I’d like to begin by stating why I’m writing a blog about the Holy Spirit. He’s a new friend of mine and I’d like for you all to meet. For the last four years, I attended a Christian college that prohibited students from speaking in tongues and “attempting to perform miraculous healings” on campus. And I accepted that. To a certain point I considered the Holy Spirit dead…or at least very, very distant. Now it’s easy for me to see how I limited Him in my theology and in my life. Then I went on the Race and welcomed God to rock my world and teach me new things. And boy, has He ever.
Seven months into this thing and I can say that what I’ve been taught for so long about the Spirit is very different from what I’ve experienced around the world.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting on top of a mountain in Malaysia that is used as an international house of prayer. As I sat there praying for America, God began to unfold more and more of a burden I’m realizing that I have for my home country. I found myself praying that the Holy Spirit would wreck our lives, homes, churches, and universities. Most of you would ‘amen’ this because you know our country is in desperate need of a revival. Others might cringe a bit that I invited ‘the Spirit’ to ‘wreck’ these places…but here we go.
A lot of churches today believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible. A lot of us have created a trinity that we are more comfortable accepting, yet there’s a lot missing there. Of course we value and love the Bible, but where is the Holy Spirit these days? Where is He in our personal lives, in our homes, in our churches? When Christians invite the Holy Spirit into things, sometimes they feel like someone just invited the awkward uncle to the kids’ table when things were just getting juicy. No one really wants him there, but they deal with it and put up with the awkwardness. Sometimes we fear what we don’t understand, haven’t experienced, or have seen others misuse. I know I did.
I unconsciously threw the Spirit out of the window because I didn’t experience him in the ways others were and I’d seen some Christians do things in the name of the Spirit that went completely against Scripture. So, I did whatever any good Christian would do…I began to judge others and get self-righteous about how I experienced God. For me, the answer to abuse of the Spirit was complete disuse…just cut it off and don’t worry about it; but the answer to abuse of any kind is not disuse, but proper use.
While Jesus was preparing the disciples for his departure, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (Jn. 14:12-17).
We might have different beliefs on why, or when, or how the Spirit came…but I must admit that I have seen the Spirit move in some crazy, miraculous ways. Take Africa for example, one day we’re praying over a group of people during street evangelism. Four people were instantaneously healed and one was delivered of 30-something demons. For a lot of us, it was out first time seeing God move like that. It was an awesome moment for the Lord to move in those people’s lives, but He also moved in ours in a big way. I know people who have seen angels during times of worship. I have friends who have been physically attacked by demons. I met a little girl in Laos who has sees angels on many different occasions (and spoke about it as if it was an ordinary thing). I’ve heard testimonies of someone speaking in tongues during a time of worship and another person coming to Christ because they were speaking their native language.
So here’s where the conflict began for me.
I was taught that healing and prophecy were things of the past. I had never seen a personal filled with demons, much less delivered from them. It was implied that the gift of tongues was only for the emotional, “more intense” Christians. I didn’t seriously consider the fact that angels and demons could be at play around us. I didn’t seriously think that I could do the same things that Jesus did during His time on this earth.
Many American’s have unintentionally become naturalists. Basically, all we see is all there is –the earth, people, ocean, trees, animals. The idea of God is acceptable for some, but spiritual beings of heaven and hell are a stretch of the imagination. “Many people today consider a belief in a literal Satan flanked by hosts of demons to be on the same par as believing in Santa Claus, a flat earth, and the tooth fairy. And this is precisely where the difficulty surfaces for Christians” (Clint Arnold). I believe that one of the greatest advantages that the devil uses in the Western world is the naturalistic lens with which we view things. If we are blinded to the spiritual world and what is often influencing thoughts and actions, then we can’t fight against the real enemy. Without the spiritual world, things just happen “by chance” without any deeper meaning or divine appointments. But with the spiritual realm, God puts specific people in front of us for specific purposes. There’s no such thing as luck or chance. There’s so much more meaning.
Early in my faith, my dad told me a story about his involvement in bringing deliverance to a woman that was caught up in the satanic occult. I kinda thought he was crazy, but I loved hearing the story because it was like reading from the Bible. All of these stories and “ideas” were so interesting, but they seemed so far off.
Something that I learned about Africans (or generally, people in the East) is that they make the easiest converts; they already believe in the spiritual world. The thought of people being miraculously healed doesn’t intimidate them because they’ve seen friends and family members healed. The idea of darkness is not just an idea, but real because they have witch doctors on every block. They’ve seen angels and demons at play in their everyday lives. All they needed was the hope of a Savior who overcame the devil and brought freedom to the captives.
Some American’s only want the Jesus that looks and feels right. The one that is comfortable to chat about over coffee. Not the Jesus who performed miracles, brought healing, words of knowledge, or deliverance daily to people on the street. We want the comfy, snuggly Jesus who talks about love, peace, and grace, but not the one who has tremendous power over sin, death, and the forces of evil. Scripture says that, “The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). Personally, I didn’t see many Christians living in this power, so I made excuses and just tried to live the “normal, Christian life.” Something I didn’t know then is that average Christians measure themselves by other Christians, but Christ-followers imitate Christ. I’m no longer average.
I feel as if I’m “new” to this whole Holy Spirit thing. I’ve experienced a lot and learned a lot. And I believe that the Spirit wants to be apart of our everyday lives in the West. It might look different for each of us, but He wants to be apart of our homes, churches, workplaces, and universities. He wants to be involved in our future plans, daily activities, and thoughts. I believe that our Western world would look much, much different if we truly began to imitate Christ. It would be a place with opened eyes and saints on their knees.
Seven months into this thing and I can say that what I’ve been taught for so long about the Spirit is very different from what I’ve experienced around the world. I wish I knew this back then, but I know it now, and now you do too.
I can’t go back. I won’t try to be average.
Let’s imitate Christ together. Let’s live like Jesus. Holy Spirit come.
