I AM SO AMAZED AT WHAT GOD CAN DO! We "old-timer" Christians don't often see the life-changing power of God at work in real time, so it's easy to forget just how incredible and powerful He is. Let me share with you an example. This past weekend I was ministering at a place called The Bridge. The Bridge is a Christ-centered drug and alcohol recovery center for men, located in Alabama. I have ministered there on several occasions over the past year and a half, and each time, the Holy Spirit moves in a powerful and tangible way. Usually there is at least one guy who gives his life to the Lord. On one occasion, there were six guys who gave their lives to the Lord. There is nothing more joyful to me than the re-birth of someone's spirit. This past weekend was no exception.
Let me pause and explain the type of guys who are in this place. These dudes are raw - recovering drug users, alcohol abusers, and many have spent time in prison. They are serious about getting help and getting their lives on track. I know this because the director kicks out the guys who are trouble-makers or are just playing games. The director is also a solid dude mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and is a former drug addict as well. So these guys mean business.
Though the program is Christ-centered and overtly so, with regular Bible study and chapel sessions, not all the guys in the house "buy in" to the "Jesus thing". This was just the case with one gentleman this past weekend. This man had just gotten out of prison after having served a collective total of 31 years time. He's spent more time in prison than being free. Since he had been in the program, he had been telling the counselors that he didn't "buy in to the Jesus thing". He indicated he would follow the recovery program, but the religion part was not for him. Well, apparently the Holy Spirit had other plans for him.
We were having a powerful time of spontaneous worship. (One particular gentleman had been calling out to God and covering every area of his life -- I believe he was being set free from all kinds of junk.) We were at a point where we were just waiting on the Holy Spirit to tell us where to go next. I was in no hurry to get to the next song. A moment later, the director tapped me and indicated that the former convict of 31 years wanted to address the group. (There were about 30-40 guys in the room.) In summary, what he said in a very raw and real way was he was giving it all to Jesus, he was falling in love with God, and nothing was going to stand in his way when it comes to following God. In fact, his actual words were, "I'll be damned if anything is gonna stand in my way!" I was so excited at that moment! Here was a hardened ex-con whom the Holy Spirit had turned his heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Referring to what I wrote at the beginning, this is not something I see often.
In this experience, something that I found quite interesting was the fact that this man gave his life to the Lord without any invitation. There was no fire and brimstone sermon. There was no altar call. We hadn't sung every verse of Just As I Am 12 times. We were simply worshiping God with one voice, in one accord. We had called His attention with our praise and worship and He responded by calling one to salvation and setting another free from who knows how many years of junk. This is what I have written and firmly believe: when we worship God in spirit and in truth, He will respond and speak to us and minister to our need by His Holy Spirit. This weekend was a prime example of that. It wasn't about how cool my worship songs were. It wasn't about whether or not I hit the right note at the right time. I didn't teach about worship and why we do it. I just stuck to my guns like always -- I asked the Holy Spirit to be in control and to have His way and then I worshipped with all my heart. That doesn't make me special it just means I was obedient and honored God. Is that to say that if I had been disobedient and didn't honor God that He wouldn't have moved the way He did? Not necessarily, in my opinion. I think God moves in spite of our disobedience on many occasions. However, our obedience and surrender mixed with true worship makes certain the Holy Spirit will respond to us.
That night as we were drawing to a close for the evening, I saw in the spirit a portal to heaven opened up over the place where we were. What I saw could be described as a clear night sky with a huge light beam focused on the place where we were meeting. After we were finished, I stepped outside the building with the director to reflect on all that we had just experienced. As I looked up in the sky, the light from a nearly full moon illuminated the broken cloud cover. But directly over the building there was a huge opening in the clouds and I saw the moon and stars shining brightly. We've said for several years that events in the natural typically have a spiritual counterpart. It seemed to me that what I had seen moments before in the spirit was now being reflected in the natural. I could do nothing more except thank God for his faithfulness to His word and to us.
I have shared this for two reasons. First and foremost to glorify God for His excellent greatness. And secondly, to inspire and encourage the reader to surrender to the Holy Spirit and worship with all your heart, in spirit and in truth. Do this and see how He will respond.
No comments:
Post a Comment