I have had a number of interesting conversations over the years with other Christians concerning the Holy Spirit. All believers that I have spoken with have agreed on the need to depend upon Him, that He leads us as we make ourselves available to Him, and that without Him, no one can come to Christ in true faith. Yet as we get into the details, I've found that born again Christians have some very different ideas, even among themselves, about the third Person of the Trinity, largely formed by what they had been taught by church leadership at the beginning of their walk with Christ.

The most prevalent view that I've come across over the years is that the Holy Spirit moves very differently now than He did in bible times, and that it is because we now have the completed canon of scripture and that the gifts of the Spirit in particular are no longer needed for that reason. Now, I confess that I actually fell into that line of thinking for a number of years after having become disgusted with some of the fleshly displays and attitudes that I'd witnessed in some Pentecostal churches and in some circles of believers. That protracted experience though, actually worked to cause a deeper hunger in my spirit for the moving of God's Spirit in my own life, and for the wonderful Presence of the Living God that I had previously known. I thank God to this day for continuing to draw and woo me as He did through those lean times.

Now, I want to be clear here- The years that I had abandoned my belief in the need for the gifts of the Spirit in this day and age were lean, lonely times... I began seeking the Presence of the Lord more earnestly and started to cultivate the gift of tongues once again, and I could sense that God was freer to use me in any way He wanted to- which brought me face to face with the questions, How could it be that the gifts are no longer necessary? Is moving in the gifts of the Spirit something that was once needed only because the Bible was not yet complete? Do we not need physical as well as spiritual healing today? How about discerning of spirits? Faith? Word of wisdom? Word of knowledge? Do we forget about casting out demons because it's now the 21st century, or did they cease to exist as soon as the canon of scripture became complete?....

Let's be real- we're engaged in a life and death battle here. We must allow God to use us as He wills, and we must begin now! Pray in the Spirit. Seek His face with all your heart. Read through the New Testament and see how freely the Spirit of God moved in and through His people- then tell me that God doesn't do that anymore! Tell me we don't need that today!

Read the biographies of great men and women of God in the past, and you'll soon long for that closeness, that intimacy, that passion for the Lord that these people had, and that YOU TOO can have. They didn't worry about being 'respectable' or 'poised and composed' or 'intelligent'. They wanted Christ, and they wanted Him with every fiber of their beings! Not socially acceptable? They couldn't have cared less- the Holy Spirit had a grip on them that they would never let go of, and we would do well to imitate their examples!...

Seek His face. Let Him move in and through you...
Be willing to be used of God to the fullest!
.
En Agape,
Pastor Jim Ewing