Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit Pt. 2

In my last blog, I mentioned about making a theological truth and experiential reality. As I've mentioned before, Christianity is about a relationship you have with Jesus Christ, who is God's Son. It's not just some sort of routine you do necessarily, but it's about a living, breathing relationship.

I've been reading a book called "Surprised By The Power of the Spirit" by Jack Deere. He was a cessassionist who later changed his perspective to believing in the gifts of the Spirit. I want to say this: I believe the Bible is the infalliable Word of God. It is my Rock and from it I get a sure foundation. Whenever listening to anything, sermons particularly, I bounce it off the Word and make sure it stands. I also believe in the Gifts of the Spirit as mentioned about in 1 Cor. 12. And i believe that these gifts, when used appropriately according to the Bible and done in a fitting and orderly way, can be very productive.

I was just reading in it about how he considered his emotions as useless and to just suppress the emotions. He said that it bothered him that when reading the Psalms how it seemed that the writer just bore his feelings to God. I used to kinda do the same thing, being that I would just suppress my feelings. And that's not healthy. I've since learned that its ok to laugh and cry. It's ok to have emotions. It's how those emotions are used.

A friend of mine was telling me that he went to visit a particular church once. And during the worship time, he raised his hands in worship. Later after wards, the pastor came up to him and gently informed him that they don't do that in this church. They do everything by the Spirit, and not by the flesh. My friend was just like "ok... my bad."

Now obviously, I don't agree with that. Now, the other extreme is where you just let everything go. You're just totally run by your feelings. And that's not safe either. I've been in services though where you don't know what's going on necessarily, but there is still order. The Holy Spirit is moving powerfully and there are outward demonstrations of it. And there is a time and place for that.

What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say that there is a place to let your emotions and hunger and passion for God just have at it. When you come into a church meeting, I don't think that that is the time to shut your emotions off and its also not a place to check your brains. There is a healthy combination of them both. There is a healthy way to take a theological truth and turn it into an experiential reality. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where it says that the gifts of the Spirit stopped. Just because we haven't seen them for years is no excuse. And I know that there are folks who have been deeply hurt by the improper use of the gifts. They're not meant to control you and manipulate you, but rather empower you to live a life of Godliness in Jesus.