The "secret" the healing evangelist taught me about the Holy Spirit blew my mind
I thought the Holy Spirit was temperamental. Tidy. Reserved. And that we had to act a certain way in order to see the Spirit move. I thought we might "move" in the wrong way and cause the Spirit to exit the building. Turns out, I was wrong. Here's something I learned from the healing evangelist.
The strangest thing happened on a “Christian TV station” one night (I know- I thought only people could be “Christian,” not music, books, stores, clothing lines, and even station stations… but… alas… a “Christian station” is a cable television network chock-full of televangelists, prayer cloths, and commercials with starving kids that you can save right now for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day). OK, I exaggerated a bit on that, but you get the idea... yes, there is a station full of this stuff!
Here's what happened: a well-known evangelist (you'd know him if I mentioned his name, described his hair, or detailed the...
Living a fully charged life- from the inside out
For the past few years I’ve written and talked a lot about the WHAT, the HOW, and the WHY (as well as the WHO and YOU).
The simple chart below helps me clarify the way in which we relate to each of these. Notice:
- WHAT is an idea that connects with your HEAD
- HOW is an implementation strategy (for the WHAT) that connects with your HANDS
- WHY is the inspiration… the reason you implement (how) your idea (what)… it connects with your HEART…
I know. The analogy isn’t foolproof. No simple formula ever is. However, it helps us clarify how we relate to our goals (regardless of whether those are faith goals, fitness goals, family goals, etc.), and it helps us see which areas are more important.
A “why” drives it all…
Over the past two years in particular, I’ve learned that the WHAT and the HOW are susceptible to radical change. And I do mean radical. What you're doing one day and how you're doing it can literally...
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, part 2- Podcast #10
In the previous episode we nailed down two fundamentals. In this episode we take the discussion further.
First, we look at what church leaders from a variety of backgrounds have said. Oddly enough, they all use different language (some say “filled,” some say “baptized”) but they all agree. We need a deeper, fuller encounter with Holy Spirit.
Second, we look at what the Bible says. We jaunt through all 5 examples in the Book of Acts where we see the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Did they lay hands on each other? Did they speak in tongues? Was there some sort of belief or formula or something else that happened?
The answer is… (insert drum roll here)… no. There are no formulas. God is relational, not robotic.
(Verses referenced… Go to Acts 2:1f., Acts 8:4f., Acts 9:5f., Acts 10, Acts 19:1f.)
Listening + subscribing options
iTunes = ...
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit- Podcast #9
Lots of people in church circles disagree over the Holy Spirit- who or what He is / does, and whether or not we have Him / it from the time of conversion or not.
Some say you have the Holy Spirit, others say you don’t- that there’s more. We have create “classes” and “levels” of Christianity based on where you stand on this issue :-)
Others say you must speak in tongues…
Who’s right?
Well…
On the first issue, the Holy Spirit moves IN you at conversion AND there is another encounter that the Scripture refers to as “being baptized in the Holy Spirit).
On the second issue, speaking in tongues is not the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Though it’s a gift- and a great one- the text people generally point to prove that it is refers to speaking foreign human languages not conversing in a “prayer language” (though we do see the prayer language in other passages). In...
