Acts 1:8 (NIV)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
CONSIDER THIS
I know. I said I would share another Holy Spirit Story from me today. (It’s coming next week). For some reason, I looked back through the queue of stories sent to us and this one caught my eye for today. It was sent back in November while we were in the midst of our Acts 1–14 series. It came from Gary Liederbach. I met Gary and Nancy when I served as dean of chapel at Asbury Seminary and they were students. This family—oh my goodness! You have to meet them. They are sowing a great awakening community called One Direction Community in the Madison-Huntsville, Alabama, area. Here’s a story about how Gary offices in the local Waffle House. They are some of the most real-deal witnesses of Jesus I have ever met. If you have an extra few minutes today, click on this link to see what I’m talking about. Here’s Gary in his own words. See if you can spot the subtle prayer and fasting “backstory” too!
Here is an amazing encounter—what I believe is a miracle—I and others were blessed to witness. Some amazing things are happening at some of our One Direction Community gatherings. Some things I used to be very skeptical of, but now I have come to a place of expecting it every week. The Holy Spirit is moving.
Neither I nor anyone else has done anything different in our prayer and worship gatherings to promote or encourage these experiences. We have always followed the same format. Truth be known, I have always been skeptical of them when I have heard or seen stories of them.
What we did do after this past Easter, was we committed as a church to read through Acts one chapter a day, fast together every Friday, and meet weekly to simply pray over the direction of our church and our city. We were about two weeks into our reading through Acts and fasting there were about twenty of us gathered in my home one evening at our weekly house-church gathering praying, singing worship songs, and looking into the Word.
A boy who is a family member of our house church, his birthday was that day and he turned thirteen. We laid hands on him and prayed over his coming into manhood and growing in the Spirit. When we finished I looked down and a five-year-old boy named Scott was pulling on my pant leg. He had been in another room in my home watching The Good Dinosaur movie on TV with other kids and for some reason left that room and wandered into the room we adults were in. He asked me if we could pray over him to receive the Holy Spirit as we did for the other boy. I said sure and we prayed over him. When we were finished, he left our room and went down the hall back into the room with the other children.
That evening we happened to be looking at Joel chapter 2. It was a rainy night and we were reading through this chapter together. When we were reading verse 30, “I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth – blood, fire, and columns of smoke,” a huge lightning strike hit near our house and there was loud thunder. We all looked around at each other and thought that was kind of cool.
About thirty minutes later, Scott (the five-year-old) came back into our family room carrying with two hands this large form he had made out of Legos. He interrupted us, brought it in, and sat it on the coffee table in front of me and the other people in the room. I asked Scott what he had. He said Jesus told me to make this and bring it in and show it to you. When I examined it, it looked like a staircase that was brown at the bottom and purple at the top. On top of the staircase was a landing and on it was a figure made of yellow Legos. Behind the landing, the yellow man was standing on what looked like a wall made of red Legos that the landing rested on.
I asked Scott what it was. He said Jesus showed this to him and helped him make it. Scott said, “The staircase leads up from the earth to the throne room of God. That is why it is brown at the bottom and purple at the top. The yellow man figure is Jesus who is seated on a throne and forever reigns. He was glowing when I saw him so that is why I made him in yellow.” I asked him about the red wall. Scott said, “That is not a red wall, but a waterfall of the blood of Jesus that flows from his throne to cleanse, wash, and restore the people in the world.” Then Scott casually said, “Jesus just wanted me to show you this.” He then turned, left his Lego creation on the coffee table, and went back to the other room to watch TV again with the other kids.
Scott has never made more than a square-looking block with Legos before. He has not taken a systematic theology class and knows little more than “Jesus loves me.” He has never said before words like “reigns,” “restored,” or “blood of Jesus,” nor has he said them again since. I baptized him and his parents and sister this past Pentecost. They were not from a church background and had not attended a church gathering before in their lives besides a couple of weddings and funerals. So when he came in with this art in Legos that I don’t think any of us adults could have made, we were all very quiet. Those in the room watched Scott walk out, then looked again at the Lego art on the table, and then all eyes looked up at me to give them the theological explanation!
That was the first of several such events, what I can only call God/Jesus encounter experiences that have been happening pretty regularly now. So though I do not truly understand them nor am I trying in any way to encourage them, I also do not want to discourage the moving or outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I am trying to lead my church through this season on a theological, orthodox path that is stepping way outside of what I have ever experienced.
THE PRAYER
Father, thank you for this beautiful powerful story. We will treasure this and ponder it in our hearts. Speak, Lord, your sons and your daughters are listening. We pray for the little boy, the five-year-old Scott. Would you protect and preserve his life and lead him into all you have for him and perhaps for many others through him? We thank you for Gary and Nancy and their One Direction Community. It doesn’t sound like many of our churches and yet we long for this kind of community where we live. We pray for an increase of territory for your kingdom in their midst as you establish the work of their hands. May their tribe increase. Thank you for this witness. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
THE QUESTION
How did today’s Holy Spirit Story encourage you? Did you pick up the subtle note of prayer and fasting in the story?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing our Saturday song, “Sanctuary.”
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
P.S. Holy Spirit Stories Welcome
I would love it if you would send a story of faith from your life we might use on a Saturday in the future. We will be glad to attach your name or a pseudonym or anonymity—it’s up to you. It can be a story of coming to faith, a story of transformation, a story of healing, deliverance, suffering and sufficient grace, family reconciliation, prodigal returns, answered prayer, and so forth. A word count of 500–800 words works well. We can’t guarantee publication, but we assure you of our prayerful discernment. You can reply to this email with your story and it will come to me.
4 Responses
Amazing testimony! I loved reading the links. Wow! God is in action!
JD, this Holy Spirit story was very encouraging. Currently, I’m on a journey in my own faith walk that has me attempting to maintain a working relationship with believers in both the institutional church and house church venues. I read stories like this and wonder; how would it be possible for something like this to take place in your typical, highly orchestrated “order of worship “ situation on Sunday mornings? All I can say is that something’s gotta change in order for there to be a true renaissance for the institutional church. Possibly a hybrid form? I’m praying for that vision to form.
Hi Bob, with the hope you will see this, I was just engaged in a Facebook WUC post with Steve about this exact issue yesterday! I would like to think hybrid may still be possible, but I guess also now acknowledge I may be too steeped in the traditional format despite knowing it’s many challenges and limitations. Anyway, Steve suggested that he would love to see churches set aside some teach each service where everyone has an opportunity to speak who would like – this moves in the hybrid direction. I’ll post a quick message to see if he is willing to write more here. Peace to you and thank you for your regular contributions!
Thank you Bob for keeping me informed. I’m hopeful as well that some sort of hybrid version is possible, especially in the smaller congregations. And yes, I usually check back on resent comments. Blessings.