At Christmas the focal point is Christ and it should be, that God became human flesh. Sometimes the Father is invoked in The Trinity, but least common and this is puzzling to me is Third Co-Equal Person, The Holy Spirit. How is that The Spirit gets ignored in all the decorations? There is The Mother and Child, Joseph, The Wisemen, The Star of Bethlehem, even Angels. While yes all of these feature prominately at the Birth of our Lord, but this verse is key,
“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35-38). The whole Godhead is mentioned there and yet not a single ornament or decoration for The Holy Spirit at Christmas?! He mostly only gets a showing a Pentecost if at all, and is depicted as a Dove.
I have a theory that many churches love Jesus Christ the Savior, and even adore Abba Father, “Your a good good Father, its who you are!” (Chris Tomlin) but The Holy Spirit often is neglected unless the prayer is said “In Nomni et Patris et Fili et Spiritus Sancti: In The Name of the Father, The Son, and Holy Spirit.” This is taken from Matthew 28:19 when Jesus instructs His disciples to “Go forth to all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father, in Name of the Son, and in the Name of the Holy Spirit.” We are instructed to call on the Holy Trinity, One God in Three Persons, and yet the Spirit tends to get sidelined in church praises save for old songs, “We are One in the Spirit,” and “Come Holy Spirit Come.”
My theory why Third Person of the Godhead is often sidelined is because He is a threat. Leaders and staff members would prefer to be the experts with their seminary degrees and gnosis, rather than obey Scripture and let the Holy Spirit teach, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26). In addition they strifle the Holy Spirit’s gifts, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11), and they do not run a church meeting with The Spirit in charge (1 Cor 14:26-33)
Jesus our Lord said, “I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me. And you will tell people about me too, because you have been with me from the beginning,” (John 15:26-27) and that we must “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth,” (John 4:26). To relegate the Rouch Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) to the back bleachers or nose bleeds of our churches is not only demonic and devilish, it is the spirit of antichrist, for anti does not only mean against, it means to replace and we have replaced the Voice of Spirit spoken to us, spoken through others, and through The Spirit’s gifts like prophecy with man made religion, “And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do,” (Mark 7:6-13) and the musings of teachers “For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold.” (2 Timothy 4:3). We have substituted God with sons of men, The Spirit with sayings of a man’s spirit. This is folly! If church is not to be when we commune with God The Trinity and let Him speak and move in all his wonder, power, glory and love; then we ought not to have church at all! Why bother if God is not welcome! We then would just be whitewashed tombs! (Matthew 23:27-28).
People in great revivals did not come to church because of teachers, it was because of the touch of God, His felt presence and His voice. Now yes God speaks through teachers (Romans 10:14-25), I am not speaking against teachers in the church, for it is one of five fold giftings (Ephesians 4:11-12) and even Paul says those moving in Spirit should come with a teaching, “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction (teaching), a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” (1 Corinthian 14:26-33). My issue is not letting the Holy Spirit teach, and men with scholarly minds quieting Him and other teachers in the comgregation; my qualm is with the stifling of the Spirit and His voice, presence, and power. Its not that teaching is evil, its replacing the teaching God wants to give with man made religion snd the ego of a teacher who would rather be heard than God in a service/ gathering. It is not inviting the Holy Spirit at all to take the floor and move as He pleases. Of course He will use His people, speak through them in hymns, songs, prophecy, tongues, teachings, preachings, and etc. I am not advocating people stop teaching, but that they tap into God’s Spirit and let Him teach through them, and work with ideas you have. The point is to be moldable clay, not hard rock that keeps the Dove from fanning his wings to mold a Church.
We must not let the Holy Spirit become an afterthought! Jesus is our focus yes, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” (Hebrews 12:2) and He told us to pray “Our Father who are in heaven, hollowed be your Name” (Matthew 6:9) but He also said, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you,” (John 14:26) and “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me,” (John 15:26) and “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22). They are all God, Three who are One and to sideline The Spirit is to do so to Jesus and The Father, for they are all One! Amen.
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