I have been working about a year on revising the book Empowering the Ordinary (originally "The Holy Spirit Makes No Earthly Sense"). I asked a couple of study groups to give me input regarding confusion and lack of clarity. I am very encouraged by their input. The new revision is now published. Below is the Conclusion.
When it comes to the study of God's Spirit, I will always be in kindergarten. This book is meant to encourage. It is not the Alpha and the Omega of Holy Spirit facts. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of a mere fraction of the existence and function of His Spirit. This book is intended to aid and enlighten. Hopefully, it will reveal that the Holy Spirit is involved in the life of the common man. He was sent purposefully to empower the plain and ordinary individuals.
There is only one Spirit. He worked with Jesus, James, and John and will work with us. His mystery is His indwelling, which enables us to bear fruit in simplicity. Only our own misunderstandings and fear portray the activity of this spiritual guide as disorder. However, true Holy Spirit participation brings about order rather than reckless religious jerkiness.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Jesus prayed of their oneness. Man tries to separate the three in order to explain; not realizing his own extensive limits of logic. Yet, the Three are gloriously united. We are the ones who try to divide them for our own explanation and comprehension. The truth is the Godhead cannot be explained. They can only be believed.
The prayer of John 17 tosses us into Their arena. this unity will cause the world to believe. Distributing Bibles is not the conclusive display of Christian compassion. Walking in oneness is the grand and ultimate communication. Unbelievers will convert if they discover true harmony of faith. Jesus said the world would know by our love and it is impossible to live anything but fragmentation and argumentation without the Holy Spirit.
The world basically does not believe because those of us who own Bibles have failed to accept one another in love. We have refused the harmony of the Spirit while seeking to invite all the children to drink our Kool-Aid.
The Spirit of God is moving upon the face of the earth. There are many books on this subject, but they didn't help me grasp His working. It wasn't that all of the books were inferior; I am. Lord willing, this book will serve to inch those who stand upon the same ground as me toward a clearer focus of the Spirit. This material does not "wrap it up" as far as studying the Holy Spirit. I just want you to know I know that.
Jesus set the pace. He never mis-stepped. He was as common as a Missouri farmer. He was as good as a New England fisherman. And until he linked with the Spirit of the Father, he was only a man. But upon the re-union, the greatest revolution began. And the revolution continues to advance. This volunteer man (Jesus) received power.
May our human intrusion and manipulation upon this topic begin to fade. May we be able to discern according to Spirit evaluation. The Holy Spirit makes sense---heavenly sense. His very nature baffles sights set upon the visible....and we are perpetually bombarded by the visible.
"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept them for they are spiritually appraised (I Corinthians 2:12-14)."
As it turns out, the Holy Spirit was not as expendable as we once believed. Wonderfully, we now see knowledge of Him is quite the opposite...expandable. Welcome to a new world of living for the ordinary. God is active among us....and within us.
Through the grace of God, may you find it to be true: He is EMPOWERING THE ORDINARY.
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