Gary Wilkerson (Zondervan)
More than three years after evangelist and pastor David Wilkerson’s death, his son and ministry partner, Gary Wilkerson, releases the powerful story of his father’s life, service and love for God.
Ron Luce (Charisma House)
Subtitled “Live Beyond a Feel-Good Faith and Build a Spiritual Foundation That Lasts,” this book exposes all the watered-down ways of presenting the gospel over the past 50 years that can result in a shaky foundation.
Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson)
The best-selling author uses the Lord’s Prayer to reconnect readers to the profound, life-changing power made available to us through simple conversation with God.
Kimberly Daniels (Charisma House)
Fiery pastor and Jacksonville, Florida Councilwoman Kimberly Daniels uses the foundation of her testimony to deliver a bold look into the strongholds and immorality operating within the church today.
Alec Rowlands (Tyndale)
Rowlands, the South African pastor of Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, Washington, shows Christians how to make God’s nearness an everyday reality and how to be prepared for the transformation that it brings.
Dennis Balcombe (Charisma House)
A true apostle who’s risked his life to spread the gospel in China for decades, Dennis Balcombe has had a front-row seat to the historic move of the Holy Spirit behind the communist nation’s loosening bamboo curtain. His latest book details the amazing miracles he continues to see God perform.
When you spend time with God, you get to know His ways as well as His Word (assuming you are reading His Word). More than that, you develop sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. You eventually get to know His ways to the extent that you sense when you are about to grieve Him.
The problem is, when we grieve Him, we almost never know we did it! We find out later. But you rarely know at the precise moment. Samson told his secret to Delilah and didn’t feel a thing. But he found moments later than his prodigious strength had gone. (See Judges 16:20-21.)
I would define spirituality as “the time gap between sin and repentance.” In other words, how long does it take before you realize or admit that you sinned—that you were wrong? Some take years. They say, “I’ll never admit I was wrong.” And they are true to their word.
Some, however, after a long time, cool off or come to themselves and say, “Well, perhaps I got it wrong after all.” But what a pity that it took so long! Some narrow the time gap to months, some to weeks, some to hours (that’s better), some to minutes, some to seconds. And if you can narrow the time gap to seconds, you are often able to sense the wings of the dove flapping and ready to fly off—and you stop yourself!
Don’t finish that sentence! Don’t write that letter! Don’t make that phone call!
Nothing is worth grieving the Holy Spirit.
So, if you want to have a lively, real, unfeigned and constant relationship with God, His Son and the Holy Spirit, you must get to know God’s ways. One of the ways of the Holy Spirit is that He is sensitive—like a dove.
Did you know that pigeons and doves are in the same family? But they are not the same! You can train a pigeon; you cannot train a dove. The pigeon can be domesticated; the dove is a wild bird. A pigeon is belligerent; the dove is loving. A pigeon is boisterous; a dove is gentle. A pigeon will mate with more than one pigeon; the dove mates with only one dove for life.
The pigeon represents the counterfeit spirit—strange fire. The dove represents the Holy Spirit—holy fire. I reckon there are services where people imagine that the Holy Ghost came on the church, but when you get to the bottom of it, you discern it may be pigeon religion. Strange fire. Personally, I think it is an absolutely wonderful but probably rare moment when the authentic Holy Spirit comes down in great measure. Holy fire.
It is so easy to grieve the Spirit. It happens to people on the way to church. They shout to each other as they drive into the parking lot. Then they worship as if nothing is wrong and wonder why there is no sense of God. It happens to a minister as he prepares his sermon. It can happen at any moment.
Although we have only ourselves to blame when we lose our tempers, point the finger or speak of another person in an unflattering manner, it is also true that our adversary the devil lurks about, looking for an opportunity to seize our weak spot. We all have them.
The ungrieved Spirit in me will connect with the ungrieved Spirit in you. If you get two or three people together when all have been walking in the ungrieved Holy Spirit, there is richness of fellowship. That doesn’t mean everybody is in total agreement theologically or politically. But the sweetness is there.
Imagine what it would be like when congregations of a dozen, or 1,200, or 12,000 are all—everyone—walking in the same ungrieved Holy Spirit! Who knows what would happen when marriages are healed, people start forgiving their parents, Christians start speaking to one another, ministers finally start speaking to one another and everybody truly loves each other!
First the dove, then the fire.
I wonder how many people pray for the fire to fall but take no notice of their personal attitudes. I wonder how many pray for revival but do not think of examining themselves. I wonder how many go to church to worship God and hear a sermon but have no awareness of personal issues that cause the dove to stay at bay. I wonder how many times we grieve the Spirit and feel no conviction of sin whatever.
If, therefore, you want to know what grieves the Holy Spirit, read Ephesians 4:30-32.
Keep short accounts with the Lord. As soon as you sense bitterness—and the dove lifting from you—turn to the Lord. Remember 1 John 1:9. He is faithful.
The goal is to enjoy unbroken fellowship with the Holy Spirit so that there is no discontinuity in sensing His smile and presence. After all, you want the dove to remain.
Adapted from Holy Fire, by R.T. Kendall copyright 2014, published by Charisma House. The Holy Spirit, greater than our theology, bigger than any denominations, beyond all we can imagine is God’s gift to us. If you want to increase your knowledge of this most misunderstood member of the Trinity, or if you long to experience His presence in your life in a deeper way than ever before, this book is for you. To order your copy, click here.
PRAYER POWER FOR THE WEEK OF 01/20/2014
This week ask the Lord to teach you His ways. Hide Ephesians 4 in your heart and ask Him to help you digest it, renew your mind and practice what it teaches. Continue to pray for those who have fallen victim to weather conditions, crime, sickness and financial losses. Pray for your church leaders, and follow the Lord’s leading in helping them reach out with the gospel to your community and those in need. Continue to pray for national revival, more laborers for the harvest field and for the peace of Jerusalem. Ephesians 4; 1 John 1:9.
CHARISMA: What inspired you to write your new book?
CAINE: In the 2000 Olympics I watched the women’s 4×100 meter relay. The American team was the team to beat and should have won the relay. But they had a very soft exchange and the Bahamian and the Jamaican teams took over. Even though the Americans are the fastest team on paper, they ended up losing because they had a weak [baton] exchange.
Then in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, the American team again should have won the 4×100 meter race. One of the team members slowed down a little and she fumbled the exchange. Their team ended up getting disqualified.
Then it started to dawn on me, I wonder if there is a pattern here. In 2008 at the Beijing Olympics the American team dropped the baton at the exchange and ended up being disqualified again. In the 2012 Olympics is when I said I have to write this book. That year, all of the exchanges went really smoothly in each of the three exchange zones and the American women’s 4×100 team won.
As I was watching that, I just felt in my heart the Holy Spirit say, “Christine, this is what it’s like in My church. A lot of My church is running as if they’re running an individual sprint but they are actually part of a divine relay. We need to, in our generation, learn to carry the baton of faith.
CHARISMA: How does this concept practically apply to the body of Christ?
CAINE: I’ve been serving in full-time ministry for more than 25 years. A couple of seasons ago I started to realize that there was a divine exchange that was happening in the kingdom. It was a real shift of different generations. We are the body of Christ and we are dependent on one another. We need to make sure that we are not hanging on to the baton too long and handing it over too late. We also need to make sure we’re ready for the exchange and that we’ve got our hands out ready to run and receive the baton.
We have this younger generation waiting, saying, “When are you going to pass something over to me?” But you’ve got to be running in the exchange zone so I can give you the baton. Then some others are holding onto the baton and the younger generation is running, saying, “Quick! Hand it over or you’ll disqualify all the work that we’ve done.” We are all dependant on each other.
CHARISMA: How does the church properly and practically carry the baton of faith?
CAINE: What we don’t realize is that every time we don’t dive into the Word, every time we try to diminish the power of God, we are actually saying to a generation that we are dropping the baton of faith. Every time we leave our post, if God has called us to a job, to a marriage or to be light in the darkness in the midst of our public schools, then we are on assignment. We are carrying the baton of faith.
I want to remind the body of Christ again that we are not a product of time; we are a product of eternity. We are given gifts and talents for the purpose of serving. Even in the difficulties in our life the storms of our life, we can’t drop the baton of faith. God will turn everything around that the enemy meant for evil and use it for good. I want to inspire people who have given up hope.
We need to get ourselves like an army, fully immersed in the Word and seeing our normal everyday life as the battlefield for our fight of faith.
CHARISMA: If you could sum up your entire book with one principle what would it be?
CAINE: That the fight of faith is worth fighting for.
Bill Hybels (Tyndale)
What if you could shed that daily, gnawing sense of having more things to do than hours in the day? What if your life could be more than just rushing from one busy activity—or season—to the next?
Hybels, the founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois, believes it’s possible for you to find such peace as he explores the importance of simplifying life by uncluttering your soul.
In Simplify, Hybels tackles a defining issue of today’s American culture—the frantic pace of modern life that too often consumes and controls our every move, leaving us exhausted and overwhelmed. A lifelong struggler with these issues, Hybel has an abundance of road-tested wisdom to share with those who crave a simpler life anchored by the priorities that matter most.
The influential pastor shows readers how to respond to God’s call to purpose, fulfillment, connectedness and joyful productivity—rather than reacting to the daily demands and priorities of others. Using spiritual insight, readers will discover how to create a God-first schedule to simplify their lives.
“I have waited four decades to write this book,” says Hybels, “primarily because it has taken me nearly that long to learn the lessons necessary to lead a focused, fulfilling and ‘simplified’ life. This book is not about buying a new day timer or app. It pulls the layers back and gets at the ‘why’ questions: Why do I overschedule, overcommit and overspend? Why do I carry low-grade levels of fear and bear grudges for wrongs that occurred a decade ago?”
Hybels hopes readers will have answered those questions by the end of the book. And to that extent, Simplify is both honest and practical as a timely resource that can help anybody who is ready to move into a future that looks far different from their past. —Felicia Abraham
Lecrae
Lecrae’s seventh solo studio album, Anomaly, follows up his Grammy-winning release, Gravity, which sold more than 100,000 copies and catapulted the rapper to the forefront of a movement blending hip-hop and faith in both Christian and secular circles. Well-known artists and sports figures are already making waves with Lecrae’s pre-release social media buzz in sharing why their faith and lives make them an “#anomaly.”