Skip to main content

Is the Holy Spirit Welcome?

I'm sure that most people have heard the song, "Holy Spirit."  The youth at TBC sang it on Youth Sunday when Bryan Good preached and you could tell then that God was present.  The lyrics to the chorus are here:

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here,
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for,
To be overcome by Your presence, Lord.

I may end up answering my own question by the end of this post, but right now I'm wondering this; What does it really mean to say to the Holy Spirit that he is welcome?

I can't help but feel like this is a subtle alarm to the church that this is even necessary.  Before thinking I don't want the Holy Spirit involved in worship services, let me explain.  As we get closer to finishing our house, I don't plan on telling Brittnee and Thomas that they are welcome to come in.  My parents don't have to be told they're welcome, even some of my closest friends and family don't have to be told that they're welcome to come visit.  They know by my actions, by my open invitation of their welcomeness.  It's people who I'm not that close to that I may have to tell they are welcome to stop by, but not my closest circle.

Are we singing to the Holy Spirit now that he is welcome because we have drifted away, out of his close presence in church?  A.W. Tozer writes, "The notion that anyone can worship without the Holy Spirit is not only wrong, but dangerous."  Over even the past couple weeks I've found myself some mornings not knowing what to pray to God, or what Word of his to read.  I failed in relying on the Holy Spirit as Romans 8:26 says that we should do - "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words."

Have we as the church become so good at being good people that we think we can worship on our own?  We spend time practicing and planning services to make sure they go off right and entertain people.  But Tozer states, "The best preparation for worship is not rehearsal, but surrender."  The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers, and he not only helps us but is necessary in our worship. 

Holy Spirit, you are welcome here...in my home, my heart, my car, my workplace, my gym, my church, and anywhere else I may venture to.  I pray that by my actions you know that you are more than welcome, that I WANT you here all the time, that you will never wear out your welcome and that I will never take you for granted.  Thank you for helping my in my weakness.  Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who Wants to be Dilos?

You're probably wondering if that's a typo or not. While doing a search for these letters did actually reveal that there is a brand and some fictional character out there with this name - my real intent was to show that order matters. You see, if we reverse the letters, you then spell the word, S-O-L-I-D. Yet far too many of us are operating with a Dilos mindset instead of getting our priorities in order and becoming Solid. We chase money like it's the most important thing in the world. And while it's certainly necessary, if money is the number one goal of any individual, or even any business, failure is surely on the horizon. To better understand the significance of the order, let's go through them backwards. Dollars. Yes, money matters. But what good is all the money in the world if you're "dumb as a box of rocks" and lack the next component, Intelligence, and don't know how to manage (or keep) your wealth? Intelligence. Let's say yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The New Normal

When all of this COVID, Coronavirus, and pandemic talk first started, I literally got sick of hearing the phrase, "the new normal."  I heard sermons preached talking about what is normal.  I even preached one that I titled, "The Next Normal."  But what if these "new normal" people are actually onto something? When I was growing up, a normal summer consisted of a lot of time with Mom.  She was a school teacher so we were all out for several (probably stressful) months together.  She, my brother, and sister would spent countless hours at the pool and make several trips each year to stay at my aunt's house in the lower part of the state, about 30 minutes from the beach.  That was normal for me. But now, 30ish years or so later, life for my children (and their precious little grandchildren) looks very different - almost like there's a new normal in town.   My parents worked hard, sacrificed, and saved for years before purchasing a lake house in 2010 - ...
Post a Comment
Read more