2 Corinthians 2:14
This is why only someone who has God’s Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn’t have God’s Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Someone posted on a Facebook local group page and asked if there were any haunted houses in the area they could visit. They wanted to look for spirits. Several people weighed in and mentioned a few old homes in our community and cited incidents such as the television turning on every Sunday at a certain hour and the channel changing to a televised service. He said his family got to where they left the TV on this channel and let the service play. The funniest one was a comment that three ladies at the First Baptist Church saw a water faucet in the restroom turn itself on spontaneously. The mental image of this – and the idea that this was done by a “spirit” made me laugh out loud.
I honestly don’t know whether either of these stories are true. I am not sure why a TV would inexplicably turn on and change channels every Sunday. I don’t know what (if anything) these ladies saw – or how it happened. And I cannot say that the church building – or any other structure – is not inhabited at times by spirits. But I do know this…the only “Spirit” that interests me is the Holy Spirit…and I can totally vouch for His power and presence.
As Paul tells the Corinthians, I know that there are plenty of people who laugh at claims of the Holy Spirit in action just as I laughed about these two experiences with “spirits.” But I could cite chapter and verse where the Holy Spirit has shown up in my life…and I knew it – then and now! I know He came to me one Christmas Eve night when I sat in a hospital chapel. I asked God to take care of a seemingly impossible situation involving my grandmother, who lay in an ER exam room suffering from a concussion – and almost instantly, a precious nurse offered the perfect solution. I know that the Holy Spirit was with me when I sat with my brother, mother, and grandmother in the last hours of their earthly lives. I know that the Holy Spirit was with me when my sister died suddenly one Saturday morning – and as I drove to a nearby city to be with Greg when Grandma E left for heaven.
I know the Holy Spirit was with me on a mountain-top in the middle of Greers Ferry Lake one sunny March morning…and again as I stood atop Hawksbill Crag in the Arkansas Ozarks last winter and surveyed the majesty and vastness of the wooded valley below me. I felt the Holy Spirit with Greg and me as we peered over the edge of Loonbeam Cutoff – and stood atop Mt. Nebo and Petit Jean Mountain after hiking there. And just yesterday, I felt the blessings and presence of the Holy Spirit as we stood along the banks of the Little Red River, almost within view of our house – yet seemingly miles away. In the stillness and calm of that moment, with birds and squirrels chirping and the river gently gurgling, I heard the Spirit whisper, “I will be with you every step of this New Year.”
Not everyone feels the presence of the Holy Spirit. This saddens me…not that I feel superior in some manner, but because I want everyone to know His presence, power, and peace. I want my children to feel Him with them as they navigate these next few years of teenage challenge and angst. I want my adult family members to know Him as they face the worries and struggles of “life” – and as they minister to others in the name of Jesus. I want those who are so filled with hate, selfishness, ego, and evil to feel the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, so that they might be satisfied and empowered by something so much more significant than their own desires or the whims of the devil.
My prayer this second day of a New Year is that many might sit quietly and listen for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit…that He might become the largest, most prevalent presence and Guiding Force in their lives. I pray that others might experience – and recognize – the blessings that God bestows exclusively by way of His Holy Spirit. He is here…He is available to all who will call on Him and recognize His presence. I pray you are in this number – today and every day to come. And if He happens to turn on the TV and change the channel to a church service, I pray we will have sense enough to stop and watch! Alleluia!
©2023 Debbie Robus
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