I also believe He will speak to us if we’re listening. How is this reconciled? Hopefully it will spare me some of the mistakes I made in the years prior to that, thinking I understood so much about God. “If little else of practical benefit comes to you who read this chapter, I pray that you will move forward in your Christian life and in whatever ministry God has given you with a newly found and biblically grounded confidence in the authority and power given to every believer in the name of Jesus. Etymology. One of the reasons is: “If signs, wonders, and miracles were essential in the physical presence of the Son of God, how much more essential are they now in his absence? (See here for full justification.) Sorry about that. 8:12) but to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (Romans 8:13; Col. 3:5-11). Alejandro Espino, Thanks for following up on the article, “12 Reasons Why the Holy Spirit is Not a Person” (Part-1) The verses you brought up are BIG topics which require a full Bible Study on each of them because we need to include the CONTEXT of each verse when trying to understand what it means. However, I missed out on a lot of the spiritual disciplines that were deemed a little too “traditional” or “ritual.” So in the last few years, as my pace has greatly slowed down, God has led me to research and look into some of those older practices. … I call this expression of worship a spiritual gift. Stand firm.” Did Moses copy the Old Testament from other sources? Have a blessed Easter. Miracles? Were the Jews in the first century aware that the Christians claimed they were responsible for the death of Jesus? In other words, if the glorious presence of the Son of God himself did not preclude the need for miraculous phenomena, how can we suggest that our possession of the Bible does?”. As His children, we have a duty to the Father not to live according to the sinful nature (Rom. The latter appendix includes this list: “Twelve Bad Reasons for Being a Cessationist” (one who believes certain gifts have ceased, stopped). Your concluding paragraph is so true: the working of the Spirit is often through people that are quiet and “invisible” as they allow him to move through them. We don’t talk about the Holy Spirit very often, yet this is the gift we have been left by Jesus Christ when He left the earth. Because He is the Holy Spirit. “Fasting is about spiritual indulgence! The Holy Spirit was pretty active during the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. As always, it DOES look like a great book. Speaking in tongues is only spoken to God. God’s work has been the same; it’s just my vision is often distorted. I’m so grateful for that! 1 Cor 12:3 says we cannot say Jesus is Lord unless we have the Spirit, but the Bible teaches we must say Jesus is Lord to receive the Holy Spirit. Your final statement sums it up well for me, too: “I do believe the Holy Spirit works today but I think it’s not always in a way we can predict or control.”. I’ve seen, too, how the extremes on either end can be unhealthy. Honestly, then I was like, this is kind of crazy. I have a preference. Perhaps one of our challenges is that we human types tend to like boxes and our churches seem to often separate on a continuum as a result of our human efforts to under a divine God. We are always driven to fast because we hunger for something more than food.”, “The primary reason God healed through Jesus prior to Pentecost was because he is a merciful, compassionate God. That’s why He asks us to believe! Like other gifts, speaking in tongues is a gift from the Holy Spirit. No! Whichever view you hold, this book might interest you. This happened yesterday at our church as part of Palm Sunday. click here if you can’t see the 1:27 video. Looks like an interesting book. Your email address will not be published. I’m grateful for examples of humility when I’m fortunate enough to see them. But let us see what the Bible says!Speaking with other tongues - that is, the ability to speak by the power of the … I see him at work in my own life and in the lives of those around me. Otherwise, the miraculous was rare in the Old Testament. Thanks for stopping in, Margaret. . Here we have so much and have a harder time understanding that we still need to depend on God. What is the difference between postmillenialism, premillenialism and amillenialism, and which is the more biblical view? He does a balanced job of showing pros and cons of how people have used and misused the gifts in the past. It is not a giving up of food (or some activity) for its own sake. All rights reserved. I have known people who have been miraculously healed, but it hasn’t come by laying on of hands or someone praying over them and pronouncing them healed. those who mostly cultivate fear and reverence and those who aim for joy and love. Sometimes it’s a good thing when you know NOT to finish a book. This is for my RS survey just write any idea's, opinions, thoughts, experience, evidence...whatever! The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee (Eph. Romans 9:1. I did want to hear what you’d have to say on this. My views are still in flux. I have to be careful to not get caught up in MY view, but to trust in God’s plan! . He works in many ways in the lives of Christians as well as working to convict those who are not saved. The Holy Ghost will not dwell in an unclean temple, therefore for Him to work more in our life, or any other spiritual gift, our life must be clean, and ready to receive. The Holy Spirit is very active today. Not everyone is bestowed of this gift. I have spoken with missionaries who work in areas where devil worship is alive and well (and much more out in the open than it is here in the US). A friend says before the universe existed, there was a quantum vacuum that created it. Andrew Budek-Schmeisser April 10, 2017 at 9:28 am. I’ve definitely known MANY more people who have prayed for healing and not received it, than the reverse. The Holy Spirit is a real person, like the heavenly Father and Jesus … “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a. ha. It as more like a number of people praying for them, and when they went back for tests, the tests showed nothing was wrong. “I don’t know for sure” has become a phrase I’ve had to use a lot more in the past several years as well, Michele. Do you believe the Holy Spirit still works today in miraculous ways? Holy Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death (Rom. But it’s one that moves me when others share it. God definitely shows up where he is wanted and in ways he can be seen! Will there be counterfeits posing and acting, yes. The Holy Spirit speaks, He has emotions, He makes choices, He interacts with people, He gives love, wisdom and power, He guides us and teaches us, and so on. Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit still active today? . I think He works in different ways and whatever the situation may be. . I totally agree with you that the Spirit communicates with us when we’re receptive to listen! I know plenty of people who use 1 Corinthians to say that gifts don’t happen today, but I think that verse doesn’t say that at all. those whose greatest fear in worship is emotionalism and those whose greatest fear is intellectualism. There are many, many testimonies of people who weren't even Christians, but have felt the incredible power of the Spirit – often it's been instrumental in their decision to follow Jesus; the Alpha course is built … I think some people are afraid to believe in the gifts, and do not ask to receive. He works in many ways in the lives of Christians as well as working to convict those who are not saved. May you have a Blessed Holy Week! You may or may not change your mind on anything you believe, but in the challenge, you’ll still learn and grow. How is the Holy Spirit active in our lives today? May the Holy Spirit be with you always. Then at a later time I was reading books like The Cross and the Switchblade, famous at the time, where this kind of thing was just taken as perfectly natural. The times I have heard of when these types of gift seem most genuine and most in line with Scriptural examples and teaching have been in situations where people didn’t have the Bible or had been restricted from it. If it once was, it still is, however, there are certain qualification that must be present in our life. But since you asked us to share our thoughts…I did. God is no less merciful, no less compassionate, no less caring when it comes to the physical condition of his people after Pentecost than he was before Pentecost.”, “Don’t ever think of yourself as at one end of a rope and Satan at the other, both of you struggling to overpower the other. Fruit of the Spirit is the product of faith. You speak wisdom here, Ifeoma: “For the most part, whether we think or believe what we want, it doesn’t change who God is.” God is who God is, regardless of what we believe about him. The Holy Spirit not only speaks the words of Jesus to you, but he actually is the one who leads and directs your steps into the abundant life that Jesus promised. Satan is beneath you, in Christ’s name.”, “We are to pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit,’ and be confident that he will, whether or not manifestations follow. According to Acts 5:32 Almighty God Jehovah 'gives holy spirit to those obeying him as ruler', 'they are no part of the world' (John 17:16), Jesus' true disciples. the holy spirit is the active force of God. . Is it Gnosticism? I really enjoyed reading what you have shared here, Pam! It’s always uplifting to hear others’ experiences of how they have seen God at work, in all kinds of places. I missed out a lot on the traditional spiritual disciplines as well, and have enjoyed learning, as an adult, about how to do contemplative prayer, lectio divina, etc., from a nearby Catholic community. the expectation that God should heal everyone who was prayed for and if he didn’t the problem must be a lack of faith. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s Word. We all have much to learn from each other. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of “Christian Science,” characterized the third person of the Trinity as “Divine Science” (n.d., 55). First, the Holy Spirit provides conviction of sin to all people. Maybe we don’t realize how subtle the devil’s power is in our culture, so we don’t pray hard against it. Bible verses about the Holy Spirit. I can’t guarantee that my prayers for the sick will result in healing. I’m sure my opinions on many aspects of spirituality are still majorly flawed, but his underlying truth and grace still cover my errors since I belong to him. Even where they are not, in some (including where we are now) I often sense a powerful evidence of the Holy Spirit. Success is not something we ultimately control. My scripture this mornings hits it pretty well. Please … The tone of the book is positive, not prideful for those who do believe or condemning for those who don’t. You make such a valid point that there is a middle ground between total cessationism and total continuationism (is that a word?) Holy Spirit is the agent by which we are baptized into the body of Christ (1 Cor. Yikes – I didn’t realize how lengthy my response was until it published. Even when we can’t see him, we can know he is with us. While it is a fact that Cornelius did receive a baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:45; 11:15-16), the key to understanding why Holy Spirit baptism is not being replicated today is to be found in discovering the purpose behind the events of Acts 10.. Let me begin by saying there is no reason to deny that Cornelius and his kinsmen actually were given a baptism of the Holy Spirit… 5:16). In other words: if you don’t think it will happen, it’s less likely to. That is why we need to Holy Spirit. I’m so glad you are enjoying Grit. I don't know sir. I suspect that there are many, many miracles, say, of healing, performed by people who don’t advertise them on websites, and whose grateful recipients realize that there is something holy about the right hand not telling the left what it’s doing. Site design and hosting by
Whistlepig Softworks, LLC. I recommend this book be read with an open mind. The drive to figure out and explore what is and what is not about only asked us push towards blurred lines. It sounds like a good book, Lisa! Some go beyond the gifts explained in the Scripture claiming the church now has more power than the apostles had and abilities from new gifts that not … If so, then is the Old Testament not reliable. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He grieves, He knows, He is eternal, He encourages, He gives understanding, He gives peace, He comforts, He directs, and He can be prayed to. Here are a few quotes from selected chapters in Practicing the Power. ***Simple corrections of incomplete sentences*** The Bible shows us clearly what the Holy Spirit is. I do believe the Holy Spirit is very active today, but personally I don’t think what we call the “sign gifts” are what He primarily uses today. I can tell that this is a subject you’ve spent time studying, Linda. Miracles are not used by God to convince people to become a Christian, but to validate that the message is from God. I so appreciate you taking the time to write down these thoughts, Barbara. Question: "What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives today?" Or instead do you believe he stopped moving supernaturally near the end of the first century? And, he maintains, many Christians in the West remain closed to the Spirit and are hampered by fear when it comes to relating to Him and … I agree with you–because I’ve seen the Spirit actively at work in my own life and in the lives of others, I believe that he is definitely still active today. Holy Spirit seals us unto the day of redemption (Eph. ha. I love learning from others who have had different experiences and studies. I’m pretty fond of God in a nice neat box, but I’ve learned that there is peril in this, and am getting more and more comfortable with saying things like, “I don’t know for sure, but I’m hesitant to limit God by saying what He will or won’t do to manifest His glory.”. But it doesn’t negate the presence of the very thing. We likely can all agree on this prayer offered by Storms in his conclusion: “Pray yet again that God would increase your spiritual hunger pangs, that he would intensify your thirst for godly power, that he would never allow you to settle for the status quo.”. It’s hard to argue with that. Miracles abound. 1:13; 4:30). I think as we read about the body of Christ around the world, we often find evidences of extraordinary things occurring. But whether you agree or not, you won’t feel pushed in this book. While that doesn’t negate the healings that do occur, it does remind me that (1) miraculous healing is not something we can conjure up on our own, and that (2) healing doesn’t always look like we think anyway. I wish I could understand his ways better. There is only one God and He is the third divine person of the Trinity. A New Testament scholar is tackling a subject that has confounded sincere Christians across the ages: the identity and function of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. John 16:8 notes, "And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment." Once as a teenager (not having grown up in church or been taught about any of this at that point), I called the advertised phone number of one of the better known Christian TV programs, and I don’t remember if the guy said anything to me about grace or forgiveness or Jesus. CBN.com – The Baptist world was rocked in 1993 when Jack Deere, a former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, published the groundbreaking book, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit – describing the … This is also not a question of can the Holy Spirit give someone a miraculous gift. ” 2 Peter 1: 20 – “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” v21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”. Receiving the Holy Spirit is not only possible, it is essential for Christ-centered living. Being a cessationist doesn’t mean I think the Holy Spirit is inactive or is just waiting behind the scenes quietly until the end of the world. Elon Musk said that religion and/or spirituality, has no place in science Spirit have through... Will happen, it does look like a helpful book and i grieved for woman! 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