The Weird, The Bold, The Obedient

I was asked to write a blog about how I saw the Lord move this week.

But how have I not seen the Lord move this week? 

This last week, my squad was at debrief up in the mountains of Costa Rica. We had no WiFi, but a whole lot of Jesus. Our days were full of rest, processing our time in Costa Rica, worship, practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and abiding in the One who walks with us daily. During this week, I witnessed and heard stories of some Holy Spirit power among my squad such as healing hearing, changing an MRI scan, healing from ADHD, gifts of the Holy Spirit being used, powerful prayers, and so much more! Our Lord and Savior is moving among my squad and I cannot wait to witness more!

With all that I have heard and witnessed just from my squad…questions come to mind:

Why do we not see the Holy Spirit move like this in the U.S.? Why do we not see the Holy Spirit working on a regular basis? Where are the healings, the miracles, the prophecies, the speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, wisdom and knowledge from above, discernment of the spiritual realm, and faith in abundance? 

I hear of the Holy Spirit moving in other countries, especially in countries where persecution of the Church occurs: dreams of the cross, visits from Jesus, resurrections, and so much more. Why not the U.S.? 

I once heard that the reason the church in the U.S. doesn’t witness the miraculous movements of the Holy Spirit as much is because we have easy access to the gospel. We have a church on every corner. In many other countries, this is not the case. Churches and Bibles are illegal so often times miraculous movements are the only way for the gospel to spread. 

But the more I learn about the purpose of the Church (not the building, but the body of believers), and how God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the more I’m believing that the above answer is not the truth. 

When we surrender our lives to Christ, when we accept his gift of salvation, God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”Acts? ?1:8? ?ESV???

Is this gift not for all believers? Are we not all able to use the power of the Holy Spirit in us to bring glory to God wherever we are at? Even in the U.S.? 

Then there must be something that is holding us back….right? 

What if the reason we do not see the Holy Spirit moving in miraculous ways is because we don’t give Him the space to do so? Maybe He wants to use us but we either don’t recognize the voice of the Lord, it’s drowned out by the busyness of daily life, or we are worried of the response of those around us? But what if we just said “Yes, Lord”?

One of my squad mates felt led to come up and pray for my right arm (nothing was wrong with my arm)…weird right?…but it was one of the most powerful prayers I have heard and it spoke to everything I had been processing and learning the last couple weeks. My squad mate had no idea about any of this. But even when it was weird, even when it didn’t make sense, even when he probably was apprehensive about how I would respond, he still boldly approached me with the desire to be obedient to our Lord and Savior. 

Everything that I have witnessed or heard of the Holy Spirit moving is when the Church chooses to be obedient even if it doesn’t make sense…even if we might look weird to the outside world… even if we might cause offense.

But what if we all made the choice to practice listening to the voice of God? What if we boldly obeyed even when it’s weird? What if we just said “Yes, Lord” no matter the response of those around us? 

Would we then see more of the miraculous movements of the Holy Spirit in the U.S.?