The Holy Spirit as a Dove

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The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus Christ in the form of a Dove. And so the humble dove has become a perennial symbol of the Holy Spirit and peace. It is with that connection in mind that I share the following simple thought with you.

Two weeks ago I was in a staff meeting where one of my fellow pastors brought out a guitar and led us in a few worshipful songs. The experience was sweet and it prompted a couple of images to tumble through my mind. One of those thoughts was about releasing the Holy Spirit within me.

It is wonderful to worship God with abandon, such as David did as he welcomed the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem about 3,000 years ago. David readily put his own decorum aside and did not care if he looked foolish as he praised God. A word which David frequently used in his psalms, telling us to praise the Lord, means to be ‘clamorously foolish’ – so abandoned in adoration that we seem to be ‘over the top’ to others.

In practice, however, most of us are self-conscious and tend to adjust our own worship activity to match that expected or expressed by those around us. In a quiet setting everyone becomes quiet. In a noisy prayer meeting everyone tends to make more noise. If others are being restrained we tend to be restrained too.

During the morning devotion I am talking about there was a sweetness but also a level of polite restraint. As I pondered that I realised that many Christians restrain the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. The ‘dove’ of the Spirit settles in their chest and stirs them from time to time. The Spirit gives us witness and various stirrings that make us sensitive to God’s presence and work. When we worship we can even feel a sense of the dove wanting to spread its wings and soar. But to really let the Spirit soar we must cast off more of our decorum and social restraint.

As these thoughts trickled through my mind an image formed of what could happen when someone allowed the dove out of the cage. I imagined a person abandoning themself in worship and flowing with the impulse of that heavenly dove stirring within them. My imagination observed as the dove, powering upward into the heavenlies, was transformed into a majestic eagle. The verse about mounting up on eagle’s wings jumped into mind as I imagined a person, free in their worship, rising out of their restraint and into the lofty realms to which the Spirit of God could carry them.

The diary note I made after that worship time reads as follows: ‘Our spirit is like a dove inside a cage. If we let it out, let it fly and soar – by giving vent to the Spirit within us, rather than restraining our worship style to suit what those around us would prefer – then that dove takes flight and is transformed into an eagle – we rise up on wings as an eagle and soar in the heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers.’

I encourage you to flow with the Spirit of God and yield to the Spirit. I believe there is much that God has for us to enjoy, that is yet untouched while we are locked in stiff restraint. Some of you may well discover that being ‘clamorously foolish’ is as powerful and rewarding for you as it was for King David three millennia ago.  

Psalm or Bucket? Do you Give or Take?

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Today’s church is beset by people who are keen to “get” and not so keen to “give”. This should be surprising considering Christ’s injunction that Christians are to be a giving people. We are to “give” and consequently things will be given to us (Luke 6:38). Jesus did not say, “IF you give”, but “When you give….” (Matthew 6:3). 

A self-serving attitude can often be seen in the way people approach church. When someone is looking for a new church home they are likely to be quite fussy about what they want and what suits them. This is especially so when a whole family has to be accommodated. Each family member will have their own idea of an ‘ideal’ church, and will measure each possible spiritual home against that wish-list. Then, when it comes to attending church people often come with a “meet my needs” mentality.

There is a popular idea that church is the place to be re-charged and restored. The imagery is almost that of the desperate Christians finally getting to church for their re-charge – where they can escape the pressures of everyday life and be recharged to face the pressures of tomorrow. Each Sunday is a chance for people to get enough of a charge to get them through to the mid-week meeting, and so on. 

The New Testament church had a different concept of church life. It was a place where people brought something of their own spiritual blessing to share with others. Paul described the situation in the church at Corinth as one where “everyone has a psalm, doctrine, message in tongues, revelation or interpretation” 1Corinthians 14:26). Today, however, people come to church empty handed. Rather than coming to make a contribution, with a generosity of spirit, they come to make a withdrawal. Instead of coming with a psalm or prophecy, they come with a bucket! 

I have written a poem about this modern approach to church life and I’ll share that will you in the next few days.   

The Six Day War Outcome – A Faith Booster

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This is a short pep-talk that I am aiming directly at your faith! Without faith it is impossible to please God, so I like to see my own faith encouraged and I like to stir and challenge other people’s faith as well. What I am now sharing with you is a thought that came to my attention a few days ago, when I was praying through a challenge that confronted me. I share it with you as a faith booster.

What I had experienced was a situation that turned out to be tough. As I took time to pray about the issue I realised that the circumstances represented a threat to my current situation. A potential reversal was on the horizon. Now, that’s a fairly common experience. Our health may be compromised and the doctors may have a glum prognosis. We may suffer a financial loss that clips our wings and tightens our belt. We may face a disappointment, some opposition, arguments with loved ones, fearful thoughts about how things are going, and so on. I was facing one of those kinds of things.

As I prayed I felt a subtle surge of faith. I wasn’t about to go sweeping mountains off the map, but I was finding it easier to expect good things from God. God has promised us a raft of good things and the Bible is filled with promises. Having faith to take hold of them is usually our challenge. Anyway, I felt a surge of faith and I found myself stepping toward the problem, rather than feeling weighed down by it.

I began to pray boldly and I began to address the problem with defiance in my spirit. I proceeded to call on God’s help and then to tell the problem that it had no right to muscle in to my territory. I accused it of being a lie. I claimed that my situation was not dependent on my abilities or personal worth. (I often admit my limitations and declare that I am where I am because of God’s blessing, not my personal merits). I then challenged the problem with the “Six Day War Outcome”.

In the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel came under attack on all sides, by Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The situation looked desperate and the initial prognosis was quite negative for Israel. Yet less than one week later Israel had not only repelled the attackers but had advanced into new territory formerly controlled by its enemies. The Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli occupation. What was a sure defeat became a triumph.

That’s what I call the “Six Day War Outcome”. It’s a powerful faith booster. The enemy comes in like a flood and God enables you to not only repel the offensive but to push into enemy territory and take ground you never previously owned. Wow! If that happened every time you were attacked, how would you feel about the next onslaught? You’d be itching for the next invasion. You’d be taunting your enemies to attack you. If every time you were attacked you ended up richer, stronger, more secure, more influential and more blessed how would you feel about any future attack?

As I prayed through my relatively minor challenge the whole “Six Day War Outcome” came flooding into mind. I found myself emboldened in my derision of the enemy. I found myself defiant and brash. Of course, I was not dealing with any people. I don’t recommend that you treat people that way. I was praying, privately, about a situation that the enemy of my soul was dumping onto me to bring me down and to frustrate my effectiveness for God. And that’s how it usually is. We do not wrestle with people, we are told (see Ephesians 6:12), but against evil spirits assigned against us. There’s no holds barred when we come up against them.

So, I encourage you in the Lord, to consider the “Six Day War Outcome” and to see that God is ready to give you that kind of victory when you are confronted. And don’t worry about your inability to win such a fight. There are lovely Bible verses about God giving us the victory – so you don’t even need to fight. Ponder these:

“You will not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you…. fear not, nor be dismayed… for the Lord will be with you.” 2Chronicles 20:17

“Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1Corinthians 15:57

The Bible – Indestructible Seed

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I have extolled the value of the Bible in previous posts and I now want to point to a miraculous quality about this oft abused and rejected book. I have previously described the Bible as the most Enduring, Authoritative, Profound, Resilient, Enlightening, Impactful, Endorsed and Significant book in all human history. Beyond all of those qualities is the fact that the Bible is an ‘indestructible seed’.
We all know what a seed is. It is the germ of a thing, which when planted will germinate and begin developing into a full-grown version of the thing which it came from. An fertilised apple seed will recreate an apple tree. A human seed, when fertilised, will develop into a new human being. A chicken seed, when fertilised, will develop into a new chicken. And so it goes across most created things.

Now consider this principle, which I first enunciated back in the 1980’s. “If you can destroy the seed you can destroy what it produces.” 

Can you destroy an apple seed? If I were to smash an apple seed with a hammer could I destroy it? Once it has been mashed by my hammer will it be able to grow into an apple tree? The answers are that an apple seed can be destroyed and will be mashed by a hammer. The mashed seed will not produce an apple tree. So we know that the apple seed is destructible. (This probably sounds patently obvious and maybe too childish for your advanced brain – but stay with me a while, please.)

We agree that we can destroy an apple seed. Can we also destroy an apple tree? Yes, we can. So what about human and chicken seed? Can they be destroyed? Yes. Can humans and chickens be destroyed too? Yes. So there’s my amazing principle displayed in human experience. “If you can destroy the seed you can destroy what it produces.”

So, what about a seed that cannot be destroyed? If I came up with a seed that could not be mashed by a hammer or burned in a fire, or killed with a poison, then it would surely produce something that is also indestructible. Eh? And that’s what we have with the Bible. The Bible is indestructible. It is described by the Apostle Peter as indestructible seed.

“Being born again, not by destructible (corruptible) seed, but by indestructible seed, the Word of God, which lives and exists for ever.” 1Peter 1:23

Now, let’s apply my profound principle to this new fact we have about the Bible. The Bible is seed that cannot be destroyed, so what it produces in your life is something that also cannot be destroyed. What God has created in you, when you put your faith in the Bible, is something that is eternal in its dimensions, because it comes from an eternal source – an indestructible seed.

That’s yet another reason why the Bible is such an awesome book. It is able to create in you, a mere mortal, something that is beyond the scope of your mortal existence – something that is eternal. While your natural life came about by natural seed which is destructible, and so you are a mortal, destructible being, what the Bible births inside you, by the work of the Holy Spirit, is an eternal being with eternal dimensions. Only the Bible can do that, because only the Bible is “indestructible seed”.

Now, I need you to understand that while the Bible is miraculous it is not magical. The Bible is able to bring miraculous results in your life, but the book itself is not a magic charm. Keeping it under your pillow won’t help you. Memorising it won’t help you. The seed has to be germinated within you, and that takes two things, the work of the Holy Spirit and faith in your heart to believe what the Bible says. When the Word of God and the Spirit of God are given free reign in your life by your faith, the miracle dimension of the Bible is released and its seed takes root in you, brings fruit in you and causes eternal things to spring to life in you.

That humble black book in your book-case, which could look like just any other book, is a unique, miracle gift to you. It will let you ignore it. You might even find it hard to get started into. But when you choose to dig into its pages, believe what it says and live by what it teaches, you will discover what millions of people have found through history. The Bible as the most Enduring, Authoritative, Profound, Resilient, Enlightening, Impactful, Endorsed and Significant book in all human history – and it is Indestructible Seed!

Overcome by Evil

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Today there was an altercation in the street. Someone had pulled their car over while they answered a mobile phone call. They happened to pull over to a spot where there were parking restrictions. I can only guess that they had nowhere else to pull over and they did not want to miss the call. It is illegal to drive and talk on the phone in this area.

The home owner saw the car and came out to abuse the driver, telling him to move on. The driver refused to move on, as he did not wish to end the phone call. The home owner, who obviously took the parking restriction quite seriously, continued to abuse the driver and even attempted to break the car headlights. The driver got out of his car and punched the man kicking his car. The man hit back and others came to break up the fight.

A sad situation for all involved and one that is repeated frequently each day, in road rage, domestic abuse, work-place fights, pub-brawls, school-yard scuffles and so on. While it can be tricky at times to work out where the blame rests, especially when two people have acted violently, there is a Biblical principle which speaks to this situation. The principle is that of being ‘overcome by evil’. 

Evil presents itself to us frequently and from several sources. A major source of evil is the human heart. Out of the human heart come such things as violence, anger, abuse, lust, greed, and so on. It is perfectly common for people to be overcome by evil that springs from their own heart. They may feel frustrated in some way, such as having someone else innocently get in their way. While no offence was intended the person who is frustrated may react with rage, physical violence, resentment or the like. That happens to us all quite frequently – when we are tempted to react wrongly to a situation.

If our internal response is to be jealous or angry, then we have to make a choice to either resist that response or to go with it. If we yield to it we are ‘overcome by evil’. If we resist it we are able to rule our own spirit and maintain freedom. Cain was told by God to resist the internal response of jealousy which he felt toward his brother Abel. Cain yielded to his internal inclination and became the first murderer.

At times we are the innocent person who inadvertently gets in someone else’s way. We frustrate or irritate people, often quite unwittingly. We may drive into a parking spot which they intended to take. We may buy the last item in the rack, which they were about to buy. We may drive into the traffic and block them from entering the vacant spot that we took. We may be happy when they are feeling unhappy. We may be enjoying a meal, when they are feeling hungry.

At such times that other person may have a wrong reaction, where evil springs from within them. They may want to fight us, argue with us, rebuke or reject us. When we confront such situations we are faced with yet another opportunity to resist evil. The confrontation will provoke us to a new level of reaction. We can buy into the argument, stand up and fight, hurl back abuse, or otherwise join in the evil exchange. When we do we are ‘overcome by evil’. This time we are overcome by someone else’s evil.

The Bible instructs us to not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. The challenge for both the men who ended up fighting over the parked car was to resist evil and to overcome it with good. Neither did so and both suffered the consequences of an ugly situation.