How the Holy Spirit Helps Us to Stand
Strong in the Storms of Life
Introduction
Good morning. It’s a privilege to be with you this morning and to open the Word of God with you over the next three weeks. We have been looking at the some of the storms of life in this series: anxiety, loss, motherhood, anger and war. Today we are going to look at how the Holy Spirit helps us to stand strong during some of those storms of life – And what better day to do it than the day of Pentecost.
Our Scripture this morning is taken from Acts chapter 2 versus 1-4. Hear the Word of God:
When the
day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly
there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to
them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Father fill this place with Your Holy Spirit this morning. And I ask for a miracle this morning – may my words be Your words and only Your words. Amen
I was not raised a Christian – and had no idea what
Pentecost was. Becoming a Christian
during the Vietnam War era – I thought it was some derogatory reference to cost
overruns in the Pentagon – Pente-cost. It is a Greek word that means “50 count” or
“50 days.” The Jews celebrated the
Feast of Weeks[1] or
Shavuot for 7 weeks after the Passover –
and on the 50th day Jews from all over were to gather in
What Happened at
Pentecost?
I would like to begin today by looking at what happened at Pentecost? We know that the Holy Spirit was given – but what did that mean and what does it mean for us today?
Our scripture this morning is filled with symbols and images. We have a noise like a violent rushing wind and tongues as of fire resting on each one of them – both symbols of God’s presence. The Holy Spirit in Hebrew is literally Holy Wind – Ruach. And from the burning bush, the pillar of fire by day, and the fire burning on the altar – fire has always been a symbol of the presence of God. And of course the tongues – indicate speech – God speaking.
And then Luke says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
But what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Just 10 days earlier Jesus said that what would happen was comparable to John’s water baptism – except instead of baptizing in water, they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus also said that they were going to receive power and that the Holy Spirit was going to come upon them.
So what can we understand from these symbols and images? The disciples were to
- Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
- Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit
- They were going to receive Power
- Have the Holy Spirit come upon them
I am a practical guy. All these symbols are nice but what do they mean? Okay – it’s like John’s baptism – that was an immersion and pouring of water upon the repentant sinner – the baptism with the Holy Spirit must mean some kind of immersion in the Spirit – God is Spirit – so an immersion into God / God’s dimension. But that sounds both scary and exciting.
The phrase “Holy Spirit came upon them” was familiar to the disciples. There were numerous times in the Old Testament that God’s Holy Spirit came upon Old Testaments saints – and the result in all cases but one – was an immediate and supernatural display of God’s power.[3]
But is that the power Jesus was talking about? The disciples had already done miracles in Jesus name – when Jesus wasn’t present – what new power was being promised?
A couple of years ago, I came over to the church and saw this sign on the church door:
I don’t think that
What does this
Mean?
The crowd on Pentecost wondered the same thing. What’s does this mean? Peter, practical Peter, thank God for Peter - gives us insight into this when he speaks to the crowd.
Peter tells us that Pentecost was a fulfillment of a prophecy from the book of Joel.
'AND IT
SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says,'THAT I WILL
POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL
PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE
VISIONS,AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN
AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall
prophesy.
First, notice the scope – God was going to “pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind”
Whatever happened at Pentecost was available to every one –
young and old, male and female, master and servant. Peter re-iterates this at the end of Acts 2 when
he says that this promise of the Holy Spirit is for you, you’re your children –
and to all who are far off. This out
pouring at Pentecost was not just for
Remember this as we live and walk among our friends, neighbors and colleagues at work . The Holy Spirit has been poured out upon them too. They too have been immersed in the Spirit. Wait a minute you say. “Bob, you don’t know my boss.”
Immersed doesn’t mean filled. The difference can be seen in these two sponges. Imagine that you’re one of these two sponges – I can immerse them both in this water. One comes up filled and the other comes up empty.
[The problem with illustrations like this is that some of you will go home only remembering that Bob said we are like sponges].
Pentecost blew the sides off God’s gift / The promise is for everyone. But it is a promise to be received. But we have to be open – we have to call upon the name of the Lord.
Okay – so that’s the first practical thing that Peter has helped us with. But notice the effect of this outpouring that Peter highlights from Joel’s prophecy –
- Not – have power to do mighty miracles in my name
- Not – have power to overcome sin
No – the power was the power of the prophet – supernatural – revelatory communication from God to His children that comes through the fire of His presence. What happened on Pentecost was not an inward transformation [although that may have happened]– but something that all could see and hear.
It is no wonder that this kind of communication from God to His children is in every chapter but one in the book of Acts after Pentecost.[4] The coming of the Holy Spirit inaugurated an age of revelation – no longer would there be one or two prophets in the land – but the burning presence of God was to fill all who are open to receive it – And when God comes - He speaks. Can you think of one time in all of scripture when God came and He did not speak?
It is no wonder that Jesus when he promised the Holy Spirit – the Helper – the Comforter that He described that He would
- Teach them all things
- Remind them of His words
- Testify about Him
- Guide them into all truth
- Show them Things to come[5]
Can you imagine doing that without speaking? How can the Holy Spirit write the law on our heart without speaking? No – the power Jesus was speaking about was the very presence of God speaking into our lives – available to all of mankind.
So how does this supernatural revelatory communication from God help us through the storms of life? We see it in the book of Acts virtually on every page – storms of all kinds. But how about in this age? Let me share two stories. The first is my wife’s – this is the Cliff’s notes version. If you want the book - ask her.
Two Stories
The storm she faced was the dreaded C word. A routine check up. The call from the doctors office. Cancer of the cervix – Class 4. At that time 20% with this form of cancer died within one year. She had two almost grown children – was a single parent – and no marriage in sight – well I was in sight – but not with any plans. A radical hysterectomy would take care of it.
But God began to speak to her that He wanted to heal her. Every where she turned – “I want to heal you.” For over a year, her doctor reluctantly postponed the surgery. “I want to heal you.”
One day while in her office typing - the Holy Spirit came upon her – no words – but she could feel His arms and the heat around her midsection. The next doctor appointment, the patient doctor refused to administer one more test unless she agreed to schedule the surgery. She agreed.
It came back a class one – and has been a Class 1 ever since. Hallelujah.
As a side note – but very germane to the story - Two and a half years later we were married – one year after that our daughter was born! Thanks be to God for the power of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural revelations.
How does the Holy Spirit help us through the storms of life? By speaking to us – even in the midst life’s most tumultuous storms. And He doesn’t always take away the storm – Sometimes He speaks like he spoke to Paul and said “My grace is sufficient for you – I am not going to take away the storm.”[6] I’ve ask Kim to tell of a way that the Holy Spirit has helped her through a storm in her life.
Welcome Kim.
I’m here
because the Holy Spirit has ministered to me in this past year with His healing
power. My healing was an inner healing –
the healing of a wound in my life. It’s
just as dramatic as a physical healing – it’s just not as obvious.
The storm
in my life really begins about 26 years ago when I was a young girl. I had an event in my life that was a very
painful event as many of us have had - since it is a broken world and it’s full
of people who are broken themselves and hurting people hurt other people. I had a painful situation – but I did a weird
thing with this painful situation. I
took on full blame and responsibility for it.
I didn’t necessarily see that this was inaccurate. I just took it on for some reason. And whenever I looked back on this situation,
I look back on it with shame and blame.
And over the years it just kind of grew.
It was just sort of insidious and became part of me. I never really realized it until I was healed
from it. And it affected my daily
life. I just didn’t know it.
The first
step – the way the Lord healed me this past year was that he basically revealed
the truth to me. When Bob said – “The
Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth” that’s what happened to me. It was through the Women’s Ministry. We were
doing a “Beth Moore’s Study” called Believing God and part of the series was to
look back on the overview of your entire life.
When we got to that section – of that stage of my life – I became very
resistant. Just didn’t want to do the
home work. Didn’t want to do the
reading. No thank you. I’ve done that before. I’m not going there.
But I just
felt this sense. It was a very
comforting and encouraging sense that said “Come on. Come on.
We’re going to go there. We’re going to go there.” And I just had a sense that the He was saying
“And the Truth shall set you free. Come
on – we’re going to go there.” Because I
felt this tremendous comfort – I did go there.
I started doing the work book. And
as I did, something very interesting started to happen. I was completely reminded of the full
situation. It all became crystal
clear. And I was aware that a big part
of the situation was that I was a victim.
And I had taken on the blame of everything. It was not appropriate. But I had.
The truth of the situation gave me something like a freedom. It released something in me. But because it had been a long time, I had
taken this in - it became part of my life.
The second
part of the healing was what I call the removal of the shame. I was in a healing class for the prayer team
and this is right after I had this exercise and had the truth revealed. As part of the class there was an exercise
that Barbara Japenga led and I was feeling incredible
emotional discomfort during the exercise.
It was way beyond what was appropriate for the exercise. It was almost like a panic attack – the way
I’ve heard them described. So Barbara
tried to help me and she asked me to try to give it form – whatever was
happening inside of me – give it form.
Give it name and move outside. Outside my body and comfort it. I’m probably slaughtering the exercise but
that’s the way I understood it.
But I was
able to do that and I had this image of a foggy substance. It didn’t really have form but it was
big. It was a foggy whitish
substance. And I shifted over to the
side of me. The minute it was gone and
out of my mind and was next to me, I looked at it and said. “Oh that’s shame.” I just knew it. I believe the Holy Spirit gave it a
name. That’s exactly what it was. It just came out of my mouth. “It’s shame.”
And then Barbara asked me. “Does
it have a story to tell? Does it have something to say to you?”
I
said. “Oh yah. I know where that comes from”
Barbara
said “Okay - so can you take that image – that memory – and invite Jesus into
that.”
So I had
this freeze frame picture of this foggy substance, that shame and invited Jesus
into it. And I know that it sounds kind of
odd. But He came. He came by His very presence. Just by standing there. He didn’t do anything or say anything. His presence.
The shame began to melt. It just
shrunk and got smaller and smaller.
Smaller and smaller until it was gone.
And it was just by His presence alone.
The truth was revealed to me. And
it was gone. Gone from me. And I felt the words. It wasn’t audible words. I felt this soaking presence of words speak
over me that said “You have carried this around so long – this burden – that
you were never meant to carry. And it
freed me and released me. I felt
different. Actually- I actually felt
weird – to be honest. It had been so
much part of me that I actually felt uncomfortable. I didn’t really know that it was such a big
part of me.
The rest of
the healing was a process. The Holy
Spirit began to show me where things like shame and blame were part of me. It had become part of a pattern and a habit. How I took responsibility for things that I
didn’t need to. The Holy Spirit says “I will teach you all things.” I really believe that He began to teach me
how to be free. And one of the things he
taught me was while reading the Psalms one day I found this Psalm. It just sort
of jumped off the page at me. Psalm 34:5
Those who looked to the Lord are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame.
And I
carried that around on an index card with me for weeks. And when I would find that I would respond to
something in a way that would have been a normal pattern. I could almost feel this voice say. “No – no – no no.” I would pull out that index card and read
it. And then put it back. It began to minister to me.
I’ll give you a funny example – what I think is a funny
example – One day I walked by my teen-agers room which is a disaster. Always.
Even when he cleans it – it is still a disaster. There’s supposed to be floor space you can
see. I walked by his room one day and it
was sort of like this thought went into my head. And I kept going. But then the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop. He pricked my heart. I realized that the thought that had gone
into my head in an instant as I passed by his room was:
“That is
your failure as a mother.”
I stopped and went.
“No, No.” I am really glad no one
was at home because there I am standing in the hall saying. “No No No - I am not going to take
that in. I refused to believe that” I know that this is a really silly example,
but in reality, think about how subtle that is - because really – what greater
pain is it for a parent to somehow believe that you are a failure. That’s a great pain. It was so small and so silly – almost
insignificant.
So that is how the Holy Spirit showed me that I was taking
this stuff on that I didn’t have to. The
Holy Spirit took a storm in my life from my past that still had power in the
present. And he set me free.
Thank you Kim. Thank you for being vulnerable. Inner healing is difficult to speak about – but it is powerful.
So - What does Pentecost mean for us?
The Church Has Power!
And that power is the fire of God’s presence through His Holy Spirit speaking to us through the storms of life. – teaching us – reminding us – leading us - guiding us.
Four weeks ago, an 83 year old women came up to me after the service at Christ the King and said that God had never spoken to her. I gave her a little booklet that explained that this was God’s promise for her and some simple steps to receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Three weeks later I asked – “so is God speaking you? “ She lit up “Oh Yes.”
It’s never too late in our life to experience the presence of God’s fire through His Holy Spirit. As part of our communion liturgy – we ask the Lord “to pour out your Spirit upon these gifts.”
Father I ask you to pour out your Spirit upon these gifts – your children. For those who have never experienced the Baptism with your Spirit – Father drench every one of them. Fill them to overflowing. For the rest of us – Lord fill us afresh.
As you take communion this morning – ask the Lord to baptize you with His Spirit – to immerse you in His presence. Paul tells us to “be filled and keep being filled with the Spirit” – because we leak. Be an open sponge. And then wait for Him to come – just like the disciples – Wait expectantly.
Oswald Chambers says –
Don’t look for God to come in a particular way – but look for Him to come.
Amen