What is Your Image of the Power of God in His Church?
Good Morning Friends,
Last night I was reading a bit from the book, With the Holy Spirit and with Fire, by Sam Shoemaker. It is bluntly critical of the shallowness of much of what we call church and it convinced me that we need a miracle. Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking seriously about the future of the church. We are living in a critical time never before experienced in the history of humankind, and the church must respond to this situation if the human race’s deepest needs are to be met. Part of the problem is that there is an antiquated understanding of the church’s purpose among the general public but also in the very institutions we call Church. The Church is divided and severed from it unity that Jesus prayed would come. The flow of the Holy Spirit is like a dripping faucet and it needs the torrent of a river. Some think that the Reformation needs to be reversed and in its place installed a New Reformation church so radical in its love that none can deny its purpose and presence and unity. It is not that we need a new Pentecost as much as we need to embrace the one that has already occurred. The good news is that there is a miracle that lies within each of us that empowers, equips and enables us to receive the power of life…love. In love we have the power for living, the power to witness, the power to pray and even the power to perform miracles. What it amounts to, when in unity with other lovers, is the power to be like Jesus in this world. The Holy Spirit gives us capacity individually but more importantly collectively. Indeed we are to know and to rely on the love God has for us individually but collectively as well. We are to witness by and through the power of the Holy Spirit in which we move, live and have our very being. Friends, we need to live in the power of the Spirit here on earth until we get to our heavenly home that Jesus has prepared for us. We need to rejoice because Jesus has interceded for us to protect, sanctify and bring unity to us all through love for His church. Yes it is winning souls, changing lives and impacting the communities in which we live. The Holy Spirit came so that the Church could be Jesus’ presence in his absence. When the disciples could no longer follow an earthly Jesus, Jesus sent them and us something to bind us together in Christian love. He sent us the Holy Spirit so we would have the advantage and ability collectively to show the world. And the building block is as it has always been…the spiritual family called out to assemble strategically. What is Your Image of the Power of God in His Church?
Scripture: But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
John 14:26 (NRSV)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
Romans 8:26 (NRSV)
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV)
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 (NRSV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NRSV)
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
John 14:15-17 (NRSV)
Message: Let’s face the reality of our situation, for too many the church has been rendered out of service. And we need a miracle for it to be reinstated. So let your light shine daily so that others might see how God works in and through you. Friends, the time has come when we are not satisfied with the effects of a day old or week old or year old Spirit filled experiences. The best of previous spiritual experiences are unpersuasive in motivating our engagement with others today. We need to bring the church to a new reality with a new challenge worthy of God carrying out the unfinished work on earth. We are in desperate need of a vision large enough to stimulate a continued interest in the Master’s work. And at the end of the day only two things remain, God’s power and man’s dilemma. While man’s power and knowledge has never been greater our supernatural wisdom seems to have been stunted for lack of water. Friends, we were fearfully and wonderfully made to experience God. Our bodies are special. And when we became Christians our bodies became even more special as temples, a place for the Holy Spirit to dwell. Christ’s body was like yours and mine and yet it was extra special. It had no sin. You too can have this same experience if you allow God to be glorified in and through you. You were designed for this purpose. But this transformation cannot be done alone. We have been made with a body that is to be a reminder of God’s purpose, a retainer of His promise, a receiver of His salvation, and a revealer of His glory. We were made for union with Christ as a collective body and union with the Holy Spirit as individuals. That means we must practice holy living as individuals and harmony through love as a community. Our feet that led us into sins must now take steps on a righteous path. Our eyes that opened our hearts to sin must now focus on Christ. Our ears that heard only the lies of an angry world must now listen to the Word made flesh. Our hands that clutched idols must be opened up as giving hands in service to those less fortunate. Our tongues that told only lies must now sing praises and witness to others the truth. Our hearts once hardened must be opened up and beat in unity. We must know the love of Jesus so intimately and let His beauty shine through us with such intensity that all would know He lives. We must start to look deep within ourselves and arise to serve the needs of all people in the name of Christ. The time is close. The church has much work to do. Now is the right time to become the church Christ expects it to be. Only when we are filled with the Spirit can our lives be everything God wants them to be. The command is not to try harder. The command is to live lives that honor God. Here the fruit of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit work in us and through us to bring us victory. Come Holy Spirit come.
Pray for Protestants that need to experience more sacramental grace. Pray for Catholics so they might know that wherever the Holy Spirit is found, so too is the True Holy Catholic Church. Pray we confess that we have not lived in the Holy Spirit. Pray we help others find a household of God. Pray we use every kind of experience, form and emphasis to help people.
Pray that we learn to sing in one heart and one voice in the unity of the body. Pray that we learn to sing by faith believing in advance what makes sense only in reverse. Pray that we would radically adjust our self-centered song to fit into the center of God’s music around us bringing energy and meaning and love in something that is more than harmony. Pray that when we move we move with God. Pray we have the courage to follow the leaning of the Holy Spirit. Pray we thank God for the companions along the way. Pray we move in unity of Spirit. Pray the called out assembly in this place lives to emulate Him. Pray we learn to love creatively and experimentally with faith in the power God doing great things in and through us in small fellowships. Pray we have the power to live for Jesus. Pray we individually and collectively are in the unity of God’s love. Pray we have the power to believe and the power to have faith. Pray we realize the power of the Holy Spirit is for a purpose. Pray we conform to Christ-likeness. Pray we receive the gift of the Father through the Son. Pray we share what we have received in Christian love. Pray that the streams of Holy History converge into one, of Christ transforming every area of human experience washing over and transforming culture in the power, revelation, and revival of His presence with us. Pray we remember those who have loved. Pray we have faith, fellowship, and fruits in the face of fear. Pray we hear Jesus praying for us now asking the Holy Spirit to create a spirit of unity among us…guiding us pray together… filling our hearts with the indisputable mark of a true follower of Christ…love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 