Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and
encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Acts 9:31 (NIV)
I’ve been a Christian since for decades. For most of that time, I was a churchgoer, and a committed adherent to what I now call the institutional church system. That’s the system of church buildings, pastors, seminaries, etc. that have grown to become what most people think of Christianity.
For most of that time, I used to wonder why we don’t see the Holy Spirit active in our lives, our businesses and our communities in the dramatic and visible ways that we see him in the early days of the church. In the early days of the church, Christianity grew at an incredible rate, sweeping across the known world in a few hundred years. Yet, today, in our country, we have actually witnessed a decrease in the percentage of Christians in the population. Why is that? What’s changed?
Some time ago, I realized that God has not changed, but we have. I received an image that made clear to me how we hinder the actions of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our businesses. We’ve gradually acquired ideas, paradigms and practices that actually hinder the work of the Holy Spirit. We’ve done it individually, but more importantly, we’ve done it corporately, in groups, in congregations, in denominations, and eventually in the general public.
It hasn’t been a sudden event, but rather a methodical chipping away at the power of the Spirit to move among us. Here’s how God helped me to understand it.
Imagine a bright and powerful light in the form of a globe—about the size of a basketball, sitting in a bare room. The light is incredibly bright and illuminates everything around it. That is like the power of the Holy Spirit within us, enlightening our understanding, doing away with our false paradigms, and operating powerfully within our life. Now build the framework of a box around the globe so that each of the sides is framed with an outline of a rectangle. That framework is like our physical bodies within which the globe—the Holy Spirit—resides.
Now take a screen, like the kind you put on windows to keep the bugs out. Nail it over one side of that framework. You’ll note that the screen slightly hinders the light. It still shines, but not quite as brightly. Now, nail multiple screens, one on top of the other, over all the exposed
sides of the framework, until the light within cannot penetrate the multiple layers of screens, and it becomes dark. The light is still there, but it’s been hindered from illuminating the room by the multiple layers of screen.
Those multiple screens are the false paradigms that we gradually acquire that serve to hinder the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. No one of them is powerful enough to shut off the light, but when a number are applied over and over, the sum total keeps the light boxed in.
So, for example, when we believe that the only worthwhile spiritual work is done under the auspices of the institutional church, that is a false idea that hinders the working of the Holy Spirit. When we believe that, we add a screen to the box and hinder the power of the spirit.
When we believe that it is necessary to ‘go to church’ to be an active, effective Christian, that is another false idea that adds another screen.
And so it goes.
There are ideas which we add to our lives that, in effect, nail screens on the light of the Holy Spirit. We pick them up over our lives from lots of different sources. Some we form in reaction to events in our lives. Others are ideas that have been taught in the schools, colleges and churches that have the same impact. Some ideas are conveyed by the media and the spokespeople for the secular humanist philosophy.
If we are going to release the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to methodically remove the false ideas and paradigms that we have gradually nailed over his light.
That is some of what we try to do in this blog and series of podcasts. As we gradually, one by one, remove the false ideas in our lives, we tear off the screen that we have nailed around the light of the Holy Spirit, and allow him to shine into our lives.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the instructions and examples you have given me in your word. Thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit to illuminate my life and bless my businesses. Help me to discern the ideas and paradigms that I have nailed over his light to hinder his activity in my life. Then, Lord, work with me to remove those hindrances so that his light can shine even brighter in my life and my business.
This post was excerpted from The Good Book on Business, 2017, by Dave Kahle
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