Rosemary pointed out to me this week how she has had a lighter feeling at church. I agreed and noticed some other things that represent the presence of the Holy Spirit at work. It’s a good thing when the Spirit is active and moving. He is always present, but is sometimes restricted by blocks we throw up and our unwillingness to be moved.
Here are some signs that He’s in action:
1. The Spirit convicts; the enemy condemns. You can tell the Holy Spirit is around when you become aware of the ways you fall short and are motivated to become more like the Savior. Satan only condemns and acts like there is no solution or way out.
2. The skys are blue. When the Spirit is moving things seem great, even when there are challenges. The Spirit is always a positive force, an encourager and a mover and a shaker. He excites us about today and encourages us about tomorrow.
3. You hear Him talking. I notice that when the Spirit is active folks around are praying in the Spirit. I’m not sure which comes first. I guess it’s kind of a chicken or the egg thing. But at all times in my life when I have been around people who are bold enough to pray in the Spirit and, when I am joining them, great spiritual things are happening.
4. There is much encouragement about and little negativism. When the Spirit is active, I notice folks encourage each other and don’t spend a lot of time pointing out flaws. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.1 Thessalonians 5:11
5. The body is being built up. When the Spirit is active, new faces show up and old faces are maturing. New guys and old guys need each other. The new ones need to feed off the maturity and experience of the long term believer and the old timers need the enthusiasm and excitement of the new believer. When the Spirit is active, these things seem to be in balance.
6. There are many happy faces. Church life is meant to be “filled with the Spirit.” With it comes joy. Sure there is challenge. Perhaps even more so than when things are stagnant. There may be change and we don’t always adopt well to change. There is a commercial for some drug which has this as a tag line: “A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.” This is actually a restatement of one of Newton’s Laws of Motion. It’s really one of the spiritual laws of a health church body. It may be another expression of: Connect, Grow, Serve.
If you see something happening, be happy. That’s the Spirit. That’s a very good thing.
Be blessed.
Nick
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