Pilgrim Soldier

Yesterday was, of course, Palm Sunday which means that I gave my first ever Palm Sunday message. I seem to be doing a lot of firsts when it comes to preaching this year! As is always the case I wrestled with the text that I had chosen and tried to come up with something that would speak to the congregation and what occurred to me was the unexpectedness of everything that happened during that particular day, if not the whole of Holy week.

This in turn led me to think about my own Christian walk and to consider how often I’d let the Holy Spirit move in my life in such a way as to give him free reign. How many times have I allowed him to do a surprising work in me? You see I believe that the Holy Spirit will only work in our lives in the ways that we allow Him to. This means that we can actually suppress the work of the Holy Spirit, and by doing so we lose out on so much that is on offer to the follower of Jesus.

Last night, as I finished the latest book I’ve been reading, I read this:

Too many churches have wanted to domesticate the Holy Spirit, keeping [him] caged and ’safe’ by imposing rigid and controlling worship styles on our Sunday worship, trapping our meetings with bureaucracy and endless reports, and feeding our people with tragically low expectations of what God can do in and through them.
pg.166 - Restoring the Woven Cord

For so long have we undervalued the power of the Holy Spirit that we now see the fruit of our labours. Too many Christians do not believe in the power that is available to us and precious few have ever been surprised by allowing the Spirit to work in and through them. I left my fellowship with a challenge for Holy week yesterday; to allow themselves to look beyond their own thoughts and their own ways, and instead allow God’s ways and God’s thoughts to control their lives. I pray that I can do this as well!