Compelling Reason #3: We must pursue a deeper filling of the Holy Spirit because we need a greater experience of God’s glorious presence and anointing in our life and ministry.
What is church without the presence of God – some kind of social club, or civic organization? Years ago I led a retreat for fifty college kids for a church in Stockton, California. At one point they turned down the lights, lit some candles, and shared their hearts. Suddenly the presence of Jesus came into the room. He was so real – almost as if He were physically among us, touching person after person. Many students burst into tears. They had never experienced the presence of Jesus in such a powerful way, and neither, at that time, had I.
I wrote earlier about my summer as a street missionary in Berkeley. At the end of the summer, I held a communion service in the church basement. All kinds of people came: A bad-conduct-discharged Marine on LSD; young black men from an Oakland ghetto, wearing sunglasses, acting cool; some were mentally ill. Many of the coffee house and meal regulars attended. Also, the publisher of a Berkeley radical newspaper came, along with at least one atheist intellectual. A nervous, scoffing spirit showed itself at the beginning, but that quickly dissipated. We had candlelight only, with people sitting around the wooden electric-cable spools for tables. Cochise, an African-American biker who had found Jesus in prison, helped me prepare and serve communion.
I had taped some music: Hello darkness my old friend… I played a song and then talked about life – lonely, sad, hard. I played Jesus Met the Woman at the Well by Peter, Paul, and Mary, and shared how Jesus met this woman and loved her when nobody else did. I played song after song. One song was, People care about social injustice, they care about the bleeding crowd. How ‘bout a needing friend. I need a friend.
The Holy Spirit began to touch people, to the point that you could have heard a pin drop. I said, “Come up and take communion if God is touching your heart. Just give your life to Jesus.” Amazingly, people began to come forward and kneel as they partook of the bread and the cup.
Crying broke out all over the room. These crazy, hardened street people were being deeply touched. The young blacks from Oakland pulled off their sunglasses and knelt down, weeping and marveling, “Wow, that’s real, man, that’s so real!” A mentally ill kid from New York City, who had threatened me with a razor blade he kept in his boot, came up sobbing and sobbing – his life was transformed! The radical newspaper publisher was shaken, speechless, eyes moist with tears as he looked deeply into my eyes, gave me a big hug, and walked quietly away into the night. The atheist, nearly pulling out his hair, exclaimed, “I didn’t know church could be like this. What is this? I’ve never experienced anything like this!” And what was this that he experienced? It was the presence of Jesus, made real by the Person and presence of the Holy Spirit. How we need to pursue Him!!!