Balance of teaching the Word of God and Moving in the Holy Spirit
Do Not Move
"Sir I said Do Not Move While We are In Motion...or we will tip over and get no where at all."
It is a very delicate activity
It has been said that a meeting where the gifts of the Holy Spirit are allowed to be freely exercised is a balancing act.
Think
of it as if a circle of people are carefully passing around a tray with
glasses of water upon it. They are trying very carefully not to spill
the water as they pass the tray from one to another.
One
speaks out in tongues, another gives an interpretation, while another
sings out in an inspirational spiritual song. Another gives a word of
knowledge while another gives a prophecy in song.
This
is what it is like. Each and every member of the meeting being
sensitive to the Holy Spirit's direction and orchestration. The meeting
moves forward and accomplishes God's goals when it is conducted decently
and in order. Things run along smoothly with no crash and burns.
I have
been in large meetings where everyone was singing in the Spirit
(singing in tongues) altogether at the same time. When suddenly, without
anyone other than the Holy Spirit giving direction, everyone stops
singing except for one person. Then just as suddenly someone else joins
them in a sort of a duet. And then the whole room full of people gently
joins in a chorus. And then an absolutely amazing thing would take
place.
I would hear gentle rain pouring upon the roof when it is a very
dry evening with no rain outside, and yet rain could be heard coming
down on the roof. Angelic voices could be faintly heard singing a
counter part harmony along with the whole congregation. And finally
every voice would go silent as if a conductor had given a hand signal to
taper off to silence.
It was at this point
that there would be manifested the most powerful spiritual atmosphere
where you felt as if you should be taking off your shoes because it was
Holy ground that you were standing upon.
There
is a church experience beyond the stimulation of the intellect with
Bible study. There is a church dimension that few ever get the opportunity to
experience. True heart felt worship with Christians who are not afraid
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and know what balance is in their operation.
I have had the wonderful pleasure of being in meetings like this.
And
I
have been in carnal meetings masquerading as spiritual meetings, when
in reality flesh was at work pretending that the Holy Spirit was moving
in their midst. Nothing quenches the Holy Spirit faster then flesh
acting as if He were
behind their antics.
behind their antics.
Holy reverence
dictates that we be sensitive and truly worshipful to insure balance
for forward momentum or we will get no where...few make it through the
straight and narrow gate.
David Sloane
12,03,08
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I
wanted to add some thoughts that I had while working today, 12,04,08.
Over so many years I have noticed that teachers of the Word always like
to down play and marginalize those of us who love the moving of the Holy
Spirit.
Why just today my son mentioned hearing John Courson
saying on the radio something about not validating those of us who
desire the Spirit's moving. He said that if we just stay in the Word
that would be enough Spirit moving for us.
I humbly beg to differ. Why?
I
had this conversation about this topic out in the parking lot of
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in 1973 with the then assistant pastor Lavern
Romaine. Romaine told me that there has to be 'balance.' His very words
to me on this topic were, "David, too much of the Word and we will dry
up, too much of the Spirit and we will blow up, a correct balance of both
and we grow up."
I never forgot that
conversation with him. I have noted over the years that churches that
marginalize any operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit while lifting
the Word of God high over everything else, (almost to the point of 'Bibliolatry,') can become some what dry in a sense for me personally.
Ok, so you never heard the term Bibliolatry.
Years ago all of us who would go out to the desert to seek the Lord
came up with this term on our own. Today it is in common usage. Bibliolatry is the worship of the Bible or any other text over God Himself.
I
have been in churches that minimize the teaching of the Word of God and
maximize the exercise of the spiritual gifts. Man what a mess! People
looking
like Funky chickens doing that bouncing up and down thing and others
shaking their hands and others shouting like lunatics. I have spiritual
discernment
and in some of those places the Holy Spirit wasn't moving at all, but
they did their thing any way while insisting that the Holy Spirit was
doing those strange things and goings on. Now that is not to say that
such things can not happen, I have seen them happen where the Spirit of
God is indeed moving in the midst.
When
a church teaches the Word of God in it's entirety and allows the balancing
exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there can be such a sweet
manifested presence of God. The sheep need this inspiration of both activities in perfect balance to one another.
1 Corinthians 14:4He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
The
sheep need to be edified. Above we see two ways this can be
accomplished. One is by speaking in tongues. The other is by being
exposed to prophecy. There are many other ways.
When was the last time that you spoke in tongues? When was the last time
that you heard someone give prophecy in a gathering of Christians?
Apostle Paul understood this all too well:
1 Timothy 4:14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Prophecy is declaring the mind and heart of God. It is making known God's will. The laying on of hands is the impartation
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some would teach today that such
things have ceased since we now have the written Word of God. They are
in serious error and are teaching others to be impotent and powerless as
witnesses for Jesus Christ by their false concepts.
2 Peter 1:19We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
They quote the above verse as if it declairs the cessation of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
Christ would have stayed upon the earth and lived out the full extent
of His natural life if this were true. But He had to leave this earth so
that the Holy Spirit could come. Apparently for some reason, unknown to
us at this time, only one person of the trinity can be in resident here
on earth at one time.
Although we see all of them present at the immersion of Jesus by John the immerser.
Luke 3:22And
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a
voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I
am well pleased.
We see the Holy Spirit descending and the Father declairing
and Jesus the Son in the above verse. The Holy Trinity. With in the one
Godhead there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a force or an energy or an essence, He is a person.
We want this person of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Why?
Because
it is He who manifest the presence of Almighty God to us. And anyone
who has ever truly been in a service where the Holy Spirit comes and
manifest Almighty God, never ever forgets that experience, never! Spiritual growth!
Once
you taste of the 'real' of God you can never be satisfied with less
then that. You search and search, looking for that church that 'gets
it.' But you never can seem to find it. You leave disappointed until eventual you give up.
Satan
steps in and tries his best to convince you that it was all a dream. He
gets you to chalk it up to your youthful exuberance or just an
emotional period of your life.
No! It was a genuine manifestation of Almighty God that you were ever so blessed to have experienced.
Years
and years of Bible study can never do for you what just one simple
touch of the Holy Spirit can do for you. It can change your life for the
rest of your days.
The mind listening to teaching is important, but the human spirit being touched by the Holy Spirit is just as important.
John 4:24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Worship Him in your spirit!
The mind.
Ephesians 4:23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Philippians 2:5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Feed your mind on the Word of God.
Ephesians 5:26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Titus 3:5Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost;
Washing of regeneration?
In
biology, an organism is said to regenerate a lost or damaged part if
the part regrows so that the original function is restored. Restoration. Regeneration.
Renewing
of the Holy Spirit. We need this experience that comes of the Holy
Spirit. Therefore this is why I desire the moving of the Holy Spirit as well as teaching from the Word of God!
P.S.
John Courson is one of my favorite Bible teachers after Chuck Smith.
David Sloane
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