If you haven’t read the first two posts in this series, be sure to read them here and here.
In the first two posts of this short series, I’ve taken the time to show Biblically that when a human encounters the presence of God, there’s often times a dramatic effect on their body. For many in the church in the West today, seeing this can sometimes be very distracting or can cause confusion or offense - simply because we are used to our existing church culture. But hopefully I’ve given some encouragement thus far to understand the Lord’s heart for all of us in the midst of moves of God like this is to become more and more humble as Christ was.
Manifestations and bizarre things have been a common occurrence of past revivals. Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, and Jonathan Edwards experienced much of the same things that we see today, and revival historians have documented it well. I may take a post later on and talk about this a little bit, but I want to take this post in the series to answer several of the common questions I’ve received about this topic.
Asking for “more”
Is it “legally possible” and biblical to ask for more of God, more of the gifts of the Spirit, more of His manifest presence, more healings, and more of the "wine" and other “weird stuff”? Are we being greedy?
Most people (myself included) tend to shrink back in false humility when this question is asked. We say “oh, He gives me the gifts He wants to give me. I’m content with them.” or “how dare we have a presumptuous attitude to be greater than Elijah or Jesus was in anointing.” But is this really the posture we should be taking?
Well, our Old Testament example that is contrary to this line of thought is Elijah and Elisha. Elisha loved Elijah so much that he asked God for a “double portion” of Elijah’s anointing. Of course Elijah was the one to call down fire from heaven and stop the rain for three and a half years. Was Elisha greedy in asking God for double? Of course not. The Lord gave it to him because his heart motivation was to bring God glory.
The New Testament example we have is the Corinthian church. This church was walking in so many spiritual gifts and anointings, and for that the apostle Paul commends them. We can get a glimpse into Paul’s words to them in 1 Corinthians 12-14. In chapter 12, Paul outlines the corporate gifts that the Holy Spirit gives. But right at the end of the chapter, he says: “earnestly desire the best gifts.” What? Paul is saying this to the church that already has an abundance of pride because of their abundance in spiritual gifts. The church members are competing with one another and operating in the flesh. Paul knows this but still encourages them in this context to desire the best gifts. He’s essentially saying “I know you’re immature, but don’t give up asking for more! He will help you to do it in love, ask Him!”
There should be no excuse whatsoever to keep asking the Lord for more of His presence, gifts, and power. It’s fully biblical to go for more if we do it with the right attitude. The challenge is not to shrink back because of false humility, fear, or offense. We must pursue the best spiritual gifts by the way of love, where the gifts operate together in the proper order for the edification of the whole body.
It seems like the way that the Holy Spirit’s work is stewarded in our churches today is much like the way it was in the church in Corinth. Because we are not yet that great at the “more excellent way” does not mean that we should stop pursuing the move of the Holy Spirit or become passive to it because of our offense. He is more zealous to mature us than we are. Let’s go for more and ask Him to help us to walk in love as we do it!
”Decently and in order”
“Order does not exist unto itself. The wineskin exists for the wine. The wine is the focus. All order exists to house God Himself – not to restrict Him, but to accurately express Him. Wineskins need to flex in order to be useful, because of the expanding nature of the wine in the fermenting process. The Holy Spirit brings constant change, and to house Him means to embrace flexibility as a way of life.”
- Bill Johnson
“Decently and in order” is a phrase used by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 14:40). After speaking to a church zealous for spiritual gifts and encouraging them to “go for more”, he describes the “more excellent way”, which is to allow the Holy Spirit’s gifts and movements but in a way that is honoring and preferring one another in love. Of course Paul knew that things would still be “messy”, and did not expect instant maturity. He never said “don’t invite the Spirit, and shut down everything until you learn this and can get it right.” On the contrary, he said “keep going for it”!
The presence of the Holy Spirit, the operation of the gifts that He gives, and the way in which He moves among us is something that we are all learning to steward. In a nation where some denominations do not even believe that the gifts of the Spirit are available to us today, we certainly have much more maturing to do. But again, He is more zealous to mature us than we are!
The flesh
What about the guy faking the manifestation or the guy prophesying out of turn or drawing too much attention to himself and acting in the flesh?
Well, there will always be the “fleshly” element in gatherings of believers, sometimes even that extra measure of "hamburger helper" that puts it over the top and leads to confusion and offense in others. It’s part of who we are as fallen humans in varying levels of sanctification.
But even if somebody is faking a manifestation, what harm is it doing to us? Because a manifestation is not a mark of the Lord’s transforming work in a person’s heart, we should not even concern ourselves with the authenticity of them. For me, wrestling over this issue has caused me to see my own pride in a new way. I’m not part of the Holy Spirit’s police force. The Holy Spirit is a great Teacher that really wants to help all of us walk in humility like Jesus did. He doesn’t need our assistance in calling someone out for “faking it”. Our job is simply to keep our eyes on Jesus. He’s a great help for that too! And even if somebody is faking, it’s probably 100 times better to be in a prayer meeting “faking it” than doing the carnal, sinful things they were doing completely disconnected from the Lord last week. Even if they are faking or trying to “jumpstart” something, it simply shows their hunger for the authentic. And hunger is not something that the Lord will deny.
The “weird stuff”
So much of the weird stuff we may encounter in renewal-type meetings is cultural more than anything else. For example, some people wave or “scoop” the Holy Spirit’s presence onto someone with their hand over and over. Others throw Him, and still others swim in Him. They saw somebody do it once and it seemed like it was anointed, so they decided it was a good thing to do too. But the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God. He can’t be scooped, thrown, toked, or swum through. He’s not a force, a wispy ghost, or a ball of light. He is a Person with a real personality.
Does that mean that it’s sinful to “scoop” Him? Of course it’s not sinful. It’s a little strange, but I think the Holy Spirit in His humility still honors those things and touches people. He is more zealous to touch someone’s heart or body than He is removing our slight misunderstanding about Him. The analogy I think of is like a father and son playing. The young boy throws an imaginary ball at his dad, and then his dad pretends to catch it and throw it back. The dad participates in the interaction because he loves his son and wants to thrill him. He doesn’t correct him by saying “son, there’s no real ball, so this is a waste of time”. I believe the Holy Spirit does the same thing with us. It’s all part of our maturing process in the Lord, and we can have fun with Him on the journey.
How do we posture our heart?
Through all this I am convinced that if we keep our eyes set on Jesus, continually fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God, set our heart to 100-fold obedience, fast and pray, and call our friends and peers to the same, all of the criticism from inside and outside the body of Christ about what is happening or not happening at these awakening meetings won’t really matter. Our joy and reward will be Christ Himself, and our heart will be filled with faith and gratitude for what He is doing in the lives of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. What more could we ask for?
As I’ve taken the time to write this series, I’ve become more and more tender towards the Lord, realizing that He absolutely loves being involved in the growth of our heart to full maturity. This is why He comes to heal our body or our heart. He is not shaken or worried about what we do or don’t do, nor is He disappointed because we aren’t getting it “right” quite yet. As our good Father, is enjoying us each step of the way. If we continue to ask Him for help and set our hearts to love and cover in humility, we’ll be divinely escorted forward into all of the great purposes that God has for us as His church. This small awakening at IHOPU is about much more than some good meetings where our students and young adults experience God’s presence and get set free from self-hatred, pornography, and eating disorders. While those things are awesome, God has so many greater purposes in mind. The biggest one is becoming so clear to me - He wants to work in us the depths of humility like we have never known!
Stay tuned to my blog for much more to come on the refreshing, renewal, outpouring, spiritual awakening, revival, or whatever it is you’d like to call it!
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