Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Category: THE HOLY SPIRIT
Do we need to have a feeling before we believe God is there? Do we have to see strange things happening which are unexplainable in ordinary everyday terms? Does something mystical have to happen before we can believe that there's a world just out of our sight? Is God hiding so that we need to hunt for Him?
From my earliest days as a Christian I've seen and heard confusing and conflicting things being preached on the subject of the Holy Spirit's work and ministry. I've witnessed others being in similar confusion and doubt. I found myself being discriminated against and looked down upon in the Church because I didn't have this and I couldn't do that. I was a second-class Christian at best in the eyes of the enlightened, super-spiritual ones, especially the ones who had decided that they were apostles.
Tongues-speakers today are proudly disengaging their minds when they use the claimed gift: they have no idea what they are saying, if anything, and neither does anyone else. The practise of being "slain in the Spirit" similarly seeks to vacate the mind and "let the Spirit take over", causing people to apparently pass out on the floor and lay there - once they've adjusted their clothing - sometimes for hours, in what appears to be a comatose state.
Throughout the gospels Jesus Christ is seen to give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, raise the dead, walk on water and feed thousands. Today many Christians are determined to hold to the notion that they are doing miracles in their churches and on the streets, when in fact they are belittling the name of Christ, the glory of Christ and the true power of God.
In the "Great Commission" Jesus told his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. What exactly did he mean by "power"? What kind of power would it be, and what would it be used for?
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 