A Series on the Holy Spirit: Part 1: Manifestations of the Spirit and a Changed Heart

Early on in my blog I started writing about the Holy Spirit. I want to continue that now and run a bit of a series of entries on the Holy Spirit. I've been on a bit of a journey the last few months in growing in my awareness and understanding of the Spirit and would like to share that with you.

Two weeks ago I attended two different church services where the Holy Spirit's felt presence was clearly evident. In the evening service I went to people demonstrated different manifestations of the Spirit which as one on-looker said, "Seemed pretty bonkers!" Some were laughing, others crying, some jerking, some on their knees/faces. As for me, I was trembling so much with the awareness of the Spirit's presence I had to ask a friend to help me find a scripture passage I wanted to read out. That whole weekend for me though wasn't so much about the manifestations of the Spirit itself but the affect the experience of His presence had on my heart and soul. I felt like God pierced my heart with his truth (see Heb 4 v 12-12) and revealed to me God's greatness and my great need of Him in an even more powerful way. I felt like Isaiah in Ch6 where he sees a vision of God's throne room and says "Woe to me..I am a man of unclean lips!...my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!'" (v5). I was so aware of the need for the Holy Spirit to change me and my character and at the same time so in love with and in awe of God. 

You see true works of the Spirit must change our hearts. In Guy Chevreau's book "Catch the Fire" on the Toronto revival he quotes the great 18th Century preacher Jonathan Edwards in the Great Awakening revival as defining four clear signs of the true and right Spirit (as apposed to wrong spirits or the work of Satan)....

·         Firstly, "If the spirit that is at work amongst a people is plainly observed to work so as to convince them of Christ, and lead them to Him...it is a sure sign that it is the true and right Spirit' 

·         Secondly “are there signs that the interests of Satan's Kingdom are assaulted?”As Edwards puts it, "Are persons drawn off from the world and weaned from the objects of worldly lusts… taken off from worldy pursuits, by the sense they have of the excellency of divine things, and the affections they have to spiritual enjoyments?"

·         Thirdly, “is there evidence of a greater regard to the Scriptures, establishing believers more and more in truth and godliness?..The devil certainly isn't doing to have us fall in love with the Word!”

·         Fourthly, “ is there a greater spirit of love to God and man?”Citing 1 John 4v12-12 Edwards takes Christian faith back to basics and says,

“the last mark which the apostle gives of the true Spirit he seems to speak of as the most eminent: love to God and men....The surest character of true divine supernatural love - distinguishing it from counterfeits that arise from a natural self-love - is that the Christian virtue of humility shines in it; that which above all others renounces, abases, and annihilates what we term self. Christian love or true charity is a humble love."

So for those who are frightened by the manifestations of the Spirit (and I will provide scriptural evidence for these later in this blog), when you see others having spiritual manifestations you find unusual ask yourself are they bearing the above fruit. For as Edwards says, "The devil neither can nor will give men a spirit of divine love, or Christian humility and poverty of spirit....these things are as contrary as possible to his nature.” 

He goes on to describe people’s reactions back in the 1700’s, "Many felt unsettled by the manifestations accompanying the Great Awakening. And so the accusation was rendered, 'God cannot be the author of it, because He is the God of order, not of confusion.'" During the much more recent Toronto Blessing revival in the early 90's Baptist minister G Chevreau also witnessed this and commented, “regrettably those bringing forth the accusation rarely stay around long enough to interview those who are the subjects of the unsettling behaviour, and in so doing, are drawing conclusions prematurely." 

Thus the sign of true works of the Spirit are that they are heart changing ones. A manifestation of the Spirit is only temporary, heart changes are enduring and eternal. As to manifestations don't dismiss them as they did in the Great Awakening and Toronto. Ask yourself am I drawing conclusions prematurely? You may well miss out! You see my experience is that when I am awed by the presence of God, my physical strengths are sometimes sapped. When the Holy Spirit comes he touches not only our minds, but our bodies and souls and hearts. 

My next blog will explore this a bit more and will be addressing “physical manifestations of the Spirit...is there scriptural precedence for it?”

 (Quotes taken from 'The Toronto Blessing: An Experience of Renewal and Revival' by Guy Chevrau pages

105-108)

Guard your heart Part 2 - On relationships with the opposite sex

What to look for when finding someone who will guard your heart in a relationship and has a desire to be like Jesus and develop a godly character. This is not meaning a perfect person!! Only Jesus is perfect! But someone who desires to be more like Him…..

·         Someone who desires to be patient and self controlled in the relationship by taking time to get to know you. This doesn’t mean just not rushing into the physical (your probably thinking about all those youth group talks too!) It’s also guarding their emotions by not sharing your deepest desires and thoughts too quickly! See passages below which highlight the importance of having a character that is self-controlled..

·         They will be seeking to develop a godly character by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit (and not their own might!). They will see this as more important than developing their gifts and talents. Something I’m learning is that the Bible is clear that character is more important than gifts and talents. Time and time again men and woman in leadership positions, even with amazing spiritual gifts have fallen away behind the scenes because the character stuff is lacking. I think of it like a beautiful blossom tree. People see the blossom first, i.e. the gifting but the branches of the tree are only there because of the trunk supporting it i.e. the character. If you have a strong leadership position or gifting but a weak trunk, your ministry or gifting may well topple because the tree is not supported by those godly characteristics outlined below. Often gifting is the stuff we see in the public arena but character is in the private places so work on your relationship with God in the private places first! That is your relationship with God in the private places before your relationship with God on Sunday mornings. Your relationship with your close family and friends before those who see you in a public arena. Oh how we need God to therefore transform our characters by His Holy Spirit so we can be made more into His likeness!

·          In the Bible it says the gifts and call of men are without repentance (Romans 11v29.) 1 Corin 13v1 and 8 is clear that we can speak in tongues of angels and prophecy but these will cease whereas love never does. In fact v1 implies that you can speak in tongues of angels and not have love. You might think ‘but that person has an amazing gifting!’ Don’t just go for the gifting if you’re looking for a relationship. Ask yourself what are their character traits and how does this show in the fruit of their relationships with others. For love and the fruits of the Spirit endure when a man or woman is leading a godly life whereas gifting can still carry on even when a man or woman has fallen in the things of God.  The Bible is clear that godly men and women and particularly godly leaders need to demonstrate a sound character before anything else. If you want to look more into this check out what the bible says about the characteristics of godly men and women in the following passages. What I noticed is that none of these passages said, ‘he or she must be an amazing speaker, prophecy well, worship excellently.’ Instead they highlight the enduring character traits that are required e.g. self control, being temperate, worthy of respect, sound in faith, love and endurance, kind, pure, not malicious talkers, trustworthy etc....

-          For men in leadership…1 Tim ch 3 v 1- 10, 12-13

-     For men  in the church.. Titus 2v1-2 and 6-8

-          For women in the church..1 Tim ch3v11, Titus 2v3-5, 1 Tim 2v9 (note in 1 Tim 2v9 when it talks about modest dress it is not saying its wrong to wear nice clothes. The woman in Proverbs 31v22 was dressed in fine purple clothes. I think God just wants us to know that having a beautiful, God desiring heart is of more importance than outward appearance..see    1 Samuel 16v7).

-          For both men and women– Titus 2v11-15 and 2 Tim 2 v22-26

·         Look for someone who desires greater humility because humility is protection against so many ungodly characteristics. Someone who doesn’t act like they know it all but has the humility to say, “I’m sorry I was wrong” and accept rebuke and correction with grace.

·         Look for someone who seeks after righteousness.The bible is so clear that this is of greater importance than gifting and outward things. For righteosness guards the man (or woman) of integrity (Prov 13v6)

So in regards to ‘how far can I go sexually?’ and all those youth group talks on relationships!!! You’ll see, like I am noticing, that a man or woman who desires godly characteristics won’t need to think so hard about this question! If they have self control, patience and are able to guard their own heart and that of yours then this question will be easier to address! The bible is clear that sexual immorality is not good. Check out 1 Corinthians 6 v9-20 and that will keep you guarded!...

God is clear in this passage that as Christians we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (v19) and we are ‘not our own.’ Paul gives this illustration “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unit them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with him in body? For it is said, ‘the two will become one flesh’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in Spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his own body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.”

I would argue, using this illustration that sexual union is a spiritual as well as a physical act. That as a consequence there is something that happens in that intimate place that we must keep for marriage therefore. Does that mean we can do as much as we like as long as we don’t go ‘all the way’. By no means! We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and let us not get into ‘sexual immorality’. Keep the sacred and the intimate for marriage!

But remember God is a redemptive and forgiving God. If you’re reading this and know you’ve messed up in any of the areas outlined i.e. not guarding yours or others hearts emotionally, physically, mentally. (By the way we all have in at least one of these areas!)  Remember God can heal and forgive our damaged hearts and our mistakes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lets ask God to help us to keep ourselves holy and not repeat our past mistakes by leaning on the great guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Wow! You may be thinking this is all rather a tall order! I’m writing this blog entry as someone who has struggled to guard my heart and am learning that I need to be character stretched and humbled! So by all means I’m still working through all of these things too!

'Above all else, guard your heart’ (Part 1)

 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)

Are you good at guarding your heart? Do you know what it means to guard your heart anyway? I've been asking myself these questions. I tend to be a very transparent and open person. In the right context this is ok but there are times and seasons when we particularly need to guard our hearts and I am learning this! 'Guard your heart' is a phrase I've read about in Christian books (though it’s not normally taught on in churches much) but I really wanted to know what does the Bible say? So I had an explore...

Let me outline a few passages in addition to the one above. I will be looking at this in two blog entries. First of all at, 'What might an unguarded heart look like?  Then 'What might a guarded heart look like?  (we will look in terms of guarding our own hearts and that of others in relationships generally). Then we will look at relationships with the opposite sex and issues around guarding the heart there. In part two blog entry I will look at 'How to look for someone who will guard your heart and who demonstrates godly characteristics?' Guys in terms of the 'guarding your heart' aspect, your probably thinking ‘this is just for women’ but please you need to know that we tick differently and this is important for you to know too.

An unguarded heart or a heart that does not guard that of others

A definition: An unguarded heart will give themselves away easily to people they don’t know well and may encourage others to do the same. They will too quickly open up about their deepest desires and thoughts (emotionally, mentally and/or physically) to people they do not yet know and can trust (i.e. they have taken time to build a relationship with). Don’t get me wrong in the right context it is good to share things but as it says in Ecclesiastes Ch 3 there is a time and place for everything.

The bible is clear that we need to be careful about what we say because “out of the overflow of our heart, our mouths speak” (Luke ch6 v45). That is if we speak too rashly we can cause damage. We’ve all done it. We’ve all gossiped, let out a secret we shouldn’t or just said more than we should have. In Proverbs 13:3 it says “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” In Ecclesiastes it is clear that a "wise heart will know the proper time and procedure…for every matter."  (8v5-6) Lets ask God to give us wisdom about the right time and ask that we will not be hasty in our hearts to utter anything before God (Ecc 5v2-3). Remember what we say before man is also before God for nothing in all creation is hidden from his sight (Heb 4v13). 

An unguarded heart can be hot-headed and reckless (Prov 14v16) and can demonstrate, at times, characteristics opposite to the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5 and 1 cor 13). An unguarded heart, for example, might show characteristics of impulsivity, lack self control and be selfish in guarding not only their own hearts but that of others.

So what does a guarded heart look like and a heart that guards others?

A definition: A guarded heart is someone who guards their own hearts and that of others (mentally, emotionally, spiritually and bodily).

A guarded heart treasures things up and speaks to the Lord about them first before others. In Luke Ch 2 we are told that Mary treasured things in her heart first. A guarded heart seeks God first and not man for wisdom and enlightenment (Eph 1v8). A guarded heart seeks counsel from those they can trust and have spiritual wisdom. They will take time over important decisions, weighing them up.

A guarded heart will want to seek purity in their lives and in their treatment of others (Matt 5v8). A guarded heart will want to put God first and love Him before relationships (plutonic or not) - Deut 6v4. A guarded heart is aware that nothing is hidden from God’s sight and therefore will be careful about their actions and words before others. (Heb 4v12-13). 

On to guarding our hearts with the opposite sex

I think guarding your heart is something women talk about more than men (and might I say have a greater understanding of the need to do so!) Why is that? I think because women and men tick differently. Women are more emotional and more trusting so their need to guard their hearts and have others (especially men!) guard them is important. Women can much more easily give their hearts away (this is a generalisation might I say). So guys please be aware of the need to guard ladies hearts!

This is not a subject much talked about in churches but it really needs to be! I’ve been to lots of talks as a youngster on guarding yourself sexually (what you should and shouldn’t do!)  I think it is so much bigger than this though. Guarding your heart includes sexual purity but so much more. Let us take a broader framework to look at this…….

It is much easier to understand not being sexually pure but guarding our hearts (emotionally, mentally and spiritually) is another matter! It can be an enathema for us! I think for Christian guys this can particularly be something they haven’t thought about because again women tick so differently! You see when a woman comes out of a relationship they will miss ‘those conversations’ often more than the physical contact. (I've heard it said that even within marriage, for the woman its often not just the act of making love that is so vital to the intimacy between a man and woman but the cuddles and conversations that go with it!)

If a woman and man overstep the boundaries, the woman will feel that they have left a piece of themselves with that man, not just physically but mentally. So guys please encourage your girls that you are dating to guard their hearts in this area too. What does this look like? It means not sharing too many intimate thoughts and desires too soon in the relationship. It is important to save some things emotionally and mentally for when you are serious and know your going to marry that person. For marriage is not just a sexual union but a sharing of deep intimacies in all areas. You see if the dating doesn't work out you have less to regret then.

So its not wrong to have friends of the opposite sex who you are not dating but just be careful how much you open up to them and how much time your spend with them alone. Often I’ve heard it said in churches “guys and girls shouldn’t go out alone together if their just friends!” I’m not sure this is helpful. It is better to ask oneself, “If I have a friendship with someone of the opposite sex, am I guarding my heart with them and sharing things that really I should with my future boyfriend and husband?” If you are spending lots of alone time it could be that you are. For a guy this is hard to understand but for women it’s an issue. For guys they will have concerns about meeting one on one because of the sexual or physical attraction but for girls it’s emotional too. So be on your guard! 

An example of not guarding your heart emotionally in a relationship (dating or boyfriend/girlfriend) is saying ‘I love you’ too readily and too quickly! Wait until these hormones and chemistry has died out. (In the first few weeks or months it’s a biological fact that they will! Brain scans comparing those in love are very similar to those showing signs of madness because of the chemical levels!). When the endorphins, serotonin and testosterone has calmed down, get to know them in the highs and lows. See them through their colours, then ask yourself ‘Do I love them?’

Lord what would you have me do? On setting resolutions....

My housemate, her fiancé and I were sitting around breakfast brunch at the weekend joking about past resolutions we had had at previous New Years. My housemate pointed out that she recalls me setting 4 or 5 goals last year and I can't for the life of me remember any of them!! If you’re anything like me you might have given up setting New Years resolutions because you think to yourself "well I never achieve them anyway, so there's no point in getting downhearted!"

I really enjoyed reading a post on Christian Woman blogging (for full article see Christian woman blogging Resolved). Blogger Julie Cosgrove quotes this passage, "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power"  (2 Thessalonians 1:11.) In her entry she says, "What would happen this year if we each turned those New Year’s want-to-do’s into New Life’s I-can-do’s, through Him? Even better, what if we left the resolving up to God and asked Him, “Lord, what will you have me do?”   

I'm asking myself that question "What would God have me do?" I've been particularly struck this week by weaknesses in my character (I recommend my friend Scott Taylor's sermon on character transformation at Reading Family Church website on this subject. See Sermon Sunday 9th). I know that I can have difficulties with being blunt, judgemental, impatient, impulsive and proud. I've been asking God this week to highlight some key aspects of my character He would like to change. The bible is quite clear that character stuff is more important than gifting (see 1 Corinthians 13 v1-7).  I know that I can't change who I am by myself. I need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to do this. Holy Spirit help!

This season I would encourage you to ask God "What would you have me do? What aspects of my character would Jesus like to refine?" Jesus says "I will refine them like silver and test them like gold, they will call on my name and I will answer them" (Zech 13:9) and that He is the potter who moulds us - the clay. In Isaiah it says clay wouldn’t say to the Potter "what are you making?" but "Lord….we are the clay, you are the Potter, we are the work of your hand"... so do what you want Lord!!!! (see Isaiah 45v9 and 64 v 8). This Christmas I realise that in moulding my character it can be a painful and submitting place to be. Lord please give me the grace to be refined by your fire and not question your purposes. Amen

Yes and Amen

This week I've been thinking about how God is not a God that we can fit into a 'box.' He rarely works in straight lines and often hearing His will is rather 'wiggly' and things don't turn out like we would have thought! I like to think of it as a tapestry. On one side the tapestry looks stunningly beautiful, this is the perfected us that Jesus is making us into. But the journey looks more like the back of the tapestry, rather messy, with bits of wool sticking out all over the place!!! Over these last ten days I've tried to listen hard to the will of God, in that place I have had ups and downs and sometimes I have not always heard correctly. However as always, in that place, He has taught me a few things through it. Most of all I am learning that God is a God who loves us to live righteously, to be so sold out to Him that we will say 'YES' to anything He asks. I know God doesn't always work things out the way I would plan, but I know that in the messyness of it all He is perfecting me to be more like Him and giving me greater understanding and hopefully more wisdom. Even when I mess up He uses the bits that I think are rubbish to refine me, love me, forgive me and hopefully perfect me to be a beautfiful tapestry, even if that work is not completed until I meet Him in glory. 

Through these times he seems to be continually asking me to surrender and say YES and AMEN to His will, as I am reminded by Matt Redman's song.....Yes and Amen