The Flame of the Spirit

In many Christian circles, the mention of the Holy Spirit brings fear of extremes. His name has unfortunately become associated with scandal and excess, with some religious teachers trying to invoke His power without love, without His presence in their hearts. Recently I’ve been reading The Divine Conquest by A.W. Tozer, a book that has caused me to slow down in some ways, take a look at the presence of the Holy Spirit my life and ask myself some tough questions–do I believe He IS present in my life? do I stifle Him in any way? do I associate Him unfairly with people who have misused His name? what is He really like? do I turn to Him as readily as I may pray to God the Father or Jesus Christ, or do I marginalize Him?

The Bible says that He’s a comforter, a source of power, an advocate for me in my process of growth toward holiness. So many times I feel like my faith is feeble, like power is a rare gift for a privileged few saints, but I’m still reaching out. Maybe this is my love-letter to the Holy Spirit:

I want to know you more–when I see You, what I see is sweet and amazing and soul-shaking; I’m moved by your descent upon the first Christians in flames of fire, showing that God’s presence had gone from living among men to living within them. I desire to treasure your presence within me. I’m seeing clearly how You’ve been misjudged, how I’ve sidelined you at times, and I’m sorry. Please, please teach me Yourself, soften me and awaken my spirit in whatever way is necessary. Fill me with enthusiasm tempered with truth. I love You.

Note: Enthusiasm (root – en-theos = in God) An enthusiast is a person inspired by God. Inspiration (Greek – Theopneustos = literally God-breathed). Further, when the early Christians saw someone convert to Christianity there was this overwhelming joy that followed the gift of salvation. But they had a problem; there was no word to describe this feeling, so they combined the two words (in God) creating the word (entheos) from which we get the English word Enthusiasm.

Fanning the Flame

” . . . ’tis the season to be jolly” . . . or so the song says, but what if you’re struggling to feel even remotely happy, let alone jolly? What if you believe (in the deep parts of your soul) that the reason for the season is the birth of God as a baby who would save the world, but that deep part of your soul seems crusted over with fatigue and pain or confusion about life or just the busyness of the media frenzy/commercial sideshow aspect of the Christmas season? There’s only one thing you can do–keep trying. Push aside as much of the distraction as you can. Pray to God, asking (maybe begging) Him to soften your heart and fill you with wonder, awe and reverence. Take time to be alone with God, open the Bible, prepare your heart to receive the truth of the miracle of Christmas. Repent of any of your laziness or apathy that has contributed to the malaise you’re feeling. Repent if you’ve been self-absorbed, and seek someone you can bless out of the abundance you have been given.

Fan the flame of your faith, no matter how it may flicker. You may not find “happiness” if you’re in a grieving season due to loss of a loved one or a job or an expectation of how life would be . . . but you can find joy in the comfort of knowing how much you are loved by God and how much He has given for you.

Blessed Christmas Wishes to All.

A Meditation

I’ve come to believe that sometimes the moment when you feel like you can’t hold on anymore is the place where you find out that your limits are beyond what you realized, your strength greater than you imagined. Life can seem numbing at times—a seemingly endless series of events: some easy, some difficult and most fairly commonplace. Then there are the days or weeks or months or years that are shards of glass, piercing our experience with greatness or with grieving. I’ve found that many times the place where our deepest questions spill out onto the pages of our life story is the place where the story becomes most touched with the glimmering possibility of growth.