Setting up the Revolution...

This is a continuation of the previous post.

I GOT SAVED!

My first year, I would sit for hours and read the Gospels and The Acts of the Apostles and would ask a lot of questions about what this all was about. The love, power, forgiveness of Christ and then the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Where was that in the church today? A new friend said, "Oh Tony, we love being around you with all of this excitement but you will soon mellow out like the rest of us."

Mellow out?! I GOT SAVED! I asked about the power in the believer and another new friend said, "That doesn't happen any more." I asked "when did it stop?" thinking I missed it by a couple of years back when Crosby, Stills, and Nash broke up. And they went on to tell that it ended back with the disciples. I asked, "well... didn't Jesus say to go out and make disciples... ?" Oh Tony, you don't understand, the apostles were the last ones with that power." "Really?" I said. "I left a commune to join this?" When I started reading about missionaries in Cambodia and Philippines doing some of the same things as the apostles, no one could explain that, except, "They're missionaries..."

Mellowing out is when we start to comfort out and figure out. A lose of faith and a change of lean. We begin to lean on our own understanding. We still believe but it becomes based on our understanding, our bookwork, our legwork and not as much on the Spirit's work. Leaning is where we put our weight. And it is hard to put your full weight on two platforms and not pull a groin. My friends who go off to seminary, sometimes, rarely, a few,... quit relying on their faith and begin to lean on their understanding. They become ordained based on proficiencies passed instead of faith manifested. We form a commission of people to go out and select the best pastor based on proficiencies rather than manifestation of the work of the Spirit. Can they preach or does the Spirit speak through them. The lean is important.

I soon found myself trying to fit into the christian culture. Bought jewelry, bumperstickers, records, posters, and clichés. I started saying "praise the Lord" and praying that I wouldn't "backslide." I needed to be a part of something that gave me an identity. Faith was replaced by identity. That didn't last long, it is hard to maintain an identity in a shifting culture. Who is in today, is tomorrow's joke. Try playing a DC Talk song today in an emergent worship extravaganza experience.

I then got "filled with the Spirit" and changed churches. The people seemed to be deeply seeking The Way instead of being the way. I got to know people who GOT SAVED and were still excited. People who didn't rely on the organization to provide program, these men and women started ministries on their own. The church seemed to bless and encourage instead of control and commodify. I got involved with some people who would pray for people with spiritual issues. People who wanted prayer. And we would pray for them. I didn't know how to pray. I didn't know that I had authority over spirits. I just thought I could ask God to bless them, whatever that means. That time taught me a lot and changed my Way again.

At first it was about my power, then as Jesus revealed His heart it was about His Truth and His Life. We would begin to ask Him and wait for Him to reveal, instead of us just casting the demon out. Jesus would reveal the truth about the spiritual issue which was more than just getting rid of it but revealing the place given by the person, permission for it to have power. A holistic approach spiritual, physical, psychological, and familial healings need to happen not just spiritual. Jesus cares about all of that. More than just a technique, but a Way.

We started listening for His Way to deal with the demonic. If the spirits were subject to His Way shouldn't I be subject as well? So it became about listening and obedience.

The revolution continues...