I am aware that many of the readers of this publication are not followers of Francis Chan, and for good reason. However, I came across this quote from Chan about the Holy Spirit. I found it to be very insightful and full of truth. He said:
“If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God's kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.”
Talk about a mic-dropping quote! It is so true. I'd even go so far as to say that this has long been Satan's strategy, especially in the last few decades here in the West. The Church of America and in the West has not had the right balance when it comes to the Holy Spirit. It's either abusing and misusing the Holy Spirit, or it tends to ignore the work and power of the Holy Spirit altogether. But that's not scriptural. And we're paying the price for it—dearly!
On one side of the equation, we have those who have abused and counterfeited his power through various schemes. Yes, schemes! There's this business within evangelical Christianity that somehow claims: The Lord wants us to live healthy and prosperous lives by "sowing seeds of faith". They say that's how you get blessed and anointed. Now, I'm not against health and financial well-being, but if that were the case, biblically speaking, then Paul, Peter, John, et. al. were a bunch of frauds or spiritually ignorant, because they were neither wealthy or in Paul's case, healthy. Most were martyred for their faith, except for John. So much for healthy and wealthy!
On the other hand, we have the opposite extreme. Those who seemingly have no regard for the third person of the Trinity. As I said in the podcast: It's as if they're attributing unequal parts to the triune Godhead. Something along the lines of: 45 percent God the Father, 45 percent God the Son, and 10 percent (if that) God the Holy Spirit. That's also completely unscriptural. We know that our Lord is one God yet in three distinct, but equal, persons. The EQUAL part is what we are missing.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:4:
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,”
Seeing how the Lord uses "unlearned" men to speak His words amazes and encourages me! Men like Peter, James, John, and so many others throughout the history of mankind. I want to close by quoting from D.L. Moody's 1881 book, Secret Power, and see if it doesn't apply today more than ever.
D.L. Moody began his work career at the age of 17 in his uncle's shoe store and was never ordained as a minister. Yet his impact in America and abroad was largely due to his availability to the Lord and his reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit to speak through him.
These are the words of a shoe salesman:
1”There has been much inquiry of late on the Holy Spirit. In this and other lands, thousands of persons have been giving attention to the study of this grand theme. I hope it will lead us all to pray for a greater manifestation of His power upon the whole church of God.
How much we have dishonored Him in the past! How ignorant of His grace and love and presence we have been!
True, we have heard of Him and read of Him, but we have had little intelligent knowledge of His attributes, His offices, and His relations to us…
Let others reject, if they will, at their own peril, this imperishable truth. I believe, and am growing more into this belief, that divine, miraculous, creative power resides in the Holy Spirit…
Unless He attend the word in power, vain will be the attempt in preaching it. Human eloquence or persuasiveness of speech are the mere trappings of the dead. If the living Spirit be absent, the prophet may preach to the bones in the valley, but it must be the breath from heaven that will cause the slain to live…
If we want that power to quicken our friends who are dead in sin, we must look to God, and not be looking to man to do it. If we look alone to ministers, if we look alone to Christ's disciples to do this work, we shall be disappointed. If we look to the Spirit of God and expect it to come from Him and Him alone, then we shall honor the Spirit, and the Spirit will do His work.
I cannot help but believe that there are many Christians who want to be more efficient in the Lord's service. It is from the Holy Spirit that we may expect this power.”
😁Have A Nice Day!👍🏻
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Dwight L. Moody, Secret Power (Chicago: Moody, 1881)
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