Jubilee Family,
Brothers and sisters, I really hope that you are reading A Praying Church: Becoming a People of Hope in a Discouraging World with us in this season of Jubilee’s life. If you aren’t, we are only ten chapters in, and the chapters are short. You can catch up! Grab a copy and get to reading a book that is doing work in my soul!
Chapter 10 marks the beginning of Part 3, delving into how the Spirit transforms a community through prayer. Titled "How the Spirit Works," this chapter seems to confirm our intended path, God willing, following the conclusion of Corinthians shortly after Resurrection Sunday. The plan is to shift from our focus on Paul's Corinthian letter to a character study. Such studies offer a rich exploration of Scripture, presenting a multitude of options for reflection. This time, our aim is to delve into a character study centered on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.
What stands out from chapter 10 resonates with the direction we hope to take after Corinthians.
How do our prayers interface with what the Spirit does? How does the Spirit of Jesus reshape a praying community? Thinking of the power train prayer ➡️ Spirit ➡️ Jesus ➡️ power, we can easily envision prayer, we know who Jesus is, and we understand power; but the Spirit is fuzzy. He just floats. Unbelief, then, works backward through Paul’s cascade: we doubt that the Spirit does anything substantial, so we don’t bother with prayer. The Spirit’s seeming elusiveness, which is anathema to management rationalism, contributes to the weakness of prayer in the modern church (95).
I’ve often heard it said that the Spirit is the forgotten member of the Trinity. To the degree that is true, that unfortunate reality gives us ample reason to study his glorious person and Christ-exalting work. Another reason why it seems good to do a character study on the Holy Spirit is because we aim to be a praying church. The more we come to know the Spirit and his work, the more we will gladly pray together.
Get this book! Come to prayer!!
Pastor Lew