The continued neglect of the Holy Spirit by evangelical Christians is too evident to deny and impossible to justify....
It is not, however, the frequency of the Spirit's mention in the Bible or in other writings that matters most, but the importance attached to Him when He is mentioned. And there can be no doubt that there is a huge disparity between the place given to the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures and the place He occupies in popular evangelical Christianity. In the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is necessary. There He works powerfully, creatively; here He is little more than a poetic yearning or at most a benign influence. There He moves in majesty, with all the attributes of the Godhead; here He is a mood, a tender feeling of good will....
The only power God recognizes in His church is the power of His Spirit whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals is the power of man. God does His work by the operation of the Spirit, while Christian leaders attempt to do theirs by the power of trained and devoted intellect. Bright personality has taken the place of the divine afflatus.
I think Tozer's onto something here. I read a book years ago by Charles Stanley called The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life. In it, Stanley introduced me to the Holy Spirit in a way I never thought of or realized. He presented the third person in the "three in one" aspect of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit). It blew my mind! I came to understand that the Spirit is not some magical thing that happens by coincidence. No, He is as alive and active as Jesus the Son and God the Father. Check this out in Romans 8:26-28 (MSG):
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
I'm starting to see how little I believe in the power of the Spirit. I'm beginning to realize that my life is lacking the wonderful spirit-filled life. And I look around and realize I'm not the only one. What would our world look like if we would start to see the Spirit for more than a warm fuzzy feeling we get when we sing a song? How different would our lives be if we did more than just talk about the Spirit changing our world and actually believe that He WILL change the world?
Father- help us to see that there's more to the Trinity than just Father and Son.
Jesus- thank you for sending the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Spirit- come and pour out Your power in my life and those around me. Let us see You for who You are.
No comments:
Post a Comment