By James Wilson
I will never forget the night of worship and prayer at a Hollywood church that climaxed a statewide prayer effort known as the I-5 Project. Hundreds of Christians stationed themselves on freeway overpasses along the Interstate 5 Corridor and prayed for God’s peace. I was privileged to stand and praise God for what He had done. Identifying myself as representing the Northern California, I blessed the people of the Southland. The host pastor then stood, visibly weeping. He said, “We are gathered here from the north and the south of California. We of the Southland have repeatedly denigrated our brothers to the north. We have taken their water…because we can. That man blessed us on behalf of the people we have abused. We need to repent. We need to repent now.”
His statement launched years of cooperation and honor between our regions as Southern Californians went north to bless and northerners like me came south. The project, and the pastor’s impassioned words, were equally the product of the Spirit of the Living God – and every bit as much as any word of prophecy, healing and raising the dead, or the promised leading into truth that once prompted the writing of the Bible. Yet Christians enthralled with the miracles, the revelation, and gifts like prayer languages and other tongues, often fail to see the deeper work of the Spirit to bring forgiveness and reconciliation.
That pastor – whose people preferred a compartmentalized Holy Spirit – was ousted from his position within a year or so. God is no longer going to tolerate this partial allegiance, nor the rage that often answers a challenge to it. In this season of the Fourth Great Awakening we are called to re-engage with the Holy Spirit – all of the Spirit – and we will see the wonders of God in this season only if our repentant hearts are willing to seek that radical re-engagement.
Charismatics like myself – dedicated to embracing the whole of Scripture – take joy in passages like 1 Corinthians 4:20 that we preach a Gospel of power and not mere words; we thrill to John 14:12-14 where Jesus says we will do the things we see Him do and even greater things than these when we invoke the Spirit in His Name. Evangelicals likewise feel their hearts strangely warmed when they read and reflect on passages in John 14-17 that promise the Spirit – Author of the Bible – will guide us into all truth after the departure of Our Lord to the right hand of the Father. We charismatics need to spend more time in the places that warm evangelicals; evangelicals need to spend more time appreciating that the gifts are as much for today as for any time. Both streams need to re-engage and re-embrace the dimensions of God’s Spirit that lie dormant in their corporate hearts. And what about the mainliners?
Their virtue is their remembrance that when the Lord said He would be present in sacramental acts like Baptism and Holy Communion He was not blowing smoke; these events are not commemorative but rather representational in the most literal sense. Charismatics and evangelicals need to embrace the Spirit’s promise of Real Presence. At the same time mainliners need to get a clue; the same Spirit who comes when we break bread and immerse in water is healing far more broken bodies and broken hearts today than He ever did before. And that same Spirit is still the guarantor of reliability in the Scriptures He caused to be written millennia ago.
The National Day of Prayer provided an amazing Holy Spirit opportunity. After the ceremonial portion concluded I deployed prayer teams throughout our city to walk and prayer locations open to the public. I led the team praying over the downtown area, including the Arts Council building that sports a statue of the Hindu goddess of assassins – Kali – on its front lawn. As we prayed blessings from the public sidewalk a staffer came boiling out of the building to accuse us of breaching the separation of church and state. I explained it was precisely because of the First Amendment we had every right to pray in public but he did not cool down. I said we were wanting only to bless in any case. When he growled, “I don’t want your blessing,” I spread my hands and said, “Too late.” Only the Holy Spirit could have supplied a return so quick, so mild, and so true.
All of us need to embrace all of Him – the Holy Spirit – if we are to recognize the new life God is pouring out in this newest Great Awakening.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
