Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
More of the Holy Spirit
Presented by Louise Stahnke
Pentecost Sunday 2006
It is easy to take the presence of the Holy Spirit for granted, just as we learn to take those we live with for granted on occasions. They are just always there. But the gift of this ever present Spirit of God really only came with the first Pentecost experience. The Bible is full of references to the Spirit of God, beginning in creation and Genesis to “The
Spirit and the Bride say come” in Revelations. The experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit was sporadic during Old Testament times, appearing at times of special anointing upon the prophets or other major leaders. In the absence of the Holy Spirit, people were left with a complex system of laws as a way of being “at one” with God.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus proclaimed from the words of Psalms, found in Luke 4:16-21 ….
Yet while He walked on earth, Jesus was the visible God, the focus of attention. But Jesus was limited to one place at a given time. We catch glimpses of the disciples showing confusion over who Jesus really is, in turmoil, troubled, probably daily caught off balance. I suspect those 3 years were a time of great instability for those men as they were being constantly stretched and molded. And I suspect we have some real advantages they would have appreciated, for as Christians we are privileged to have the Holy Spirit constantly living within us. He becomes our source of an
internal stability the original disciples may well have envied. Resurrection contacts with Jesus brought his followers great hope and joy. Finally all doubt that He was truly the Son of God was gone. Then our Lord ascended into Heaven to be with His Father, leaving his followers bound in much fear, yet hopeful. I imagine they also found
themselves increasingly lonely for Jesus. Can you remember times you have felt keenly the absence of one dearly loved? I suspect it was with this longing, this deep hunger to be in Jesus’ presence again, that they followed His instructions to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it was this deep, deep hunger that brought the gift of Pentecost.
As the Spirit came upon his followers, He brought great power and love. Power to communicate freely through the gifts of tongues. Power that blew fear totally away. Power to Peter to preach clearly and strongly, allowing the Spirit himself to bring conviction to 3000 people. Power to give birth to the church. The Holy Spirit also gave the early church all the gifts that would be needed to build it up and carry out its ministry. He does so today as well. All that He gave the followers of Jesus that Pentecost morning, He is wanting to give us as well. It is easy to be afraid of power, unless we understand that His is the power of love. The power of love will not abuse.
The Holy Spirit will never violate our free will, never force His good gifts upon us. It is His power living within us that enables us to know Jesus, to sense His presence with us. Often the power of the Holy Spirit comes to us gently, gives us comfort and beautiful gifts of peace when we have no earthly reason to be peaceful. Before we become Christians, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that awakens in us our need for Jesus. I believe He does this from a place outside of us.
As we claim Jesus as our Savior, this same Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence within us. He teaches us, leads us, seeks to guide us and strengthen us in our walk with Jesus. He can do this especially well when we make time and find ways to pay attention to Him. Sort of like paying attention in algebra class. We learn a lot more when we do. As we grow in our walk, we find we don’t get filled up. We want more and more of Jesus because experiences are teaching us the truth about his love, truth that difficult childhood experiences can make hard to find or understand. And when we become hungry enough for more, the Holy Spirit is always ready to give us more, until our Lord Jesus becomes truly master of the home He is making within us. And even then, the hunger continues. If you find you aren’t hungry for more of Jesus, more of God the Father, more of the Holy Spirit in your life, I invite you to ask for the gift of hunger. It will lead to a feast that is well worth being at.
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
More of the Holy Spirit
Presented by Louise Stahnke
Pentecost Sunday 2006
It is easy to take the presence of the Holy Spirit for granted, just as we learn to take those we live with for granted on occasions. They are just always there. But the gift of this ever present Spirit of God really only came with the first Pentecost experience. The Bible is full of references to the Spirit of God, beginning in creation and Genesis to “The
Spirit and the Bride say come” in Revelations. The experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit was sporadic during Old Testament times, appearing at times of special anointing upon the prophets or other major leaders. In the absence of the Holy Spirit, people were left with a complex system of laws as a way of being “at one” with God.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus proclaimed from the words of Psalms, found in Luke 4:16-21 ….
Yet while He walked on earth, Jesus was the visible God, the focus of attention. But Jesus was limited to one place at a given time. We catch glimpses of the disciples showing confusion over who Jesus really is, in turmoil, troubled, probably daily caught off balance. I suspect those 3 years were a time of great instability for those men as they were being constantly stretched and molded. And I suspect we have some real advantages they would have appreciated, for as Christians we are privileged to have the Holy Spirit constantly living within us. He becomes our source of an
internal stability the original disciples may well have envied. Resurrection contacts with Jesus brought his followers great hope and joy. Finally all doubt that He was truly the Son of God was gone. Then our Lord ascended into Heaven to be with His Father, leaving his followers bound in much fear, yet hopeful. I imagine they also found
themselves increasingly lonely for Jesus. Can you remember times you have felt keenly the absence of one dearly loved? I suspect it was with this longing, this deep hunger to be in Jesus’ presence again, that they followed His instructions to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it was this deep, deep hunger that brought the gift of Pentecost.
As the Spirit came upon his followers, He brought great power and love. Power to communicate freely through the gifts of tongues. Power that blew fear totally away. Power to Peter to preach clearly and strongly, allowing the Spirit himself to bring conviction to 3000 people. Power to give birth to the church. The Holy Spirit also gave the early church all the gifts that would be needed to build it up and carry out its ministry. He does so today as well. All that He gave the followers of Jesus that Pentecost morning, He is wanting to give us as well. It is easy to be afraid of power, unless we understand that His is the power of love. The power of love will not abuse.
The Holy Spirit will never violate our free will, never force His good gifts upon us. It is His power living within us that enables us to know Jesus, to sense His presence with us. Often the power of the Holy Spirit comes to us gently, gives us comfort and beautiful gifts of peace when we have no earthly reason to be peaceful. Before we become Christians, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that awakens in us our need for Jesus. I believe He does this from a place outside of us.
As we claim Jesus as our Savior, this same Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence within us. He teaches us, leads us, seeks to guide us and strengthen us in our walk with Jesus. He can do this especially well when we make time and find ways to pay attention to Him. Sort of like paying attention in algebra class. We learn a lot more when we do. As we grow in our walk, we find we don’t get filled up. We want more and more of Jesus because experiences are teaching us the truth about his love, truth that difficult childhood experiences can make hard to find or understand. And when we become hungry enough for more, the Holy Spirit is always ready to give us more, until our Lord Jesus becomes truly master of the home He is making within us. And even then, the hunger continues. If you find you aren’t hungry for more of Jesus, more of God the Father, more of the Holy Spirit in your life, I invite you to ask for the gift of hunger. It will lead to a feast that is well worth being at.