Archives For Holy Spirit

Favor: Post 1 (of 5)

January 24, 2011 — 4 Comments

The Bridge is having a Grand Opening Celebration this weekend (it’s our ‘official launch’ for those of you who prefer church-planty lingo) and we are incredibly excited. It’s hard to believe the day will actually be here — especially when you stop to consider that a year ago neither the Coxes nor the Gomezes had yet become residents of Pittsburgh and our Launch Team could have been described as ‘embryonic’ at best! In preparation for and celebration of this weekend, I am making it a point to share some of the ways we have seen God’s favor in the adventure of launching The Bridge. So, I’ll be posting one example of this each day from now to Sunday. Here’s today’s:

The Park

Image: Timothy Cox

At the end of August, The Bridge was hosting a “Family Fun Day” as a way to connect with the community. More details about the day will be included in tomorrow’s post, but the biggest hurdle early on was securing a location to hold the event. The park we needed to use didn’t have any openings for the reserved areas; in fact, in the process of looking for open dates, we were told that the park needs to be booked a year in advance and someone else already had the date we needed.  We prayed for God to open a door for us to meet at the right place on the right date, thinking this meant somewhere else, maybe at some other time.

But God moved in an unexpected way: the park opened up for the last Saturday of August and we were able to step right in. Even more exciting, the favor shown to us didn’t end there; more than having one pavilion at one end of the park, we were invited to make use of a much larger recreation area including two pavilions and the land between them; we were invited to use large playing courts and given run of the place from water to electricity, from ample parking (when the offer came to have a league softball game rescheduled) to extra trash receptacles. In a moment we went from ‘impossibility’ to ‘blessed beyond measure’ as a path was made for us which we could not have cut ourselves.

As we have sought to be where God is moving, he has demonstrated his exceeding faithfulness. I can’t wait to share more with you in the days ahead!

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You may need to hear this, too!

October 19, 2010 — Leave a comment

This past weekend, my generous, amazing, nine-months pregnant wife was willing to let me take the weekend away to spend some quiet time for prayer and solitude.  During that time, I felt like my soul was refreshed and that some nuggets of wisdom were given to me to digest…lessons that you may find valuable, too–maybe messages from God’s heart to yours:

  1. You already have God’s favor–He sent Jesus for you.  He desires you.  He is FOR you.  You don’t need to pursue God’s favor because he isn’t withholding it; it’s freely given.
  2. You must have more of God’s Spirit–God favors you to the max, but you must have more of his Spirit convicting, encouraging, transforming, enabling, and anointing you.  Don’t settle for yesterday’s victories and intimacy.
  3. Your weakness is a positive game-changer–“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9, TNIV).
  4. Your definition of ‘success’ is probably twisted–It seems God’s question for defining success is, “Were you faithful with what I gave you.”  Not how famous, big, powerful, dynamic, or amazing you were.  Were you FAITHFUL?
  5. You do not have to change the world or ‘create a movement’–Jesus already did that.  Join in what he’s doing and you’ll find success (see above).
  6. Healing is freely available–Jesus secured your healing and wants to see you made whole, but the process of healing can hurt…so count the cost.
  7. Sometimes you just need time with your Friend–With no agendas, no big requests, no need to ‘accomplish’ anything, sometimes you just need to spend time with your Friend and King; there is a kind of soul salve that can only be found in times like this.
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Why I Love The Wesleyan Church: Holiness

September 21, 2010 — 4 Comments

“Holiness” is a funny word: it can bring to mind strange rules and fiery preachers… and sometimes things are done in the name of ‘holiness’ that make it appear the antithesis of love.  So, please don’t let the topic of this post keep you from going any further.  I freely admit that some of our definitions of holiness are misguided and potentially hurtful; I also admit we’ve been distracted by conversations related to but not central to holiness. Discussion about the Wesleyan stance on alcohol is best left to another post (or ginormous tome).  No, we’re not perfect in how we approach the outward look of holiness… neither am I perfect in how I live, believe, or do life.

But our passion is the truth that the work of Jesus who lived, died, rose again ascended into heaven and even now pleads for us really does make us new.  The impossible call of God’s Spirit to be holy is met by the overwhelming grace of God’s Spirit and we are made such. We really believe a person can be transformed by grace into being exactly who God calls us to be in Scripture.

I tell people I grew up in a home church environment where the ‘flash and pizzaz’ of the Holy Spirit was more the focus than the real power of God’s Spirit, that It wasn’t until my time at Bethany Bible College that I learned of God’s love so great he not only rescues but renews deep, deep down.  What would have been different in my life and heart had I first been exposed to the message of grace-given holiness?  I believe God’s Spirit gives incredible gifts to the Body (many times us holiness folk shy away from and end up missing out on our full potential here, but that is also a discussion for another time…); that he can heal, give supernatural knowledge, amazing insight, holy discernment, and raise the dead; that he can  inspire men and women with dreams & visions, allow us to proclaim his Word, and be used as vessels to change the world in his power.  But one of the most powerful, loving, amazing things I have seen him do is right a crooked spirit.

We Wesleyans like to proclaim we are part of the Holiness Tradition; I hope our passion for God’s Spirit does not morph simply into a list of rules and remembrances of the Good Ol’ Days—as so many traditions do—but that we find ourselves renewed with passion to proclaim that there is a loving God who rescues and re-wires.  He is powerful, loving, strong and mighty to save.

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This is part 1 of a series.  You can read the introduction here.

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