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.