Let the Spirit Move You From Ordinary to Extraordinary

The Holy Spirit is so misunderstood within Christianity. It almost makes me nervous talking about Him. However, as followers of Jesus we need to learn to live by the Spirit's leading. Why? Because according to what the Bible says about Jesus' followers and the church, the Spirit plays a huge role.

Our verse of the week at Northwest is "And in Him (Jesus) you too (the church) are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit." Ephesians 2:22

Isn't that nice. God's Spirit dwells in the church. That should bring us comfort, peace and give us a feeling of safety, right? Yes and No. 

The presence of the Spirit means we are led by the Spirit. Being led by the Spirit means we are going to be asked to do things that may take us out of our comfortable padded pews and our safe little Bible studies moving us to take Godly risks. Moving us from ordinary to extraordinary.

Being Spirit-led means there will be times we go against logic--and in those moments we will see God do the extraordinary. 

I took a student with other students on a mission trip to Brooklyn, NY.  This student said he was an atheist. I knew he was going for all the wrong reasons, but I had this gut feeling it was the right thing to do. I explained to him we were going to do a VBS and he would have to teach as if he did believe in God. He agreed. 

He was asked by a kid at VBS why he believed in God. So living by what I asked him to do he began to explain why he believed. That night he told us about having to share why he believed in God. He then told us that as he was explaining his reasoning he realized he did believe. Who would have thought an atheist teaching VBS would come to an understanding about God. I will tell you who--God. 

God did the extraordinary in a very ordinary situation. 

This is the church being the church, letting the Spirit lead us to extraordinary places that only God can imagine. 

Later in Ephesians Paul takes the dwelling of the Spirit to an individual level, "I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Ephesians 3:16-17

The Spirit dwells within your inner being--in your soul. We have to learn to let Him lead and not keep His presence limited to our own knowledge. If we want to live extraordinary lives as followers we have to let the Spirit lead us as we live on mission for God.