Who’s afraid of the Holy Spirit? My guess is that most of us would say we are not afraid of the Holy Spirit. But I wonder if any of us might say that the Holy Spirit seems mysterious at best, distant or mute at worst. Some of us might say that we are uncomfortable with expressions of Christianity that emphasize the manifestation of the Holy Spirit via practices such as speaking in tongues, slaying in the Spirit, and prophetic words.
I recently asked my barber if he had a religious upbringing. He responded that his only experience with religion was when an extended family member took him to a church worship service that included slaying in the Spirit. He was a pre-teen at the time, and he found the experience confusing and off-putting. I experienced the same feelings one time. When Faith Church took a mission trip in 2009 to Costa Rica to work with our sister churches there, some in our group were slain in the Spirit, and some felt it was a positive experience. It made me very concerned.
Should Christians expect speaking in tongues, slaying in the Spirit and prophetic words in our worship services? Are those things fake? Why do those activities happen at some churches and not at others? If those activities are not happening in a church, is that church lacking in the Spirit?
What is the role of the Holy Spirit? What should we expect? I would not be surprised if many readers find the Holy Spirit to be confusing. This coming week on the blog we’ll be studying selections from John chapters 14, 15 and 16. In all of these passages, Jesus teaches about the role and work of the Holy Spirit.
What we will find is that Jesus takes the Holy Spirit quite seriously, and thus the Spirit is just as important as God the Father and God the Son. I’m looking forward to talking about the Spirit with you.
Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 