First a confession: I'm somewhat of a skeptic. Sadly, I tend to doubt the movement of the Holy Spirit. I get wrapped up in my own mind and how I think/see theology functioning. It's quite arrogant, I know. I often forget, especially when I'm at Youth Camps and VBS-es, what Jesus said in John chapter 3:
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 ESV)
I try to anticipate the wind - but I'm not a spiritual meteorologist.
I know the Spirit moves when the Word is faithfully preached. But the Word can be preached and the Gospel clearly proclaimed to thousands (as I saw at a youth camp in late July), yet not every lost person there will respond in faith. How is that? According to Jesus, all we can do is hear the sound of the Spirit - i.e. see it's effects - but we have no idea exactly what He will do because "the wind blows where it wishes."
There were two times this summer that I saw the Spirit move in a way my skepticism doubted.
One was at VBS. Confession #2 - VBS is not my favorite week out of the year. However, we are able to reach children and families that we normally do not see. And, because I support our Children's Ministry and want to serve our church, I asked the most dangerous question you could ever ask a Children's Minister:
Where do you need me to help?
Lo & behold, I ended up wearing a "biblical" costume for 5 straight days and told Bible stories from the first person perspective of Daniel. Yes, from the book so named in the Bible.
With my skepticism looming, I decided to put my pride aside and go on in obedience to what I knew God wanted me to do. In the days that followed, I saw hard hearts being broken down and "punk" kids beginning to listen to the Word as I shared the stories. I was able to play a part in the lives of children, 4 of whom eventually were baptized in the Sundays that followed.
I spent the following week preaching for a friend's church at a camp in Oklahoma. On the first day I met a student who happened to be an atheist. He had been attending the Youth Group for a while, curious about Christianity as a philosophy.
During my sermon on Tuesday I mentioned that some of the students would come to know God this week because their grandma's have been praying for them for years. It was just a spur of the moment, non-scripted comment in the middle of the sermon.
During the day on Wednesday, the Youth Minister had about an hour conversation with this student. He said it was the worse job of witnessing he had ever done (and this guy is a great evangelist). Wednesday night, however, this student went forward because he wanted to know how to be saved. The gospel was preached, and the Spirit regenerated this student immediately.
He read his Bible for the first time the next day as a believer. Thursday night he shared what God had taught him. I had only known him for a few days and could tell a difference in this student. Then, as the Youth Minister was sharing about this student's journey to the rest of the group, he mentioned that his grandmother had been praying for him for the past three years that he would be saved.
My comment about praying grandma's in the sermon Tuesday honestly came more from a humor standpoint than a reality in my heart. However, the Spirit moves where He wishes and "So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
With all three persons mentioned in the title - the atheist, the 6-year old, and the skeptic - God used His Word and His Spirit to soften hard hearts and respond to Him in faith. Two of which were to salvation, one was to a remembrance of what new life in Christ was like.
Are you watching for where the Spirit moves in your life? It's easy to think we have it all figured out. It's even easier to doubt that God still moves.
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