Holy Spirit 101

Out of all the distressing inventions ever produced, I have to say, the Jack-in-the-Box toy is probably just about the worst. We had one for a while when my children were still babies, and it never failed, no matter how much I braced myself -- or on the other side, no matter how much I tried to relax, take deep breaths, prepare myself for the inevitable -- as soon as the song reached the POP and the Jack-in-the-Box leaped out from beneath its lid... I'd jump. I have a similar reaction to opening one of those Pillsbury crescent roll containers. Usually I just try to avoid it -- I hand it to my husband and let him endure the build-up to the sudden pop.

See, even though I know the pop is coming, I'm hard-wired to be surprised because of the suddenness of the appearance. I can't help but be affected by the "suddenly."

The Lord still hasn't shown me which book He wants me to go through next, so I'm just going to be faithful to show up each morning and talk to Him. Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when we don't receive an answer right away... we stop asking? I submit this: If we don't keep showing up, how are we supposed to get the answer when it comes? To hear the answer, we have to be present and listening.

"The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue (He's taught me some stuff), to know the word that sustains the weary (He's taught me some stuff that is hopefully going to encourage you and help you keep going). He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught (some mornings, granted, it's hard to crawl out of bed, but some mornings, it's like He plays a trumpet in my ear. Wake up! I have something to tell you!). The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious. I have not drawn back" (Isaiah 50:4-5).

Y'all... open those ears. The Lord isn't silent when we seek Him. When we listen, how clearly He speaks!

Anyway, the last few mornings, He's led me to Malachi 3:1, and I wrote a post yesterday centered on that Scripture. I'm going to branch out from there today. First, re-reading it, it says: "Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to His temple..." 

Suddenly. The Lord has really been pounding that word into my ears each morning when He "wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." Suddenly He will come. Suddenly, He will show up.

Y'all, the Holy Spirit is always with us. "And I [Jesus] will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth" (John 14:16). 

So, He's already here. But sometimes, when He works, we see Him, because we're hard-wired to be surprised by suddenness. We can't help but be affected by the "suddenly." When the Holy Spirit shows up, He shows up suddenly, with power, and sweeps us off our feet. 

But there's a prerequisite.

In university, when you get to some of the upper level courses, you're required to first have taken some course prerequisites. For instance, you can't take some of the fourth-level pre-med classes for your degree, if you haven't first taken Bioscience 101. 

The 101 class is your prerequisite to be able to gain your knowledge, finish your degree, and graduate with excellence.

Holy Spirit Sudden Appearance comes after Seeking the Lord 101.

"Then suddenly, the Lord you are seeking..."

Here's something else: When we play Hide-and-Seek, we don't know when we'll Find. We know we're supposed to find, and that's why we're looking, but there's no set time, no exact second, no expected moment when we find the Hider. 

We find when we seek.

This idea is bowling me over this morning. Who knew that all my memories of playing Hide and Seek would overwhelm me like this?

Flip to Acts 16:25-28: "About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, 'Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

Do you think Paul and Silas knew that there was going to be a violent earthquake? Do you think they knew they'd be released from prison that very night? Maybe, but not likely. There's no record of a prophetic word surrounding this circumstance -- "Thus saith the Lord, at midnight, you will feel a great shaking..." etc. 

What does happen is that Paul and Silas pray and sing. That's what they do. Pray... and sing. In prison, wondering what's going to happen to them, behind locked doors, the center point of attention among a slew of criminals in cells surrounding them, they pray... and sing.

They seek the Lord. Knowing Paul's evangelistic zeal, it's quite likely they also witnessed to their jail-mates. But they prayed... and sang. 

Suddenly. Holy Spirit 101. Paul and Silas sought the Lord (prerequisite), and suddenly.

"Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose."

Here's the next point: Paul and Silas weren't the only men freed by the showing up of the Holy Spirit. They sought, and the Holy Spirit showed up in power... and opened every door in the jail and broke every chain in the place, criminals' included.

Y'all... I've got chills! The Holy Spirit freed even the criminals!

Even better, look at this. Did the criminals, on seeing their open doors, make for freedom outside the jail cell? 

NO! Hallelujah! They found freedom where Paul and Silas sought the Lord! Freedom wasn't outside the jail cell, even for these criminals! Freedom was in the Holy Spirit, who had just showed up! Not a single criminal ran! Paul said: "We are all here!"

They didn't stay put because of any human rationalization or emotion, because if even a single ounce of SELF had dictated their actions, they would have fled for the hills the second the chains clanked loose and the doors ripped open.

They stayed because the Holy Spirit SHOWED UP SUDDENLY!!!

SELF fled! They stayed Because He Came!

A portion of a sermon given two years ago by Alistair Begg, a Scottish minister, made its rounds on social media recently. He talks about the thief, hanging on the cross next to Jesus, the criminal who looks at Jesus, and says: "Remember me when you come into Your kingdom," and Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, today, today, you will be with Me in paradise."

That guy had done nothing to free himself from his judgment. Alistair Begg made the point: "The moment someone asks you how you know you're saved, and you say, 'Because I...' you've lost the whole point. The answer is 'Because HE!' Because HE said I could come!" (Watch the link. It takes four minutes, but the impact will stay with you for far longer).

And when He says, "Today, you will be with Me in paradise," that's the freedom I want! I couldn't care less about the doors of a jail cell in the light of eternity. What matters is when the Holy Spirit suddenly shows up, I want to walk directly into the freedom HE offers!

Because HE set me free from the law of sin and death! Romans 8:2!

I. AM. FREE, you are free, because who the Son sets free is free indeed! John 8:36! 

Chains, off. Doors, open. 

There's a song by Dallas Holm I pull out every Easter, but y'all, Christ didn't just rise at Easter. He's alive every day, all day! The song is called I'll Rise Again, and one of the lines rocks me to the core every time: "I'll rise again! Ain't no power on earth can tie me down!" 

Why not?

Because "the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!" 2 Corinthians 3:17!

Breaking this down, because I'm a teacher and I'm a big fan of summarization tactics:

a.) Seek Him.
b.) When He shows up suddenly,
c.) Ignore the jail cell doors,
d.) Find freedom in HIM
e.) Not "because I," but "because HE!"

Amen!