Soul Sister Time

              I’ve just returned from a mission trip to work with people living in extreme poverty.   I experienced firsthand that extreme poverty produces great spiritual fruit.   Paul wrote about this to the church in Corinth.   Describing their faith Paul writes: And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.     In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity (2 Corinthians 8:1-2).                 This is the way I saw many of the Christian women I met on our trip.   One home stood out beyond them all.   Last year a small team of leaders traveled to this village on a vision trip.   We made many stops at neighborhood homes carrying overflowing bags of groceries.   This year we returned to a home that we had visited the year before.   You couldn’t forget this home because it was so full of children and moms working, playing, living together while for

              Jesus knew the experience of the Spirit of the Lord resting on Him as He has made possible for all Christians today.   When He preached at his home church, He read from Isaiah 61:1-3: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives   and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord ’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair .   The chapter goes on and on filled with hope and restoration from the Spirit of the Lord.   It is really good stuff—beauty from ashes kind of descriptions.   Believe me, if you could actually conceive of the gifts of the Spirit available to you

The Spirit Cries “ Abba ”               When you speak about the Holy Spirit, many thoughts come to mind.  Many Christians don’t even try to explore the Holy Spirit because they do not want to be associated with strange fainting, rolling in aisles of churches and speaking in unintelligible languages.  It appears to be a show.  The attention focuses on the person dancing in the aisle or claiming to know a heavenly language that sets them apart from others.  It’s all rather difficult to take in if you were not raised in this kind of setting.                 I do believe that the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in different Christian lives in different ways.  Most of what I observe is that you learn to accept His presence from being around other Christians who accept His presence in that way.  The Holy Spirit never overpowers a Christian’s free will.  You have to want Him to be graced by His presence.               I admit I do feel uncomfortable in some settings where Christians are