and moved on before the power of the Spirit fell on us.

When we make room for the Holy Spirit he comes! The spiritual disciplines are all about making room for the Spirit - prayer, read the Bible, silence, fasting etc. - yet often we can rush through these things to tick them off our 'to do list'. Even in our worship gatherings we seem to be unable to wait and let the Spirit move in his own time and way. It can be so easy to move things on quickly or try to force the Spirit to turn up.

Have you lost the art of making room for the Spirit, are you able to simply wait on him until he comes. Is God saying to you 'Be still and know that I am God'. Think through how you might be able to make more room for the Spirit in your life.

 

 

Learn to Yearn

So I am continuing to think about how we might respond to the sermon on Pentecost Sunday (see previous posts). In this post I want us to think about how we might change our attitude so that we are in a place of longing for more of the Spirit. Is it possible to learn how to yearn for more of the power of God. As I said in the sermon it is easy to get complacent about our need for the Holy Spirit and the moment we do we are in a slow decline that leads to spiritual death.

This longing is vital for us. In John 7 Jesus says 'Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit'. How thirsty are you right now, does your heart yearn for more of God's Spirit in your life? Below are some practical things we can do to increase our yearning.

• Read through the Gospels and Acts but do so with a focus on what you see the Holy Spirit doing. You will see his work on every single page of these books. Look at how dependant Jesus was on the Holy Spirit and then in Acts see how that same power was available to the disciples. Then look at your life and the life of the church and realise the difference!
• Read what the Spirit has done in church history. The same Spirit has been at work throughout the history of the church in remarkable and miraculous ways. A great resource is a series of books called 'God's Generals' by Roberts Liardon. If you can get to read any of those books it will create a thirst for more of the Spirit of God in your life.
• Discover what is the Spirit doing today. All over the world pockets of revival are breaking out. What God has done in history He is still doing today. The Internet provides a way of connecting with the work of the Spirit today. For instance check out what God is doing at BethelmChurch in Redding, California. There has been a steady stream of miracles there.mthey provide lots of video testimonies and worship that will leave you longing to see the same at our church.
  
• Express your longing in worship. There are lots of worship songs that reflect a yearning and longing for the presence and power of God. Worship has the power to change our hearts and as we choose express our longing in song so our hearts catch up with our intention. Continually choosing to press into God's presence in worship and any complacency or apathy will melt away leaving you longing for your own personal revival and the revival of the church.