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Categories Book Notes, Faith

Our incomplete theology

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 3: Theology of the Holy Spirit 101

“I’m reading this book by Francis Chan called Forgotten God–”

“Forgotten God?” my dad quizzed.

I described the thesis of the book as I understand it now: Chan believes that Christians have “forgotten” the third person of the Trinity and need to remember Him again.

“I think he’s right.” Dad replied–and went on to tell me that he’d just been thinking that same thing in relation to the Nicene Creed. He quoted the pertinent passage:

“And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.”

And I thought, “Huh, yeah. He’s right.”

When was the last time I heard a sermon on the Holy Spirit–on who He is, not just what He does? I have no idea. When was the last time I heard a hymn of adoration to the Holy Spirit? I can’t remember. My church does not publicly recite the creeds, so I know it has been years since I heard or recited the Nicene creed.

This fundamental confession of our faith declares that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life–and that He is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and Son–but I see little evidence that the church accords the Spirit the same adoration that they do the Father and the Son.

I remember one particular year where I found myself in a liturgical church on Pentecost Sunday. My own church is not liturgical and pays no mind to the liturgical calendar except for lighting advent candles (frequently in the wrong order, although I try to refrain from being nit-picky)–so I know better than to expect a Pentecost sermon on Pentecost there. But in a liturgical church, I had high hopes of hearing a true Pentecost sermon–a sermon on the Holy Spirit. Sure enough, the readings were rife with mention of the Holy Spirit. My anticipation mounted for the sermon–and then was quickly dashed when the pastor mentioned the Holy Spirit exactly…never…in his sermon. Forgotten God is right.

Recently, I was visiting the website of some churches in my area–and I found a “statement of faith” that quoted from Mike Yaconelli of Youth Worker Magazine from Nov/Dec 2003:

“We’re about Jesus. We know He’s a part of the Trinity and all the other important stuff we also believe, but if we’re honest, we’re partial to Jesus. Don’t get us wrong. God is like a Father-no, God IS the Father-and the buck stops with Him (if you’re going to have the buck stop somewhere it might as well stop with Someone who is…well…all about love with a capital L. Of course, He’s also about justice with a capital J, but we’ll take out chances that, in the end, justice will also feel like love!) And then there is the Holy Spirit-mysterious, windy, seems to like fire a lot, whispering, and always pointing us to…you guessed it…Jesus. We not only like Jesus a lot, He likes us a lot, enough to die for us. We know that when life gets tough (and it always does) He’ll be there for us.

I was absolutely shocked by the way this “statement of faith” treated the Holy Spirit. Mysterious, windy, pyromaniac whisperer who points at Jesus? Honestly? I understand that within the original context, this likely (hopefully) was never intended to be a distillation of belief about the Trinity. Yet I don’t doubt that this is the essence of many a Christian’s beliefs regarding the Holy Spirit.

Even as I look at my own church’s statement of faith–I see discussion of the Holy Spirit, but more in reference to the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” than in regard to WHO the Holy Spirit truly is.

It’s a hole in our theology. The word theology strictly means theos-God, -logy-study. The study of God. Yet we study the Father, we glorify the Son, and we forget about the Holy Spirit–or at best, turn Him into little more than a cosmic gift-giver. We’ve got an incomplete theology–only two-thirds formed. The Christian God is a triune God. Why then do we not include all three persons of the Trinity in our theology?

Seeing a hole in our theology makes me glad that Chan chooses not to jump right into the “practice” of the Holy Spirit–into charismata or the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” or even the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that accompanies Christian witness. Instead, Chan takes the time to establish a basic (although non-comprehensive) theology of the Holy Spirit–both who He is and what He does.

Some of Chan’s main points:

  • The Holy Spirit is a person
  • The Holy Spirit is God
  • The Holy Spirit is eternal and holy
  • The Holy Spirit has His own mind, and He prays for us
  • The Holy Spirit has emotions
  • The Holy Spirit has His own desires and will
  • The Holy Spirit is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient

It seems to me that we can easily fall into a trap of either ignoring the Holy Spirit entirely or considering Him as a means to our own ends. Either way, we tend to deny Him His deity.

My heart, then, is to reverse this trend–starting with myself. I want to know the Holy Spirit so that I might worship and glorify Him together with the Father and the Son.

I love the description Chan gives of why the Christian should be interested in the theology of the Holy Spirit:

“Know that even as you seek to understand the Spirit more, He is so much more and bigger than you will ever be able to grasp. This is not an excuse to stop seeking to know Him, but don’t limit Him to what you can learn about Him. The point is not to completely understand God but to worship Him. Let the very fact that you cannot know Him fully lead you to praise Him for His infiniteness and grandeur.”

Why should I develop my theology of the Holy Spirit? In order that I might worship Him–and the entire Trinity–more fully.

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Recap

Recap (April 25-May 1)

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Busy week –> Not much blog reading –> Short Recap

Sorry, folks–since I know you all look forward to these recaps SO much! :-P

On bekahcubed

Book Reviews:

  • Home by Julie Andrews.

Photo Albums:

On the web

Laugh out loud funnies:

Books for the TBR list:

Thought-provoking posts:

  • Eric does it again, with a beautiful post that brought tears to my eyes. On reading the Bible “in context”:

    “The problem with seminary – and with insular churches, self-righteousness, and every other manifestation of Christian isolationism – is that it never reads Luke 4 in this setting. It never sees the bondage of addiction, the blindness of unbelief, or the poverty of the truly poor on their own terms. Since we live in a world that is very good at pretending its problems are small, Isaiah’s promise ends up feeling pretty small too. Put another way, many Christians fail to see the transformative power of the gospel because the only sick people they know hide their cancer behind closed doors and strained smiles. Here, they wear it on their sleeves (sometimes literally – I’m guessing that rainbow on my favorite waitress’s t-shirt isn’t meant to be a Care Bears reference).”

    Read the whole post.

Categories Education

Dead Week

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At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the week before finals is “Dead Week”–the week in which professors are not supposed to give homework or tests unless previously scheduled. Of course, this just means that the professors are careful to schedule homework and tests in advance.

My modus operadi throughout my undergraduate career was to get sick every dead week. I’m moderately (Hah!) Type A and tend to work myself rather hard over the course of the semester. By dead week, my body has had enough of the stress I’ve inflicted upon it and it simply gives in. I stay in bed for a week, wishing I were dead–and then rise again on the seventh day to take finals.

Then came grad school.

I don’t remember whether I got sick in my first few semesters of grad school. It all begins to blur in my mind. But I do know what this semester’s dead week has looked like–and I definitely had no time to get sick.

I TA for a class of 200 students–and we gave them an assignment due last Thursday. So I’ve been frantically grading all week. Then on Thursday, I administered a lab practical to my other (much smaller) class. My supervisor and I sat down right away to get the practicals graded.

I had a job interview on Tuesday (I didn’t get the job–which I’m feeling ambivalent about.) I had a bit of an emotional shock on Wednesday. I had a major physical shock on Thursday. And yesterday, I baked a cake.

Actually, it wasn’t just a cake. It was a cake plus several dozen cupcakes. My sister is throwing a bridal shower for our sister-in-law-to-be today, and she’d asked me to prepare the cake. No problem. But our family…well, we have a rather large family. And even with half of the invitees not being able to show up, we’re still expecting 35 or so at the shower. So LOTS of cake making and decoration was in order.

My sister and our good friend Mary are in town for the shower–so I spent some time with them last night.

And I woke up today with an allergy-stuffed nose, a pressure-related headache, a heaviness in my fingers and toes that indicates dehydration, and a realization that I’d made it through dead week without getting sick.

Let’s hope I can do the same for finals week.

Categories Everyday Life

Revenue Generating

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Yesterday, I got done with my classes and walked to my car, nonchalantly contemplating all that I had to do that evening and thinking about the job interview I’d had that morning–nothing much really.

When I reached my car, I stopped short at the sight of–no it couldn’t be–

Parking ticket

But it was. A parking ticket. How on earth? My mind ran through the options. I’d parked there at 3:45 pm, the area was two hour parking between 8 am and 5 pm with no limit after 5. So I only spent 1 hr and 15 minutes there between the regulated hours.

I was considering my options, thinking through the appeal process, when I opened the envelope and discovered the true issue.

Parking Ticket

“Invalid registration.”

My mind tried processing this new information.

“Let’s see, I bought Lucy last year after the car accident. The car accident was at the end of February. I drove a rental through March. And I bought Lucy in April, right?”

Except that I checked when I dropped off my recycling at the recycling collection place.

No, I must have bought it in March.

Oh, that’s what happened. I’m remembering it now. I bought JACK, my previous car in April–and so I’d paid registration through April on the car that was totalled in the accident. Didn’t they try to arrange something to reimburse me for that extra month or something?

Yeah. That’s right.

Okay, so my car does indeed have invalid registration. My plates expired last month. I’ll accept that.

License plate

The question is–why didn’t I get a postcard reminding me that registration was due and telling me what I owed?

I haven’t changed my address. I’m the one who gets the mail, so I doubt it’s a matter of the postcard getting lost on my end.

Hmmm….

Conspiracy theories arise in my mind–and I’ve suddenly got it figured out.

They’re doing some old-fashioned revenue generating. Save $0.28 on the postcard, get $100 from the ticket, and still end up getting the registration in the end. It’s a fantastic racket.

So do the smart thing and check your registration today. Put the expiration on your calendar and don’t get caught by the racketeering state and local government.

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (April 2010)

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It’s time again to report the contents of our Nightstands, a la 5 Minutes 4 Books. I was hoping to be able to link up before I left for my interview–but I s’pose 6 am is a little early to expect a post to be up by. So enjoy browsing my books and check out 5M4B to see more Nightstand posts.

Last month’s nightstand:

On my nightstand

What I actually read this month was:
(Links lead to my reviews of the book, never to a site selling you something.)

Fiction

  • The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen
  • Divine and Human (and other stories) by Leo Tolstoy
    I haven’t read many short stories since my anthology days in middle school–but this collection of short stories by Tolstoy definitely piqued my interest. Like I noted when I reviewed Resurrection, Tolstoy’s characters are fantastic and the interactions between them often complex–but Tolstoy tends to moralize and certain of the stories can be heavy-handed in their conviction that socialism is the appropriate application of Christ’s words. Now that I’ve read a collection of Tolstoy’s works from after his conversion to Christ and embrace of pacifism and socialism, maybe I’ll have to read some of his earlier, better known works. Anybody got suggestions for my next Tolstoy read?
  • Mozart’s Sister by Nancy Moser
  • Once upon a Summer by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • Bible Babel by Kristin Swenson
  • Biology: High School Review by Princeton Review
  • The Blue Zone by Daniel Buettner
  • The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
  • Home by Julie Andrews.
  • Male/Female Roles: Opposing Viewpoints
  • The Power of Half by Kevin and Hannah Salwen
  • The Ten Big Lies About America by Michael Medved
  • Unveiling Islam by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner
    I also wrote extensive notes on this title as I read it.
  • Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
    I made several recipes from this book and was quite pleased with the results. I modified a recipe for honey glazed parsnips and liked it so much that I posted my modified version. I’ll probably be checking this one out of the library again–it has TONS of vegetable recipes, most of which can be easily modified as needed. This is a book worth having.
  • Words to Live By by Charles Panati
  • The World’s Last Night and other essays by C.S. Lewis
  • A Year of Blind Dates by Megan Carson

Juvenile

  • Catch-up Children’s Picture Books ALBOROUGH-ALIKI (11 titles) including:
  • Children’s Picture books author ALLARD-ANDERSEN (68 titles) including:
  • The Haunted Cabin Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
  • Inkdeath by Cordelia Funke
    It took me several chapters to get hooked into Inkheart. I slipped easily back into that world with Inkspell. And Inkdeath absolutely captivated me. This is a rare trilogy that improves with every tale.
  • The Melted Coins by Franklin Dixon

This month’s nightstand

On my nightstand

Fiction

  • Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
    Added to my TBR list after reading a review by Framed and Booked
  • Lost in Rooville by Ray Blackston
  • Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser
  • Where Love is, There God is also by Leo Tolstoy
    I’m dancing around reading the big two: Anna Karenina and War and Peace. I think my library has one more collection of short stories that I can procrastinate with before I start in on the two that still manage to majorly intimidate me (despite the fact that I enjoyed Resurrection–which is almost as long as Anna Karenina–a great deal.)
  • The Winds of Autumn by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

  • The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
    Added to my TBR list based on somebody’s review–but unfortunately this was before I started saving the locations of all the reviews that got added to my TBR list.
  • Dave Barry Does Japan by Dave Barry
  • Five Aspects of Woman by Barbara Mouser
    Didn’t end up starting this one last month–I had so many other books to read, not to mention going to school and teaching. I plan on starting on this as soon as I’m done with Forgotten God
  • **Forgotten God by Francis Chan
    So far, I’m loving this book about the Holy Spirit. Check out my notes on the first few chapters here.
  • The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket
    I’ve picked up this blogger’s book before and enjoyed perusing it–but didn’t have time to finish it before I sent it back to the library. Maybe this time I’ll get all the way through it.
  • **Get Married: what women can do to help it happen by Candace Watters
    I read about this when Carrie reviewed it last fall–and then essentially forgot about it. Something or another reminded me of it while I was blog-hopping a week or two back and I figured I’d ILL it. It’s a slightly different perspective than the “If God wants you to marry, He’ll land someone in your lap” perspective so common in the Christian world today. So far, it’s quite interesting.
  • Human Rights: Opposing Viewpoints
    After reading on that human rights treatise disguised as a children’s book, I figured I might look a little deeper at how folk define “human rights”.
  • Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness
    A quote book. I probably like them just a little too much.
  • Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
    Another title I’ve barely had a chance to look at this month. Since I’ll likely be just working on thesis this summer (not working or going to school else-wise), I might have a bit of extra time to peruse this cookbook with its extensive nutritional/ideological sidebars.
  • **The Occasional Vegetarian by Karen Lee
    Vegetarian recipes for people who aren’t necessarily anti-meat, but who just want to go meatless more often. I’ve made one recipe already–it was pretty good but a little too fussy for everyday use. I hope to make a few more recipes before I have to take this title back to the library.
  • **On Grief and Grieving by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler
    I read the first few chapters of this book after my mom recommended looking into the stages of grief. I found the discussion of stages of grieving very helpful. However, since I’m not dealing with grief from a death, which the book is primarily geared towards, I’m not sure if I plan to finish the rest. For now, it may have served its purpose.
  • The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
    Another one on the TBR list that I can’t pinpoint the source of.
  • Superhuman by Robert Winston and Lori Oliwenstein
    It seems to be a book about how our bodies fight disease–and about modern medical technology. It seems especially interesting to me since my brother is in biological systems engineering and works quite a bit with biomedical appliances and the like (currently, he’s doing some research with adult stem cells.)

Juvenile

  • Children’s Picture Books author ANDERSON-?
  • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
  • The Deserted Library Mystery created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • The Shortwave Mystery by Franklin Dixon
  • Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

What's on Your Nightstand?

**The asterisks marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

Drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Home” by Julie Andrews

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I’m not a huge audiobook fan–but I’m even less of a long-drive-on-my-own fan. So when I was planning on visiting my sister during Spring Break, I figured I’d pick up an audiobook to occupy me on the drive up and down. After browsing the library’s collection for what seemed like forever, finding little that interested me, I finally settled on Julie Andrew’s Home read by the author herself.

It turned out I didn’t listen to it on the way up to my sister’s–I was too worked up about other things and needed that couple of hours to pray. I did start the discs on my way back home. And since it’s now springtime when I riding places (on my bicycle) rather than driving, I’ve been listening to Home in my car for weeks now. When you’re listening in fifteen minute chunks or less, it takes an awful long time to get through a book–especially when those listening times are pretty infrequent.

The first few chapters of this title weren’t that interesting to me. Andrews starts her story with a short biography of her parents and then reports her life chronologically. She goes into quite a bit of detail that is frankly boring. Only the melodious qualities of Andrews’ voice kept me listening.

Once Andrews got her first Broadway gig, singing the part of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, the content suddenly picked up and I started sitting in my garage to finish a chapter after a jaunt around the town. Julie speaks of the people she met, the plays and shows she did, the places she lived, and the experience of traveling back and forth from England to America.

The story at this point probably appealed to me the most because of my long-time infatuation with My Fair Lady. I loved hearing about the antics Rex Harrison pulled on set and the difficulties Andrews had learning a Cockney accent. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes stories, the differences between the Broadway and the London shows, and the struggles of maintaining a voice during a 7-show-a-week Broadway run. Likewise, I enjoyed Andrews’ reminisces about working with Richard Burton in Camelot.

I wonder if I would be more inclined to recommend this book if I had read it rather than listening to it. Since silent reading is much faster than reading outloud, I probably could have easily skimmed through Andrews’ early life and gotten right to the exciting bits of her stage career instead of being bogged down with hours of girlhood anecdotes that seem to have little meaning in the overall framework of the story.

As it is, I can only give this lukewarm ratings. Andrews’ (physical) voice is always beautiful and her stage career is fascinating–but I couldn’t care about the lukewarm facts and anecdotes Andrews shared from her childhood. It was as if Andrews’ (authorly) voice abruptly shifted halfway through the title, from being a dispassionate historian of her childhood to being a refined but slightly gossipy actress reminiscing about old times. If the book had been cut in half, telling only the story of Andrews’ Broadway days, I would have been much more delighted.

Rating: 2 Stars
Category: Memoir
Synopsis: Julie Andrews reminisces about her life from birth through her Broadway career immediately prior to starring in the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins
Recommendation: If this book had been split in half and only the second half published, it would have been a much stronger book and worthy of my recommendation. As it is, it’s a take-it-or-leave-it title.

Categories Book Notes, Faith

The Holy Spirit terrifies me

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 2: What are you afraid of?

Chan’s first question made me think. His second question no less, but in a completely different way. To answer the first question, I had to dig deep into Scripture. To answer the second, I have had to plumb the depths of my own soul.

Chan’s second questions is: “What are you afraid of?”

It’s not an easy question to answer, for fear can be a subtle captor, binding one with chains so light they almost seem not to exist except for the inability to move.

I’m afraid I’ll lose things I value if I surrender my life to the Holy Spirit. I have known many who have given up houses, jobs, comfort, and possessions in order to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to the mission field. I have known some who have lost friendships, even family, over differences in doctrine regarding the Holy Spirit. I, too, have experienced loss as a result of my beliefs regarding the Holy Spirit.

I am afraid of surrendering, of letting the Holy Spirit be my guide rather than setting my own agenda. What if He leads me where I don’t want to go? What if He leads me to take up my cross? What if He leads me to leave father and mother, career and family, dreams and aspirations? What if His plan for my life is different than my own?

I am afraid of the heresy I have seen in experientially-based charismatic movements. I have seen those who have latched on to the prosperity gospel, making God into little more than a cosmic gift giver. I have seen those who have replaced Scripture with prophecy, “words from God”, and ecstatic experiences. I have seen how this folly has borne destruction in my friends and peers, leading them away from God, from true doctrine, and from holy character.

I am afraid that saying “Yes” to the Spirit is turning off my brain. I have seen many for whom that is true. Convinced of the wisdom of following “the Spirit”, they throw all logic and thought to the wind. They act in ridiculous ways, following half-baked schemes with more enthusiasm than wisdom–and then wonder when the results aren’t what they expected.

Ultimately, I have two fears–both very valid but very different.

The first fear is the fear of having to die to self in order to let the Spirit reign. This fear is completely founded. As Chan says,

“The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be….The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful.”

There is no doubt about it: surrender to the Holy Spirit means dying to self, but it also means experiencing the greatest joy–knowing Christ and being conformed into His image.

The second fear is a fear of being experience-based rather than truth-based, and being led to error thereby. This fear is based on experience–on seeing many who have been led into error in their emphasis on the charismatic gifts. But the fruits I saw were not the fruits of the Spirit. They were the fruits of an immature faith, of believers who were tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine, not testing the spirits to see that they are from God.

This second fear need not be an issue, so long as I am truly led by the Spirit–because the Spirit does not lead into error but into truth. The Spirit does not lead into debauchery but into self-control. I must not equate the fleshy outcome of some charismatic indulgence with the actual activity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion, error, and sin. He is the author of discernment, truth, and righteousness.

I tremble in fear as I approach the throne of God to ask that His Holy Spirit take control of my life. I beg Him that I might know His love–and that His love would drive away my fear of relinquishing control. I beg Him that He might lead me in all truth–and that my path would be kept far from the error of experientialism. My knees knock and I fall in terror. Lord, I don’t want to relinquish control. I don’t want to die to self. I don’t want to lose my life. But I want to be led by Your Spirit. I want to see and know You. I want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. So despite my fear, I surrender. Holy Spirit, have Your way in me.

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Recap

Recap (April 18-24)

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On bekahcubed

Book Reviews:

On the web

Books for the TBR list:

  • Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
    A novel about a missionary nun-nurse who gets pregnant (by her doctor?). Set in Ethopia and narrated by one of the nun-nurse’s twin sons, this book sounds like an intriguing story.
  • Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
    A young adult novel about a kidnapped girl who has been abused at the hands of her captor for 7 years. Sounds brutal.
  • The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
    A doctor delivers his own twins and discovers that one has Down syndrome. He commits one to a nurse to deliver to an institution–but the nurse instead takes the daughter with Down syndrome and raises her as her own.
  • Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
    I don’t really understand the appeal of graphic novels. But this is not a graphic novel but a graphic memoir, telling the story of Small’s childhood and the surgery that left him mute. Interesting.

Projects to try:

  • My friend Kayla is working on a project. She’s doing a new thing every day–which is a cool project in its own right. But this week, one of her new things was folding little money shirts. These are absolutely awesome. I think maybe I’ll put it on my list for when I decide to try a new thing every day!

Thought-provoking posts:

  • Jon Acuff on worrying about the little things:

    “Like a college student who on the night before a final finds a million reasons to clean their dorm room instead of studying, we clean our metaphorical rooms. We avoid writing the big paper and wrestling with grace by worrying about makeup and dancing and a million little other things that make our faith seem really little and manageable.

    But grace cannot be managed.”

  • Tim Challies asks: Is error in doctrine always sin? A thought provoking post on difference is doctrine and the role of conscience.

Videos worth seeing:

  • My sister gives a tour of our neighborhood–after running away from the guy at the front door.
Categories Book Notes, Faith

The Undeniable Activity of the Spirit

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Notes on Francis Chan’s
Forgotten God
Chapter 1: I’ve got Jesus. Why do I need the Spirit?

In the first chapter of Forgotten God Chan encourages his readers to ask themselves a seemingly simple question:

“When was the last time I undeniably saw the Holy Spirit at work in or around me?”

It seems simple but for the difficult corollary question: How can I incontrovertibly identify the Spirit’s working? How can I be sure that what I see is the Spirit at work?

Acts 2 gives an example of the undeniable activity of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit. They start speaking in tongues. They’ve got tongues of fire sitting on them. Wind is rushing through the house they’re in. This is undeniably the action of the Holy Spirit.

But if you asked me the last time I saw something like that, I’d have to say…Never. I’ve never heard a rushing wind through a house. I’ve never seen tongues of fire resting on people’s heads. I’ve heard people speak in tongues–but then I’ve also heard people babble in imaginary languages. So I don’t know that I can claim that as an undeniable act of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve known people who would exclaim after a particularly emotional church service that “the Spirit was sure moving tonight.” But how do we know that? I’ve seen people emotionally moved by political speeches–but that doesn’t mean the Spirit was moving.

I’ve known people who identified “goosebumps” moments as the working of the Spirit. But I get goosebumps when it’s cold and shivers up my spine when I see a cool scene in a movie. That doesn’t mean the Spirit is at work.

So what is an undeniable act of the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do that only the Holy Spirit does–so that when I see it, I can clearly identify the activity of the Holy Spirit?

A quick word study of “Spirit” in the New Testament highlights a few main activities of the Spirit.

Scripture is clear that the Spirit is active in salvation. He washes, justifies, and sanctifies the believer (I Cor 6:11, II Thess 2:13, Titus 3:5, I Pet 1:2). He grants access to the Father (Eph 2:18). He frees us from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). He gives life (John 6:63, II Cor 3:6).

The Spirit gives the believer assurance of salvation. It is in the Spirit that we cry out “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:16, Gal 4:6). The Spirit is given as a guarantee (II Cor 5:5, Eph 1:13-14). At salvation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14, Eph 4:30).

The Spirit of God is intimately involved in sanctification of the believer. It is by the Spirit that the believer puts to death the deeds of the body (Rom 8:13). When one walks in the Spirit, he no longer fulfills the lust of the flesh (Gal 5:16). The Spirit produces fruit of godly character in the believer: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, righteousness, and truth (Gal 5:22-23, Eph 5:9). The Holy Spirit transforms the believer into the image of Christ (II Cor 3:18).

The Holy Spirit gives understanding of the things of God. He teaches and brings to remembrance the things that Jesus said (John 14:26). He speaks what He hears from Jesus (John 16:13-15). In Him, the mystery of Christ is revealed (Eph 3:5). Indeed, Scripture says that no one can understand the things of God except by the Spirit of God (I Cor 2:10-12)

The Holy Spirit is a witness to God and enables believers to be witnesses. Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, He will testify of Christ (John 15:26). He promised that when the Spirit comes, the disciples would receive power and be witnesses to Christ (Acts 1:8). When the early church was filled with the Spirit, they testified boldly of Christ (Acts 4:31, 5:32; 18:5). John repeats that the Spirit of God witnesses (I John 5:6-8), and expands it to say that we can test the spirits to know if a spirit is the Spirit of God by whether or not the spirit confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (I John 4:1-3).

The Holy Spirit additionally enables tongues, prophesy, and a variety of other gifts (Acts 2:4, 10:45-46, 11:28, 19:6, 21:4; Romans 12:7-12). The Holy Spirit gives the believer hope and comfort (Acts 9:31, Rom 15:13, Gal 5:5). The Holy Spirit gives direction (Acts 8:29, 10:19, 13:2, 16:6-7, 20:28).

Ultimately, the Holy Spirit enables the believer to say that Jesus is Lord. I Corinthians 12:3 states that there is one thing that the Spirit and only the Spirit can do. No one can do this thing without the Holy Spirit’s enabling.

“Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Cor 12:3)

So how can I know undeniably that the Holy Spirit is at work? I know if the word of God is being boldly proclaimed, if people are being saved, if the saints have assurance of salvation, if there is understanding of the Scriptures, if believers are being freed from the power of sin and are walking in godly character, if believers walk with a clear sense of direction, if believers have hope, if believers are walking in the gifts of the Spirit.

Ultimately, if the Holy Spirit is at work, the Lordship of Christ will be both proclaimed and demonstrated through the lives of believers.

In the Bible study Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby talks of things that only God can do. The aforementioned list is a list of things that only God, working through the Spirit, can do.

So tell me, does your life show evidence of the Holy Spirit at work? Does your church show evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work? Or does your life indicate that you are quenching the Spirit (I Thess 5:19)–not allowing Him access to do His thing?

When I answer that question, I have to say–yes, the Spirit is alive in me. My life does show some evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work. I have assurance of salvation. I have hope in Him. These are things only God can accomplish in me. But am I experiencing the full activity of the Holy Spirit? No. I do not have boldness as a witness of Christ. There are many areas in which I have not, by the Spirit, put to death the works of the flesh. My attitudes and actions only occasionally reflect Christ-like character.

Yet the Spirit of God dwells inside of me. That is true. I do not need to be “filled with the Spirit” as if He was not already inside me. I was sealed with the Holy Spirit at salvation. That’s a done deal. But, maybe, as Chan suggests, I have “forgotten” or ignored the Holy Spirit. Instead of walking according to the Spirit, I have walked according to the flesh–and in doing so, I have reaped of the flesh.

Like Chan, I have to say:

“…I am tired of living in a way that looks exactly like people who do not have the Holy Spirit of God living in them. I want to consistently live with an awareness of His strength. I want to be different today from what I was yesterday as the fruit of the Spirit becomes more manifest in me. I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit’s leading on a daily basis. Christ said that it is better for us that the Spirit came, and I want to live like I know that is true. I don’t want to keep crawling [like a caterpillar] when I have the ability to fly [as a butterfly, a new creation, alive by the Spirit].”

(See more notes on Forgotten God here.)

Categories Education

The Reluctant Instructor

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Wei Ming was one of my student employees when I was managing at Harper Dining Services. He was there when I started and there when I left. I believe he graduated the same semester I began my internship. In general, he was a quiet but conscientious employee.

Fast forward a year. I arrived in my statistics lab to discover that the TA was none other than my old employee Wei Ming. I wondered if it might be odd–being under a student I was once over. But my fears were unfounded. Wei Ming has turned out to be a knowledgeable and articulate teacher.

Our professor was gone today and will be gone on Monday, so Wei Ming is teaching the class. He confessed in lab on Wednesday that he was not looking forward to teaching. My thoughts on hearing that were somewhat different–and rightly so. Under today’s reluctant instructor, I understood the subject material better than I have in weeks.