The Work of the Holy Spirit

I have been praying for the Holy Spirit to work in my life in a bigger way.  It isn't that He hasn't been present, but I feel my actions have hampered His work in my life in recent weeks.  What I have learned about the Spirit's work is this:  if you pray that He moves in your life, step back and watch out!

This morning I believe the Spirit was leading me to a small park that is just west of the Comcast Arena (hockey arena) in the middle of downtown.  I wasn't sure why I needed to go there but I went and I sat down to observe.  I looked across the street at the building below, which I'll get to later in this post.

In the street next to the park there was an old parked car that contained a dog.  This dog was curious about me and barked continually at me as I sat.  Within minutes, a group of 3 homeless individuals walked by and headed to the car.  One of them stared at me in curiosity as she got in.  They attempted to crank the car but I heard the fateful click that indicates a dead battery.  However, the car was parked on a hill.  The driver put the car in neutral, backed up while coasting, and then popped the clutch to start the vehicle successfully.  They drove away without further issue.  Clearly, the positioning of their car was planned.  This was survival at its core.

To my right I observed individuals going into a church.  I have spoken before about churches in this city.  When driving through you will see church buildings, but many of them are closed or poorly attended.  This one was no different.  Every person walking into the building was 65 or older.  During my 30 minutes there, I only saw ONE young family enter the building.  This church is clearly in decline and is in danger of dying completely as the members die off.

I later went to Journey Church, which is a church plant run by a bunch of individuals from Houston!  As the service began, a member came up to read the scripture for the day, but he was interrupted by a homeless man who stood up asking for prayer for people who were involved in a fire this morning.  He was escorted to the back to prevent a further disruption.  As they walked to the back of the room I had a strong sense that I needed to go talk to this man.  I approached him from behind as he was in his seat crying and praying.  I asked him if I could pray with him, and he angrily got up and commented that the church clearly didn't care about his situaition.  I think he believed I was trying to get him to leave, so I followed him out to try to get him to stick around.

Once we got outside I asked him if we could just stop and pray.  He finally listened to me, and told me the story.  Early this morning I had heard a number of fire trucks screaming down the road while I was waking up.  Apparently there had been a fire in one of the high rise apartment buildings in the middle of town, and his sister and brother in law were living in the building.  He was distraught because he was unsure on whether they were okay.  Nobody at the scene was able to tell him if they were okay, and there were rumors of multiple fatalities going through the crowd around the building.

This man has been on the streets for 2 years.  He first got out on the street when his own home burned down.  He lost his wife in the tragedy, and commented that destruction seems to follow him wherever he goes.  He clearly was in tremendous pain.

We prayed together and got him to come back to the church service.  I sat with him throughout the entire service, and afterward I walked down to the building to find out what we could about his relatives.

The burned building.  Notice the black marks on the 4th and 5th floor.  

We were grateful to the Lord to find out that his relatives escaped the building without incident.  My homeless friend was visibly relieved.  We left the scene to go to McDonalds and grab something to eat, and as we walked he talked more about his life.  He and I parted company after some further prayer and I let him know where he could find me.

This afternoon I hit the streets once again in an effort to look for a place for the family to stay.  During some of my time yesterday I had done the same thing.  I was quite dejected at the time because most places in the city were either too small or didn't want so many people living in one place.  One person I spoke to had verbal distain for children and made it clear that she didn't want them in her building, so that was on my mind.  I rounded a corner one block from what I consider to be our future home and noticed a bumper sticker on a car that hit me like a hammer.

The sticker on the window says "God will provide," and to the right of the car was a sign stating that a home was available for rental.  This was the place I returned to today, thinking that perhaps the Spirit was at work.  I called and the property manager actually answered the phone and agreed to meet me within 20 minutes.  When he showed up, I explained how large our family is and that we're looking for short-term housing in the community until our house in Houston sells.  We walked the building and he noted that it might be too small for a family of our size.  However, he told me about an alternative property that was only 3 blocks away (and also very close to our future house) that was larger and had lower rent.  We checked it out and it clearly is perfect for us.  Plenty of room, bills paid, and in the neighborhood that we plan on doing our ministry in.  He's going to give us an answer tomorrow, but we are praying that the Lord will provide this as our place to stay for the coming months.

I walked back to my hotel room and "happened" to run into the homeless man that I had spent time with earlier today.  He said that he'd been looking for me because he had found work for the week up in Bellingham, which is north of Everett close to the Canadian border.  We made arrangements so that he was able to get on the bus to this city, and parted company talking about the future.

This brings me back to the work of the Holy Spirit.  He will bring you to places that you don't expect, will have you talk to people that you might not otherwise interact with, will provide for you at the moment that you need it, will give you signals that He is at work, and can use you to provide for people who need it.  He is creative, powerful, active, real, alive, and amazing.  Please pray for more of His work in me this week.

John 3:30

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Lessons Learned

Our world is a beautiful facade, and almost everything in our society is part of its deception.  Don't believe me?  Scroll back up to that picture of the building at the top of this post.  Want to know what that place is?  It is the county jail.  Looks nice doesn't it?  It has a pleasing outside that fits the area.  It looks like a fancy office building.  However, its inside is full of bars, brick, and mortar, and is intended as a way to confine and imprison human beings.  People in there have little hope.

Jesus spoke of the Pharisees in these terms:

Matthew 23:27-28

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Our society attempts to cover up the unseemly parts so that they aren't as ugly.  We make nice looking jails that blend in with the surroundings.  We bus the homeless to other areas so their appearance doesn't disturb the quietness of our lives.  We have politicians who run for office on the idea that they will "serve" the community, but soon are drawn in by money and power and only wind up serving themselves.  But it isn't just our society that participates in this deception.  It can be personal as well.  Every Sunday people everywhere dress up to go to church and paste a smile on their faces while living any way they want during the week.  Every day people hit the road in their brand new expensive car, but can barely put food on the table at home or pay the bills.  We purchase houses that are more than we can afford in the "it" neighborhood because "we deserve it," but have to work so hard to maintain the lifestyle that our families get lost in the shuffle.  All of these things are a facade. A fake.  A deception.

What does that mean for Christians?  First, know that the world of man is a facade.  Unfortunately Satan has done much to influence this since, as the Apostle Paul says:

2 Corinthians 11:14

Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

We must recognize the world for what it is and work to change it in the name of Jesus.  This will only happen if we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal where He is working, and to let His light shine in the dark places of the world.  Our work in these days is less in the church building and more on the streets with real people.

I saw the newest Hobbit movie on Saturday and was struck by a particular scene (no my description won't ruin the movie for you).  In this scene, Gandalf the wizard deliberately walks into the fortress of the enemy.  It appears to be a crumbling, deserted castle, but in Gandalf's words it "was meant to look that way."  As he walks into it, he begins to work to break a spell over the place that he referred to as a "spirit of deception," and as he chants the words to break the spell, things begin to appear that were not there before.  Eventually, enemies appear in plain sight as the spell is broken, allowing their concealed evil to be revealed to everyone.

As Christians, we must recognize that we live in this same crumbling castle.  Things are not as they seem.  We must ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, both to His work and to the way the world really is.  Only then will our hearts be broken for the fallen state of this world so that we are moved to do something about it.  Like Gandalf, it is our job to walk into enemy strongholds and break through the hardened shell of its inhabitants with the love of the Father.  We must do these things because Jesus did this very same thing for us.

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.