holy spirit

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In memory of Betsy

When the Father directed my wife and I to Illinois the summer of 1999, we met 3 older women who were real spit-fires; they frequented half the churches in town where they were always praying for revival. They led Bible studies and prayer groups, and discipled new believers all in service to the Father.

They were intrigued by our introduction to the congregation, specifically a couple so crazy as to move 2400 miles cross country, sight unseen, at the Father’s direction. Since I wasn’t yet working, the old gals invited me to one of their weekly morning prayer meetings. Just 43 years old at the time, I wasn’t particularly inclined to hang out with women in their 70s, but the host said there would be carrot cake for dessert. So I went. We had a nice time getting to know each other, sharing our testimonies and praying as the Spirit led us. As lunchtime approached and I began gathering my things to leave, one of the ladies said they were going to the home of a young woman who was bed-ridden with cancer. In that instant, the Spirit gave me the brief vision of 4 men who removed a section of Peter’s roof and lowered a paralytic by the 4 corners of a bed sheet to the front of Jesus for healing. Looking once again at the 3 ladies, I blurted out “YOU NEED A FOURTH!” Inwardly, I groaned but it was too late, they’d heard me.

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School of the Holy Spirit

I’ve attended more than a dozen churches in my lifetime. Some of the ministers I met encouraged me to seek God for myself and obey Him without hesitation. Such were the men who led me to Jesus and who married me and my wife. Both remained genuine and loving brothers in Christ who would never come between me and the Lord, except perhaps to stop me from doing something that would harm my relationship with Him. The former was like a 2nd father to me during my teen years, the latter a sweet friend and counselor, who could always be found on Saturday evening standing in the pulpit delivering his Sunday sermon before God and an empty sanctuary. Sadly, some others questioned whether I could really hear God’s voice for myself and insisted I obey them instead. Through them God taught me to stand up for my freedom and to respond like Peter who said: “judge for yourself whether it is right to obey you, or God”.

Examining what it means to be a Free Son takes several forms: identifying ways in which we’re free, and the things that hold us back. Often that means coming to terms with falsehoods we’ve embraced and the people who taught and reinforced them. No one ever said rising from the dead was going to be easy (Luke 9:60, Ephesians 5:14). Imagine Lazarus, passing peacefully in his sleep, only to awaken days later on a cold slab in a dark tomb, tightly bound in linen cloth with 75 pounds of burial spices wrapped up with him (John 19:39-40). However did Lazarus manage to get to his feet and stagger out of the tomb? Likewise, when we awaken from our slumber, how do we come out from under the heavy burdens placed on our shoulders by false teachers and teachings (Matthew 23:4)?

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