that crazy Holy Spirit! ha ha :)

"The rubber of faith meets the road of reality under hardship. The trueness of one's belief is revealed in pain. Genuineness and character are unveiled in misfortune." -Max Lucado


Holy Spirit...


So Ive been reading in Heidi Bakers - Compelled by Love and Always Enough, plus her father in laws book Visions Beyond the Veil. All absolutely amazing books.... bringing me to tears and making me desperate for more and more Jesus! More of my God and more of His Holy Spirit! So some people get a lil squirmy about the Holy Spirit.... about being drunk in the spirit, laughing uncontrolably, dancing before the Lord, speaking in tongues, prophesy, soaking in His pressence and being healed, laying on of hands for healing, all the amazing ways God can pour His loveon you and allow you to feel His power and pressence in His Holy Spirit! This can be scary because it is unknown! People (like Heidi Baker) have been known to be so heavily under the power, pressence and love of God that they might lie face down on the floor and not even be able to move.... in her case for days! Wow! We "normal" Americans might see this as a lil crazy! Too much, extreme, are the faking it?, maybe fabricating all of that? Why would God do that to people? Well I may have had some similar thoughts :) When I was thinking these thoughts I decided that I've been in churches that dont do any of this - the Holy Spirit is not really welcome... they want control and order so they avoid this.... well if thats how they feel He will not come. I have also experienced churches (like the ones I go to regularly) where the Holy Spirit is very welcome! We say come on God, come on Holy Spirit do whatever you want! And sometimes it might look a lil crazy! Yes sometimes this can be distracting if you watch instead of worshiping God yourself... and the Bible does talk about order in the church.... we do tend to judge others and wonder if thats really the Holy Spirit moving them or not... when really that is not our place it is Gods alone! And the Bible says that with the same measure we use to judge others, God will use to judge us... scary thought. So although sometimes I wasnt always comfortable with the Holy Spirits pressence (maybe the people wanted it so much they could have fabricated or maybe you know that person outside of church and they dont live in a way that shows Gods strong pressence in their life but at church they dance and seem to be moved by the Holy Spirit... again not our place to judge) I realized that comparing these two types of churches, I much prefer to welcome God and His Holy Spirit! The unknown isnt comfortable.... it can be scary! So search teh scriptures and see what God says about it! Ive read a lot in Heidi Bakers amazing books and seen the amazing ways God and His Holy Spirit move! Plus I also searched my Bible! -

2 Corinthians 5:6 -
"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, wether we are at home in the body or away from it." Then it talks about their work, how they speak to others perswading them about the Lord. Then verse 13 - "If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again."
Now I am not completely sure of course... but to me this looks like Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit moves powerfully! So much that you may feel away from this body or not in your right mind.... but almost like you are spending time with God and He lifts you to another place! Away from the earth and your notmal mind and body... to just be with Him and feel His great love! But that we come back to our right minds or earthly minds so that we can help others here! At first I thought the first verses were talking about being alive on earth or dieing and being away from the body and in heaven with God - but then he says that we make it our goal to please Him wether were at home in the body or away from it with God - so if we were dead would we still be trying to please Him? I think its refering to letting the Holy Spirit have His way with you, letting go of our tight grip on control and letting God love on us, heal us, and speak to us!

our lives should not make sense to unbelievers! If they do, we are not following Jesus the way He said to.