Spirit

I have heard stories about people who were told they were not saved or had not been baptized by the Holy Spirit, all because they had never spoken in tongues.

I have seen people preach before that based whether or not the Holy Spirit was at work or not, on if “healing” happened at a given event.

I have been in a worship service where people said the Holy Spirit was not part of the worship on that day because the feeling they always get when He is near was absent.

They just didn’t “feel” Him there.

I have been around people that drove every sign of emotion or life out of a church worship setting. Saying that excitement is of Satan and not of the Holy Spirit.  That some how, a reverent, respectful, quite, environment is the only environment where the spirit can work.

I have heard people talk and say that the Holy Spirit cannot bless a service unless there are hymns played by a piano or an organ(or both). I have heard others say there was no way the Holy Spirit would show up at a place that only sang hymns that way.

And we could go on…

It seems there is a search to see some type of outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit that we can recognize, that everyone has, that we all can point to and say… Hey – look – the Holy Spirit is at work right there.  We want it to be miraculous, awesome in nature…

an exciting movement of God.

We want something out of the ordinary.

But that is

those are

not the manifestations He has chosen to show us that He is at work, that He is moving, that He is displaying His power through us.

He uses other means to do that and shows His power through us in ways that are far more superior than a mere miraculous work.

It’s when we find ourselves…

Loving people beyond our capability to Love

Having joy beyond our capability to have it

Bringing peace everywhere we go regardless of what is happening around us

Showing patience beyond our ability to do so

Showing kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, all at supernatural levels.

Supernatural levels…

levels beyond what we thought was possible

beyond what we thought was possible

where we sit back and say…

now that was the Spirit of God working through me, for to show the love of God in the mist of this circumstance is a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit. A true practical, personal, illustration of His power at work in my life.

Galatians 5:22-25