Holy Spirit

We’ve been thinking about how we practice the Rhythms of Grace in Lockdown. In our last post we explored Generous Blessing. Today Helen helps us think about Receiving and Releasing God’s presence.

“Jesus breathed on them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” John 20: 22

We celebrated Pentecost last Sunday – the moment that marks the beginning of the church.  This moment is marked not by teaching or a new idea, or by service of others or by a public announcement, but by a powerful encounter with God in a hidden place. 

The best way that God could think of to start the church was for the disciples to receive His power for themselves, then go out and share that power with others. 

Centuries on we are a people who are still called to receive and release the Holy Spirit in the same way.  We do this through worship, prayer, listening and ministering to others.  

We want to be able to regularly breathe in and out, to spend time letting God’s presence pour into us and speak to us through worship, prayer and listening. We also want to be comfortable being ‘naturally supernatural’ and looking for opportunities to share the Holy Spirit with people around us.

This might look different right now to what we’re used to. Perhaps there are new ways God wants to show us of how to dig in and access his Holy Spirit for ourselves. I’m finding myself a bit stuck in just praying and worshipping in front of a screen right now! It’s wonderful to be able to do that with others, but I think God is calling me to look for new ways of finding him in my everyday life. What about you? 

Likewise, maybe we are used to being able to pray and lay hands on each other in person which obviously isn’t an option at the moment. What are the ways we can use to still pray with each other in 2s and 3s, or as a community? If you are able, meeting up with another person and praying at 2 metres apart might be possible, or if you are dropping shopping or other things off to someone perhaps you could pray for and with them as you do that, or perhaps pray with someone over the phone? These things may feel a bit awkward at first but it’s worth pursuing them.

Finally, are there ways you can be praying for people who don’t know God’s power in their life? When we receive God’s Spirit we are empowered to share Him with others. What ways have you found to do that recently? What are you seeing God doing as you connect with those who don’t know Him yet? Do let us know – we’d love to share those stories to encourage the rest of the church!

Praying you’d know God’s presence with you in whatever your life looks like right now.
love, Helen.