ArticleBlog | Seeing Red: the art of hearing by the Spirit
Seeing Red: the art of hearing by the Spirit
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 09.06.15
The Holy Spirit is the person in whose dimension of life we experience God. There is nothing of significance that happens in the Christian life without the work of the Holy Spirit. For instance, no one comes to the Father in the first place without the conviction of the Spirit.
We can neither pray nor understand the Bible without the inspiration of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who progressively changes us into the image of Jesus and it is the Spirit who gifts us to fulfil our various callings in the world. This leaves no room whatsoever for ‘caution’ about the Spirit in any area of life or ministry; as if we could honestly imagine the historical Jesus issuing a beatitude like ‘blessed are the cautious’.
Obviously, those who believe in Jesus are given the Spirit as a gift to remain with them for ever. However, in a way that we don’t entirely understand, we still need to go on being filled with the Spirit, we can be anointed by the Spirit in a particular way for a particular purpose and we need the Spirit to help us grow in our knowledge of God.
Therefore, it stands to reason that preaching is nothing if it is not a Spirit inspired experience. In my view, the experience of preaching in the power of the Spirit begins long before we speak. It doesn’t matter whether our task is to preach, to visit a sick person or give advice to a friend, primarily we need to be people of the Spirit otherwise the breathe
