Review:
Henry and Melvin Blackaby’s Book Experiencing the Spirit is an important
call to Christians whom they believe have “neglected the Holy Spirit as if He’s
an afterthought of God” (p. 82). They teach clearly about the importance of
the Spirit in daily living – hence the book subtitle: the Power of Pentecost Every Day.
They also decry the tendency in North American churches to equate
spiritual gifts with people’s natural talents and what they enjoy doing. Instead, they believe Christians should live
out the assignments God gives them to do [using their spiritual gifts] and
accomplishing what only God could do through them. That puts the focus and
praise on God alone. So they rightly critique those “who want to enjoy all the
fruit of Pentecost without the obedience to their assignment from God” (p. 123).
However, their downplay of the
importance of spiritual gift inventories (pp.
103-126) reveals a basic misunderstanding of the purpose of these
inventories. Spiritual gift inventories
are important so people can identify what God is doing in their lives,
not as an ego thrust. Nor are the
spiritual gifts identified an exclusive set for each person that determine the
only ways God wants to use that person.
Similarly, their statement
“Equipping always follows the assignment, never precedes it” (p.128) is not always true. Their overemphasis may be to keep people from
assuming where God is leading them but as a bold “never” statement it is
weak. An understanding of the Spirit’s
giftedness in our lives can open us to God’s leading for an assignment as God
directs us.
Over-all,
however, the content of the book is excellent and the stories both men provide
that illustrate their efforts to walk in the Spirit make the book honest and
practical and occasionally quite humorous.
The book is quite short and an easy as well as an important read.
M.L.
Codman-Wilson, Ph.D. 9/11/13
Excerpts:
“Recognizing God’s voice is not the same as coming to
Him. Hearing God in your heart is not
the same as answering. Working for the Kingdom of God does not mean living in
the Kingdom of God. Christianity is not believing the truths of the Bible; it’s
acting upon them and allowing God to control your life…through faith” (Henry and Melvin Blackaby Experiencing the Spirit, Multnomah books, 2009, pp.17,21).
“The role of the Spirit is… to reveal God’s presence in the
world. His presence must be revealed because…sin causes spiritual deadness that
blinds our hearts to God’s activity…The Spirit helps us know and respond to
God’s purposes in our lives…The Spirit “pulls back the curtain” so we can know
what He is doing – i.e., the story of Elisha surrounded by the enemy army at
Dothan (2 Ki. 6:14-17)…One thing we would
see is a raging spiritual battle” (Eph.6:12)
(p.31).
Look at Jesus. The Spirit gifted Jesus to serve (Lk.3:21-22). “Jesus set aside His rights as God
and lived as a human. And being limited by his physical condition, He was
forced to rely upon the Holy Spirit as his source of wisdom and power…Pentecost
was heaven’s gift to enable those who would obey the Lord…If the Holy Spirit
isn’t at work in your life, you’re just practicing cultural Christian religion
rather than experiencing the Living Christ” (pp.47,
60, 63).
“In Acts 1:8 Jesus said ‘You
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be
witnesses to Me’…He doesn’t send us out on an assignment; we go with Him on
His assignment…So many people have the misguided belief that we’re to go out for
Him but in reality we go with Him into this world” (p.65).
“If we seek the gifts of the Spirit and not the Holy Spirit
Himself, we will always focus on self…For the Christian, faith is not asking
for what we don’t have, but making use of what God says we already possess…To
be a Christian is to have a new spiritual life, a new relationship with God, a
new authority in heaven and on earth and a new power to serve. All this comes
as we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…The powerful Spirit who worked in
Jesus’ life is the same Spirit who works in us” (pp.72,73,77).
“It’s amazing how many people have neglected the Holy Spirit
as if He’s an after- thought of God…[If you have done so,] repent and ask Him
to forgive you for relegating Him to a position much less than He deserves.
Recognize the gift of Pentecost as a daily reality” (p. 82).
“Because God has a purpose for your life, He has sent you
the Holy Spirit to enable you to fulfill the assignment He wants to accomplish
through you…Assignment is always based upon character…The Spirit will do
whatever it takes to make you Christlike in all areas of your life…One of the
ways the Holy Spirit builds your character is to take you through challenging
times, then bring others alongside you to give you strength” (pp.83,90,95).
“If we operate only according to our talents and abilities,
we get the glory. But if we function according to the power of the Spirit, God
gets the glory as others around us see Him at work…The world needs to encounter
God doing in and through us what only He can do” (pp.98,100).
“Why was the Holy Spirit sent to you? What is your
assignment? What is He doing in your life?... Where is the evidence of our
belief that God can do the impossible? (pp. 128,
140)…If we don’t use our capacity to respond to the Spirit and choose to
walk by faith, the ability to hear [and be responsive to the Spirit’s voice]
fades…We can grieve the Spirit when we allow attitudes and actions to be
controlled by the flesh instead of the Spirit within us…The Spirit brings
conviction of truth and the strength to repent…We can resist the Spirit,
refusing to admit our sin and soft pedaling it so it doesn’t sound so bad. We
can quench the Spirit, i.e., hindering or stifling the Spirit in some way...We
need to understand there are consequences to our sin. We need to surrender
complete control to the Spirit so He can fill us and use us…. Confession and
repentance must be specific …From God’s perspective being filled with the
Spirit is the normal Christian life.” (pp. 146,
148, 149, 153, 155, 157).
Characteristics of those walking in the fullness of the
Spirit:
1. “Satisfaction with Christ. He
has prepared everything necessary to fill your life with rivers of living water
that will refresh your soul…
2. Dissatisfaction with self – the
Holy Spirit will always be urging you to put aside anything that will hinder your
progress as you run the race set before you…
3. A hunger to know Christ more…
4. A love for the people of God” (pp. 160-169).
Come to Christ for his filling and repent of any way you have blocked Him. "Then ask for His filling and make room for Him in you life and start living under His influence... And join with others who long to be filled with the Spirit...and humbly pray for one another in the body of Christ (pp. 181, 184-186).
Come to Christ for his filling and repent of any way you have blocked Him. "Then ask for His filling and make room for Him in you life and start living under His influence... And join with others who long to be filled with the Spirit...and humbly pray for one another in the body of Christ (pp. 181, 184-186).