Let the Holy Spirit Speak to You

The Holy Spirit never forces His way into your life but always steps in when we invite Him to do so. Sometimes He does so thorugh unexpected ways and through people who share something in a prayer that they would not normally have knowledge of.

About a year ago I attended a worship service called "Presence and Power" and during the prayer ministry time the leader asked if anyone was feeling the movement of the Holy Spirit and gave several examples of how we could tell if He was moving on us. I identified with one of the examples and I raised my hand. There were about twn of us that raised our hands and the leader chose 3 of us to receive prayer and I was one of the three.

He asked the three of us to come up front to receive prayer. He then asked the rest of the church to look at us and ask God to show them something to share with us. Several people who knew me came up but there was a couple of people who knew of me but did not really know me who came up. One of those was a woman and after the others had prayed she moved in and prayed a prayer based on Luke 4: 18.  God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

I knew that this woman was moved by the Holy Spirit to come and pray over me because she did not know what my heart's call was and she barely knew who I was. The ones who knew me and prayed over me prayed on those things they knew I needed prayer for. I drank in the encouragement they gave which I believe came from the Holy Spirit.  When the woman who did not know me prayed I knew the Holy Spirit had moved her to pray it because she was confirming what I felt I was being called to do. As she finished I not only had received encouragement that I needed but I received confirmation for what I believed I was made to do.

I believe that through this post God is telling you that He wants you to step out and allow someone to speak into your life so that He can through the Holy Spirit share with you what He has made you to do. Once it is revealed to you your job is to find a way to make it happen.

Here are several suggestions for you to consider:

1. Read or rent the movie "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall.

2. Read "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkinson.

3. Find someone to mentor you.

4. Acknowledge that the dream you have belongs to God but He is going to do it through you.

5. Consider this: "If you do not respond to what God is calling you to do it will never be done."

This blog and my REAL Men RoCK blog are a direct result of that prayer. My goals for this ministry is also a direct result of the prayer the woman prayed that evening. I know that if I submit to God's will that I will achieve the dream and that He will be glorified by it. I also know the same is true for you. I encourage you to open yourself up to allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you through someone you do not know. But I warn you that you may have to give something up to achieve what God wants in your life.

What Are We Becoming?

It just hit me this evening as I read some posts on FaceBook and then posted my own comments. We Christians are becoming so much like the world. I read at least 6 posts by Christians that focused entirely on what they were doing in their own life not the lives of others. It just seems like we are becoming so much like the rest of the world, self focused, self promoting and vain. I am talking about me as well as many other Christians.

It appears to me that we are rapidly becoming the people Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5  Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.

The question for you and me is this: "Do we even reflect one of those items in that list?" When I look at it I have to admit I am guilty.

Our church is doing a 21 day fast beginning in a few days. Maybe instead of fasting from food some of should fast from FaceBook, MySpace, Twiter, the internet all together, taking the best parking place or seat, or eating rich foods. Maybe we pastors and leaders should serve instead of being served. Maybe some of us parents should spend more time playing with our children instead of playing with our toys or working. Maybe some of us should not fast at all because we have promoted the fact that we are fasting to the whole world.

What if we spent as much time focused on giving the addicted a hand up, giving an encouraging word to the rejected or maybe even giving up ourselves for others. Doing the things Jesus gave the church to do.

Right now I feel the Holy Spirit convicting me and I hope that you feel the same.