Episode 47: Holy Spirit Power
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In Episode 46 “Is God bringing a Spiritual Awakening?” I was excited to share what I was learning about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then four months went by and I haven’t produced a single episode!
I don’t think it’s an accident that I got overwhelmed and distracted by ordinary life. When God gives insight and purpose, there is an assignment to block that purpose. We must be so intentional to overcome that resistance!
So, what was I doing?
Thanks to God, the time wasn’t wasted.
I was busy at work. I volunteered for a big work challenge, and then proceeded to overwork. I gave 200% and at the end of the day, and with the time I had leftover, I spent time with my husband, adult kids, and grandbaby.
I also did a final revision of my memoir All Gifts.
Spiritually, it gave me more time to process and spend time with God. To develop my spiritual gifts like hearing God through my dreams. Like my pastor, Keith-alan said in Episode 46, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are a byproduct of our relationship with Jesus.
I don’t think it was an accident that I got distracted from talking about this topic.
The bible says our struggle isn’t with flesh and blood but with the powers of darkness. I believe there has been an assignment from the enemy to distract me from sharing these insights about The Holy Spirit.
As a believer walking with the Lord for 15 years, I diligently studied my Bible and prayed every day, earnestly following God. And yet I was almost completely blind to the power and authority we have available through God’s Holy Spirit. I didn’t understand my identity in Christ.
I unwittingly put God in a religious box and reduced Christianity to a set of rules. What I’ve discovered has changed my life and if more believers were awake to it, it could change the world.
This is huge!
The response I got from he last episode was fascinating. This resonates with people. People have reached out to my husband and I to talk about their recent experiences with the Holy Spirit. Friends we went to church with for years, who also believed the gifts ended with the first century church, are now suddenly starting to think there's more going on with the Holy Spirit than we ever knew.
I was taught that I got “the gift of the Holy Spirit” at baptism. The Holy Spirit was with me, to comfort me, to be my guide. I also believed the Holy Spirit was my conscious who convicted me of sin.
I knew something was kind of off with that teaching about baptism because God transformed me before baptism. Once I prayed to give my life over to Jesus, months before baptism, I stopped smoking, drinking, and cussing cold turkey.
Since episode 43, I’ve become more and more convinced that God is bringing about a spiritual awakening.
The teaching that says miracles, signs and wonders through the Holy spirit were just for biblical times isn’t true. It's as real today as it was 2000 years ago. God is alive. We can do more than read the bible, we can experience God working today.
Maybe you’ve felt it. Maybe you believe in all that Christ stands for, but you are turned off by religion and its dualistic narrative: wrong/right, in/out. Maybe you are bored with the bible and long for more. Maybe you are tired of performing and striving to be, what you think, is this Christian ideal.
Or maybe you don’t label yourself a Christian at all but you are tired of the chaos and self-centered culture and have cried out for more.
I’m here to tell you that there is more.
In response to my prayers, God has shown me something that you can see whether you’ve been a Christian for three days or thirty years. It’s all in the Bible. God has taken scriptures I’ve read dozens of times and opened my eyes to see them brand new. The Word is living and active and Jesus said “you will do greater things than me.” I’ve learned that the Holy Spirit is so much more. It is so exciting, and I hope to unpack specifics in future episodes.
For now, I want to share that there is so much power and authority we have in prayer, in our words.
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. I’m convinced this verse from the book of Joel and repeated in the New Testament isn't metaphorical.
What we do on the earthly realm can affect the spiritual realm. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Psalms 8:2 says, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
Our praise has the power to shut Satan’s mouth.
To fight our battles, we don't have to be rocket scientists or theologians. We don’t have to go to seminary school or understand all these doctrines. We just open our mouths and praise Jesus. I can do that.
But, like it says in 1 Corinthians 13, at the end of the day, no matter what the spiritual gift is, it’s all about love. Whether it’s speaking in tongues, healing, or prophecy, if its purpose isn’t to love God and love other people, than it is useless.
One thing’s for sure, I don’t want to limit what God can do.