THE SPIRIT DARE

In my two most recent blog posts (STARBUCKS AND PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT, October 29 and CREATURES OF COMFORT AND FANS OF THE FAMILIAR, October 31) I’ve challenged myself and hopefully a few of you to be open to the creative power of the Holy Spirit being unleashed in and through our lives. I have a deep conviction God desires a greater work in my life and yours. I reach this conclusion and conviction when I read scriptures, such as Daniel 11:32 (NKJV) “…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” and John 14:12 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in my will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

As I concluded my previous post I gave this advance warning: “In my next blog post I am going to challenge you with a DARE.” What I’m really asking is you to do is: SHARE A DARE. The definition of the word, DARE, is: “to have the courage to try.”(dictionary.com) Here’s the dare: During the month of November seek to respond obediently to every leading of the Holy Spirit.

As I shared in the previous post, I believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Spirit provides guidance to our daily lives, in the form of specific instructions. I don’t know exactly what to call the leading of the Spirit. Personally I use different words, including: leading; prompting; whisper; “still small voice” (from 1 Kings 19:12); and probably a few more. The longer you follow Jesus and the closer you’re walking with him, the easier it is to understand the voice of the Holy Spirit. I look at it this way: God the Spirit knows how to get through to me, so He speaks in a way I can hear him clearly. The question is: When I hear Him, do I listen?

We definitely need to desire to listen, but that’s not so much about hearing Him as it is listening to Him. I’ll try to explain: My wife (Anita) will tell you I’m nearly a perfect husband (stop smirking like that!) but there are times when I hear her speaking but I don’t listen. I know what a bum! As long as I don’t acknowledge I hear her, I can avoid being responsible for whatever she’s asking me to do. Is it possible many of us do something similar with the Holy Spirit? Personally, I believe there’s so much kingdom work to be done in the world the Spirit is constantly seeking to give direction to those of us who are willing to be on the mission of Jesus.

So the DARE for November is to be very intentional about hearing and listening to the Holy Spirit and then following where He leads. (If you don’t understand the difference between hearing and listening, read the above paragraph again) There’s no doubt in my mind the Spirit going to lead you (and me!)  to people who need to see a real-life demonstration [display] of the Father’s love, which will sometimes be followed by a declaration of the good news of Jesus Christ. As we all know, love is a verb, which means there’s action or activity involved. Let people SEE the love of God through your life before they HEAR about it. This statement isn’t new, but it still applies: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

The Spirit Dare Prayer: “Father, I take the dare today, and I sincerely desire to be led by the Spirit. I make myself available to be used by you. Give me the courage to obey what you say. I’m ready.”