Today I went out to do ministry in the community where my team and I are living and came away from it frustrated and even a little angry. It has happened twice now since I've been on The World Race, both times in the last 2 months. In both instances I had a great time overall with those whom I was ministering to and with so it wasn't that. It was something that happened before and during those occasions that got me upset. Both were ocassions where the local church had put unnecessary burdens on the people that it was ministering to and, quite frankly, it really ticked me off. It had this effect on me because, in placing these burdens on the people, the church had twisted the words of Scripture (I'm discovering more and more that apologetics, part of which is the correct interpretation and application of the Bible, is a small passion of mine). It turned our Gospel of grace, love and forgiveness into a gospel of works, an idea that is completely contradictory to what the Bible teaches. It was in these moments that I got a gentle reminder, actually it was a couple of gentle reminders. The first one was from my teammate at the time Joshua Thomas as we left a home visit. He reminded me that no single church has everything completely right. The second one, on the way home from doing kid's club activites in the village of Calinesti with my current teammate Kenzie Kelly, came from the Holy Spirit himself. He reminded me that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers…authorities…powers of this dark world and…spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." [Ephesians 6:12, NIV84, emphasis added] My only thought was, 'touche, God, point taken'. In that moment I realized that although my anger and frustration were justified they were misdirected. Instead of being upset with the people that I met, I needed to be upset with the Enemy. I needed to be upset that he was in the process of stealing, killing and destroying another life and I needed to do something about it.
God's Holy Spirit is a particularly intrusive part of the Trinity (I know this sounds negative but I promise, I don't mean it that way). He always seems to show up right when you need (or think you don't need) him the most. He is the spirit of revelation [Ephesians 1:17], the spirit of wisdom [Isaiah 11:2, Ephesians 1:17], the spirit of counsel [Isaiah 11:2], the spirit of understanding [Isaiah 11:2], the spirit of knowledge [Isaiah 11:2], and the spirit of truth [John 14:17 & 15:26]. It is in moments like these that I am grateful for his work in my life, grateful that he lives inside of me, and grateful that he loves me enough to correct me and teach me to see the potential impact that people can have through Jesus. What's the Holy Spirit speaking to you about? It might just change your life, or someone elses.
