CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

RUTH

For some reason in the opening sessions of the three days lecturing on the Holy Spirit at a School for Missions in Bandung, I focused quite a bit on the purpose of the Holy Spirit to make a New Creation, and one important characteristic of the New Creation is discipline.

In the third session, in the late afternoon, I asked for testimonies, because it was obvious that people were being touched by the Holy Spirit. Ruth's testimony surprised everyone! She came forward and related that during the worship time we had in the second session (about 45 minutes of seeking God in worship), the Holy Spirit had spoken to her heart and convicted her that she must be obedient to her husband.She had quite a bit of explanation and story telling, most of which I couldn't understand, but it was clear that she was explaining how her husband was a very organized, methodical man (you can see it in him - very reserved, intellectual type) and she did not like doing things his way.

She confessed she had often been rebellious and apologized and asked forgiveness to his face in front of the whole class. He, like the man he is, stood and listened and accepted without any apparent emotion (obviously needs some work, too).

I encourage testimonies because others are encouraged by them and the Word says in Revelation that the enemy is overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the testimonies of the saints. It is my desire to inflict as much damage as possible to the enemy! We have had lots of testimonies of how the Lord touched people, convicted people, set people free.

I write this at the end of the second day. One more day to go, will have to miss the evening session to catch the overnight train back to Surabaya to fulfill duties at school on Thursday.

This morning I was greeted by the school coordinator with the comment that the students are much more lively today than ever before: more enthusiastic about doing their chores, more eager to help each other, more loving toward each other.

Ahh, this is the work of the Holy Spirit!

TRAIL or DESTINATION?

A comment about the prevous posting 'Sermon on the Mount.'

Isn't it just like life - some of us pass quickly by what seems familiar to us, eager to get 'somewhere.' We are destination focused, we are goal oriented people (notice I include myself). I don't know about you other goal oriented people, but I have little patience with or understanding of those who just enjoy the trail, and could care less where it takes them, or even if there is a destination.

I am sure they just as well can't understand us. Yet, on this hike, I came to appreciate many dimensions of these disciples that I had not seen before.

Maybe highlight for me was the girls up until nearly 4AM, laughing, giggling, shouting, really enjoying themselves (except for one - snoring!).

Sheep and shepherds come in all kinds of packages, each one precious to God. Know that it is he that has made you and not you yourself, and he delights in you! You are the sheep of his pasture! See Psalm 100:3.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT

As we walked the trail up the mountain, planning to reach the top and have prayer and our worship service there, it soon became evident that most of the group was into the walk, not the destination. Frequent stops for photos, to observe flora and fauna (such very unusual things as carrots and goats - but then these are city kids and it was new to them!) caused the time to pass more quickly than the miles, so with quite a long way to go, we choose this nearly dry waterfall and river bed for our spot.

Theme for the morning was ‘In the Lord’s house’ based on Psalm 135:1-4. We concluded that the gentle sound of what little water was still falling and flowing, and the birds, and occasional rustle of wind in the trees, made this truly a House of the Lord. Many in the group were visibly touched as we paused for listening and hearing God’s voice in the quiet of his creation.

More to come on this and other blogs.

RELUCTANT PARENT

One of the teachers at school came to me this past week. She has come off and on for the past four years that I have been working at the school, and is an extremely sensitive person. She is especially sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and has dreams and visions. From the beginning, I could tell from the dreams and visions she shared with me that the Lord was calling her to be a proactive evangelist. She has resisted this idea, preferring to just be an example and not speak about Jesus, not want to actively enter into someone else’s rebirth and spiritual growth.

She came to me in distress because a 16 year old was pestering her for answers and help. She had hung up on the girl, refusing to help, saying that she could and should hear God for herself . Since I have been down a similar path in accepting the role of spiritual father, I recognized the symptoms of a reluctant parent.

For those of you who are not aware, when I was asked to work for the school, I was specifically requested to be ‘spiritual father’ to faculty and staff. This was five years ago, and I was extremely uncomfortable with this idea. One of my friends pointed out that for the past 20 years the Lord has been bringing young people into my life and I have in fact been acting as spiritual parent to them. In nearly every Youth With A Mission school and multi-day seminar with young people, there are some who request to call me ‘Daddy.’ Current group is my Monday evening disciple group. They call themselves my disciples (the word in Indonesian is the same for student and disciple), they call me ‘uncle’ as do youth of several different generations here and in the Philippines. Some of their children call me ‘Lolo’ in PI or ‘Opa’ which is grandpa in the respective countries. At any rate, I was a very reluctant parent, though I have gotten used to it over the years.

I could see that the Lord was thrusting the young woman into the ministry which she refused to initiate. She was very uncomfortable with the girl hanging on to her. She was not willing to make the commitment and pay the cost that saving lives costs. After talking with her about these things and praying for her, she had a new perspective of this girl and also of her responsibilities, and even more, of her desires toward this young girl.

How about you? Do you know that there is a parallel between the physical and the spiritual worlds? Did you know that just as in the physical, babies born are expected to grow up, get married and have children, so spiritual babies are expected to grow up and nurture spiritual children. Are you a reluctant parent, or even worse, a child who refuses to grow up and take responsibilities of adulthood spiritually?

Did you know that it is Shepherds job to make shepherds, but sheep are supposed to make sheep? Most churches expect paid staff (shepherds) to do the evangelism (making sheep). Not their job. Think about that one for awhile.

GBU