Last night I participated in a new summer experience we are hosting in our church. We have a group of about 10 people committed to reading through the book by Dr. Terry Teykl called, Acts 29. Of course, there are not 29 chapters in Acts. The point is that we are living in the 29th chapter today as the Holy Spirit is continuing to do the work of evangelism in our world, reconciling all creation back to God. This book is not new. It was first published in 1993. The purpose of this book is to be used as a manual, teaching us how to use Acts of the Apostles as prayer guides, praying the Scriptures. I will blog each Thursday on what I experienced in the group each Wednesday and while I am excited, there is some hesitation on my part as well. Often when the word, "Holy Spirit," gets used it tends to bring out of the woodwork every emotion based experiences that can lead to some rather odd ideas, but then again, as Flannery O'Conner once wrote, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd." I suppose we all do have odd thoughts.
As I was praying through Acts 1:1 - 14, Dr. Teykl made a comment in his thoughts on Acts 1:1 - 14 saying, "Prayer always attracts the Holy Spirit." This suggests to me that prayer is the prelude in mission and evangelism, not postlude. Yet, we tend to make our plans on how we will serve God, and then ask God to bless our plans with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The approach seems bent toward our initiative and desires, and if there is one thing we can learn about the Holy Spirit in reading Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit is not manipulated by our prayers and our service, no matter how holy or righteous our behavior appears. Perhaps the prayer that attracts the Holy Spirit is the prayer of humble and contrite hearts, like we read about being prayed in the Acts of the Apostles where often the people who prayed had no idea what God would do, but they just knew that God would do - and that was enough. So I began my prayer today with this prayer ... "Good morning, God - what are you up to today? How can I help?" Now I wait! I wonder what God will say?
Happy Prayers to You!
Dennis
