Welcome to Convergence

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you." (John 14:15-17 NIV)

These past weeks we've been looking at the powerful convergence of practicing the spiritual disciplines that bring us into an intimate relationship with God and exercising the spiritual gifts that allow the power of God to operate through our lives. Jesus modeled these things and His vision for a normal Christian life is a life that is saturated by the Holy Spirit both inwardly and outwardly. Praying matters. Studying God's Word matters. Worship matters. Exercising the gifts we have been given matters. These things are not accessories to our lives, they are the main garment that covers us in the glory of God.

The first outcome of this convergence is renewal in our own hearts and lives. God breathes life into us. Jesus sets our hearts on fire with His Presence and His holy love. Holy Spirit permeates everything and exudes from us both in a renewed character that reflects the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and in lives of simplicity, love for God and others, service and sacrifice - all just as Jesus lived out His life among us. Living in the transformation and power of the Holy Spirit makes our lives impactful for the Kingdom of God on earth in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, our communities, our nation and our world.

Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands." The two great commandments He identified that He says fulfills all the other commandments of God are to love God with all our being, and to love others as we love ourselves. When we love God with our whole hearts, we will not worship idols. When we love Him, we will not take His name in vain. When we love the Father, we will keep His sabbath holy. And when we love others, we will not steal or murder or commit adultery, bear false witness or covet their stuff.

Next Jesus says, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth." The word here for advocate is paraclete. It is rich in meaning, and literally means "one called alongside." The sense includes both a defense attorney to advocate for us before the judge and a counselor to come alongside and walk with us in the hard places. What a gift is this gift of the very spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, living in our hearts and walking with us through everything we face! No matter how lonely we feel, we are never alone. No matter how forsaken we feel, He will not forsake us.

The normal Christian life is meant to be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by our own striving and wearing ourselves out trying to be perfect. Sometimes my own prayer life betrays this subtle shift from depending on God to depending on myself. "Jesus, make me strong. Jesus, help me succeed. Jesus, I'm trying as hard as I can." If you can just help me a little, God, I've got this. But Jesus wants us to move from confidence in ourselves to confidence in Him. A more Christ-centered prayer life begins to pray, "Jesus, live your life through me. Jesus, you must increase, I must decrease. Jesus, you take the wheel and direct my life."

There are two other potential outcomes for a life lived in this convergence of the spiritual practices and the spiritual gifts. They are the outcomes of the spiritual experience of God's real, tangible Presence among us. Sometimes God chooses to move us beyond personal renewal into revival and awakening.

Renewal is the transformation of an individual who draws nearer and nearer to Jesus. Revival is the transformation of a community of faith - a congregation - as the whole body experiences the palpable presence of God in our midst. Awakening is the sovereign move of God to transform whole cultures as more and more individuals turn to Him and find redemption in Jesus Christ.

Revival and awakening are not normative for the Christian life. Faithful believers have been steady in practicing spiritual disciplines and exercising spiritual gifts for decades, finding personal renewal but not seeing the move of God in and through them for revival or awakening. Faithfulness is the norm. The outcome is up to the Lord. We live in renewal, hoping and praying for the breakthrough of revival and even awakening - and we leave those outcomes up to God.

There are signs of revival and awakening all around us. Many congregations like ours are finding a shared sense of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and revival of the life in faith God longs for us to have. A great awakening and harvest is taking place right now in Africa and South America as God moves to redeem millions of lives. Even here in the United States, where things seem to be moving more and more into secularization and paganism, there is a movement among students at universities across the country where students are turning to God, trusting Christ and being baptized by the thousands.

In the meantime, let's continue to pray, to study the Word of God, to worship and tithe and serve and fast and draw near to Jesus Christ, and let's embrace and exercise our spiritual gifts for the benefit of others and for the glory of God. As we are faithful for such a time as this, God will move to do miraculous things in and through His church. Come, Holy Spirit!