DRINK AND PRAY!

One of the more unusual things I have seen in the church world happened when I was in Bible college. I was on a ministry team sent to a church near Sacramento, CA, to conduct several services. The team was praying with the pastor before one of the services and a man the pastor obviously knew came into the room. The pastor introduced him to us as a prophet with a very unusual gifting. According to the pastor, the man could tell just by touching your hand or your arm how full of the Holy Spirit you were. I thought this was really different and I’m pretty sure I heard an alarm bell ringing in the back of my mind.

The man proceeded to go around the room touching each of the team on the hand and then calling out levels of Spirit fullness: “Three-quarters, one-half, two-thirds, etc.” No, I am not going to tell you what he said to me, so save the pressure tactics.

Is that really a spiritual gifting? I think not! That is not the discerning of spirits and there is absolutely no scriptural basis for that kind of silliness!

In Ephesians 5:18 the apostle Paul issues a very strong command to the church: “Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation [wasteful]; but be filled with the Spirit.” The way Paul phrased this last part of the statement means that being filled with the Spirit is not to be thought of as a one-time event but we are to be “continually being filled” with the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe the issue is that we somehow leak the Holy Spirit out of our lives as much as we become casual in the way we respond to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes this happens because the bumps and bruises of life divert our attention away from our life in the Spirit.

The important question out of all this is, “How do we stay full of the Holy Spirit?” Let’s look at that from what Paul had to say. How does one get drunk on wine? The answer is, “You drink wine, lots of it!” Using this as a parallel, how do we get full of (drunk on) the Spirit? Drink it, lots of it! Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit” (John 7:37-39, ESV).

How do we drink of the Spirit? I think that is partially answered in what Paul lists in Ephesians 5:19-21:

“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” This is building each other up with joyful encouragement in the things of the Lord

.

“Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” I can’t over-emphasize the importance of music, good worship music, being taken into our mind and spirit. If there is nothing edifying in your mind and spirit, then nothing edifying is going to come out during your quiet moments.

“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In my darkest hours of the valley of cancer, I found how powerful it is to give thanks, to praise, to worship. It brings the presence of God’s Spirit, and that Presence overwhelms fear and anxiety.

“Submitting to one another in the fear of [out of reverence for] Christ.” What Spirit-full believers are you connected with and accountable to? Their presence in your life is like a refreshing drink!

All of these methods of drinking of His Spirit are disciplines and will not happen without conscious attention on our part!

I believe this list is both “cause and effect.” It is partially how we stay full of the Spirit and as we are full of the Spirit, we will show these as the result of being Spirit-full.

Romans 8:5: “Those who live according to the Spirit [set their minds on] the things of the Spirit.” Without being overly complicated about this verse, I believe this is speaking of those who desire to be Spirit-filled, who are hungry for all that God’s Spirit has for them. They think about the things of the Spirit and seek to be overflowing, Spirit-filled believers. Paul contrasts the carnally minded and the Spirit minded. The primary focus of the carnally minded is dominated by the natural, earthly life and all the things thereof. To be Spirit minded means to be eager in pursuit of the Word, of worship, of the Holy Spirit. There is to be nothing slovenly or casual about pursuing the Spirit-full life according to Ephesians 5:19-21 or Romans 8:5. In both cases this is zealous, wholehearted pursuit.

John Piper in his excellent book A Godward Life puts the pursuit of a Spirit-full life this way: “If we want to be filled with the Spirit, we must ask our heavenly Father for it. And that is just what Paul does in Ephesians 3:19 where he prays, ‘That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’” Piper then goes on and says it this way, “Drink and pray. Drink and pray. Drink and pray.” Well said, John Piper. Drink and pray is the pursuit of the Spirit-full life.

RELEASING THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit comes to indwell every person who repents of sin, asks for forgiveness and invites Jesus Christ to be the Lord of his or her life. But that is just the beginning of the adventure known as the Spirit-filled life. After we are saved and the Holy Spirit indwells us . . . what’s next?

After He was crucified and raised from the dead, Jesus told His disciples that they were to stay in Jerusalem (Acts 1:4-5) until they had received the promise of the Father (Joel 2:28). He then went on to say this would be the time when they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” He continued, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In this verse Jesus links Holy Spirit baptism with the power that would be necessary to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Some say the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at the moment of salvation; others say the baptism of the Spirit is a second distinct work when a person fully surrenders to the Holy Spirit. I honestly don’t have a problem with either description. If you come to me and say, “I’m filled with the Spirit and have been since the moment I gave my life to Jesus,” I accept that as your testimony. If you come and say, “I’ve been saved for five years, and a few months ago during a powerful time in prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon me, filled me and I spoke in a heavenly language.” I will say, “Praise God! I accept that as your testimony.”

Let me picture for you what I believe about the Holy Spirit and His place in our lives. When we accept Christ as our Savior, it’s as though we are a used bottle that is covered and filled with dirt and has been discarded. Jesus picks us up, washes us clean on the inside and the outside. After all the filth is thoroughly washed away, He fills us with new wine and the bottle is sealed. The Lord then says to us, “I want you to go and share this new life, this new wine, with others. Tell them what I have done for you. Will you do that?” We respond, “Yes, Lord, what You have done for us is powerful and we want others to know. We will go and share with others!”

 

The Lord says, “Because you have made yourself available, I am going to fill you to overflowing with this new wine and those around you are going to receive from the overflow. In order for that to happen, I am going to take the cork out and then others can receive the overflow of the Spirit from your life.” Jesus said, “‘He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:38-39).

Sometimes the evidence of Holy Spirit power begins to show forth at the time of “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” For many of us, however, it comes over time as we grow and mature and the fruit of the Spirit begins to show forth in our lives.

Psalm 1:3 is a wonderful picture of a New Testament believer growing and maturing and becoming fruitful: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” There’s that phrase again — rivers of water. We are like a tree that is planted by the Lord beside rivers of water. As we learn to draw from the rivers of His Word and His Spirit, and we grow in our relationship with Him, we will begin to show forth fruit of the Spirit and we are empowered by Him.

In Galatians 5:22-23 the apostle Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” All of this fruit has to do with how we relate to other people. The fruit of the Spirit begins to show forth in our lives “in season,” meaning there is a growth and preparation period. Perhaps even some pruning will take place before the fruit can really come. But it will come “in season” and it will be good fruit and successful for God and His kingdom.

If we as the church are going to be effective witnesses for Him, we are going to have to have all the fruit of the Spirit showing forth in our lives. Unlike a natural tree that will only bring forth one kind of fruit, we are called to bring forth all the fruit at the same time. No one gets a pass that says you don’t have to show patience or faithfulness. Maybe that’s what the power of the Holy Spirit is all about. Maybe it’s an enduement of power that allows us to show forth all the fruit of the Spirit at the same time, thereby showing forth the real beauty of a life transformed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

One thing I know for sure. He is ready to fill us to overflowing again. He is ready to uncork us again. “Do not be drunk with wine . . . but be filled (continually being filled) with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

One of my favorite songs to worship by is Holy Spirit Rain Down. Embedded below is the video of the Hillsong Worship Team leading their church in this wonderful song.

GOOD MORNING, HOLY SPIRIT!

I wonder how long it has been since you got up in the morning and said, "Good morning, Holy Spirit! I love You and honor You. I need Your presence and power in my life today." Honestly now, how long has it been?

Like many who were raised in a Spirit-filled home by godly parents who truly taught me how to live as a Christ follower, I have been guilty of becoming casual about my approach to the Holy Spirit and His place in my life.

I have been around "moves of the Holy Spirit" (some real and some not so real) most of my life but this blog is not about that. I have written about "revival" and if you are interested, you can read the last article I wrote about revival and my feelings about it on my other blog site. There is a link to that site over on the left column of this page. The article is entitled "Questions for a Former Revivalist." This article, however, is about cultivating the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our daily life.

Casualness or familiarity with a particular subject has a way of becoming edged with pride. Familiarity will cause us to say things like, "I've been around this for a long time so I guess I know everything I need to." This kind of pride often gives way to a form of contempt and we begin to say things like, "I'm beyond all that now; I just don't need that in my life anymore."

When I treat the Holy Spirit casually, treat Him as though He's not that important, then I am being disrespectful and He responds by stopping much of His active ministry in me. He does not go away but the Dove from heaven does not release His power and presence in an unwelcome atmosphere.

A time of confusion and bewilderment gripped the disciples in the days before Jesus’ death and it was at that time that He introduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The disciples just couldn't get a grip on the reality of where everything was headed and that brought on confusion. I can't get away from the thought that with all the confusion and dreadful things going on in our world right now, we need a refreshing reintroduction to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

So how do we cultivate/activate the Holy Spirit and His power and presence in our lives? Let me share a few things I have learned and continue to learn and perhaps together we can discover more fully how to live and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. Cultivating sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

The Dove from heaven is gentle and sensitive and He will never force Himself on you. The Spirit comes as a dove to rest upon us and we need to spend time in His presence to understand what grieves or pleases Him. Daily times of devotion, reading the Word, praying, and then being silent in His presence are indispensable in developing sensitivity to the Spirit.



2. Cultivate friendship/fellowship with the Spirit.

Greet the Holy Spirit each morning. It's absolutely okay to talk to the Holy Spirit, to tell Him that you love and honor Him. Don't hesitate to ask Him questions and talk to Him as you face challenges. Freely share your joys and sorrows with Him. Make it a habit to ask Him to guide you as you make decisions. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would lead us to truth and I believe that includes making decisions that are right and true by heaven’s standards (see John 16:13).

Love God’s Spirit for Himself. Be more interested in the Spirit than in His gifts and what you can get out of Him. Enjoy His company. Commit yourself to cooperating with the Holy Spirit in cultivating the fruit of His presence in you life (see Galatians 5:22).

Invite Him to open your understanding whenever you turn to the Scripture (Ephesians 1:17). I have found that the Holy Spirit loves to operate in this area. Satan blinds our understanding (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the Holy Spirit opens it. He gives insight and understanding, so invite Him to empower you to understand and obey the Scriptures (John 14:26).


3. Build intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

 Invite Him to help your weakness during times of prayer. He knows your weaknesses and when you ask Him, He is free to bring the comfort and help you are looking for. Remember, Scripture says He is like a dove and He will not force Himself on you. He knows and prays according to the will of God. If you have a prayer language, then use it daily. “Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10 ESV). The word know means to get acquainted with, to have intimate contact with, and we do not get to know the Holy Spirit unless we are intimate and quiet with Him.

4. Partner with the Holy Spirit.

Ask for His presence and power to be with you in all your daily activities. The apostle Paul's life is a tremendous study in partnering with the Holy Spirit. At times his partnership and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit allowed the Spirit to clearly tell him what to do or what not to do (see Acts 16:6-7).

This is just my beginners’ list. There is so much more to learn about the Holy Spirit and His place in our lives. So perhaps we'll look into it more in future blogs.

Good morning and welcome, Holy Spirit!

THE COMFORTER HAS COME

In 1905, while visiting her family in Houston, a woman from Los Angeles attended a service at the small church of William Seymour. The visitor subsequently invited Seymour to come to Los Angeles and preach about the Holy Spirit baptism. Even though Seymour had not personally experienced this yet, he agreed and in February of 1906 began to preach at a small holiness church in L.A. After the first Sunday the church leadership responded by locking the doors and telling Seymour he could not preach there anymore. A rather inauspicious start to his preaching mission in Los Angeles!

 While the church leadership rejected Seymour, not all the church members did so. Seymour was invited to stay in the home of one of the members, where he began holding prayer and preaching services. Soon the meetings were moved to a larger home on North Bonnie Brae Street and members of other churches began to attend. For five weeks the meetings consisted mostly of prayer and preaching but on April 9, 1906, the Holy Spirit baptized a man named Edward Lee and he began to speak in an unknown language. A few days later William Seymour and six others were similarly baptized in the Spirit and the revival was on.

The news spread like wildfire throughout Los Angeles. In order to accommodate the crowds that began to gather, the meetings were moved to an abandoned and rundown Methodist church on Azusa Street in a ghetto-like section of the city. The Los Angeles press reacted in horror and reviled the meetings as out of control and weird. What an unlikely beginning to a worldwide revival. A partially blind, African-American preacher holding meetings in a building described as a rundown shack, in an unlikely part of the city, the meeting rejected by the mainstream religious establishment, and the media calling the services "weird and out of control." Sounds to me like something where Jesus would feel very comfortable.

In one of its very derogatory articles about the Azusa Street revival, The Los Angeles Times made the following comments: “They have a one-eyed, illiterate Negro as their preacher who stays on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between wooden milk crates. He doesn't talk very much but at times he can be heard shouting, ‘Repent,’ and he's supposed to be running the thing. . . . They repeatedly sing the same song, ‘The Comforter Has Come.’”

The Azusa Street revival continued for a total of nine years and during the first three years, the services went on 24 hours a day. Visitors came from all over the world and carried the fire of revival back to their cities and towns. Now 106 years later, the revival that began at Azusa Street has spread to over 600 million people worldwide. What had such an unlikely beginning is now the largest and fastest growing segment of Protestant Christianity.

Unlike some of my friends, I am not embarrassed to say that I am a part of this stream of the Holy Spirit.

The message of the song "The Comforter Has Come" became the anthem of the early-day Pentecostal revival that can be traced back to the Upper Room — not the Upper Room at the time of Pentecost but during the Last Supper where Jesus first introduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit and called Him “The Comforter.” In the days just before Calvary, the disciples were bewildered. They were confused because their expectations were far different from what was actually happening. In this time of confusion, Jesus introduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He spoke to the disciples, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper [Comforter]" (John 14:16, NKJV).

The word “Helper or Comforter” used here is parakletos in the Greek. By definition the word paraclete is the transliteration of a Greek word meaning “one who is called to someone’s aid” or “one who advocates for another.” Technically, the word can be used for a lawyer. More generally, the word denotes one who acts in another’s behalf as a mediator, intercessor, advocate or encourager.

Jesus told the confused and bewildered disciples that He was requesting the Father to send “another comforter.” The word "another" means "another of the same kind." So we see that the ministry of the Holy Spirit would be a continuation of the ministry of Jesus.

If you want to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit and understand how He brings comfort to the people of God, look at the life of Christ and see how He brought comfort. Observe as Jesus heals the sick and compassionately ministers to the outcasts of society. Listen as He speaks to the brokenhearted sisters whose brother, Lazarus, was dead.

Study the life of Christ and see how He loved and gave Himself that we might have the comfort of knowing that we are in right standing with God. Understand just a little about the ministry of Jesus to bring comfort to the brokenhearted and you will just begin to understand the ministry of comfort the Holy Spirit is empowered to bring. Study the life of Christ and see how the fruits of the Spirit are manifest every day in His life; study His life and see the gifts of the Spirit that He moved in with such ease and which were so much a part of His daily life.

The Comforter has come! Have you made Him welcome?

The anthem of Azusa Street is still ringing in the heavens. Below is a YouTube video of the song "The Comforter Has Come." There is nothing sophisticated about this music — it is just congregational singing attended to by the Holy Spirit. This is the way it was sung at Azusa Street. Be blessed!