As one about as close as it is possible to get to the questions being raised concerning the Holy Spirit — being the son of Bro. W. R. Pearce and a member of Shaftesbury Rd. Ecclesia — I would like to offer a few comments on a subject which has come to concern me greatly. The present controversy, I am convinced, is clouding a vital difference between those who believe God works today by His Spirit and those who do not.
I do not believe that it was essential for salvation in apostolic times to have a miraculous gift… of healing, of miracles, of tongues. But it was essential, and still is, for us to live in the presence of God, allowing Him to direct and rule our lives. By His Spirit, God has given us His Son. The Power of God directly inspired the writing of the Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, and by His Strength that word comes alive in His children today. By His Spirit, God listens to our prayers and, according to His will, answers them. Though different terms and words are often used, I believe that I am doing no more than repeating the belief of most brethren and sisters; yet I am deeply concerned at the view openly expressed by some, that God works only through His Word — the Bible. It has been stated that God does not work by His Spirit today — not even to inner sanctification, and that He does not bend His will in answer to the prayer of His servants. I am fearful, for the sake of all, lest we be carried away with a power-denying form of religion which in practice becomes reliant on self rather than dependent upon God.
Let it be repeated that I believe that most brethren and sisters do believe that God works with his Children. One example will suffice. The Sunday morning prayer in most ecclesias usually asks for God to be “mouth, matter and wisdom” to the exhorter, and goes on to ask “that our hearts may be open to the word spoken”. Now either this is a genuine prayer or it is hypocrisy — I believe it to normally be the former. Of course we each have a part to play in the answer. If the exhorter has not bothered to search the Scripture nor given thought to the needs of his brethren, and if we as his listeners are determined to think about our golf handicap rather than pay attention, then we can hardly expect God’s blessing. Yet, if we offer the prayer at all, and if we are doing the best on our part, we are asking God to act either during or shortly after that prayer to directly help both exhorter and listener in some way.
Let us be honest. Can any claim to exhort, lecture, raise a family, travel the roads, read the Bible, find the right job, teach in Sunday School, act as Arranging Brother or do any other thing before God without needing the presence of God to guide and strengthen? Our Sunday School and Ecclesial hymns and daily prayers give constant voice to this need. The answer to these prayers brings peace and direction to life, though God’s directions may turn out to take us along a road we would not have anticipated or taken by choice.
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”, says Paul in Philippians 4:6, R.S.V.
In these words, and so many others, we are exhorted to ask God’s help and to expect His answer. Jesus taught us to ask “lead us not into Temptation”, or it may have been “leave us not in the hour of temptation”; in either case he tells us that God guides or takes a hand in our life. Paul tells us that “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”. It may rightly be said that Jesus answers the tempter with a “Thus saith the Lord” drawn from His knowledge of Holy Writ, and this ought to be part of our answer to temptation also. But if words mean anything, Paul is telling us that there are times when God, in His own way and probably without our knowing it at the time, does intervene in our life. And who among us would dare contend, whatever our knowledge of Scripture, that we can face and overcome temptation alone? Who would claim they do not need the presence of the living Christ — the Christ who “because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted”? (Hebrews 2:18).
Obviously some of the problems which have been caused on this subject have arisen because of the words which have been used, and though a brother may believe fully in the hand of Providence in his life he may be unwilling to claim this as the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit at work. We must try to be tolerant of each other in this use of words. I believe that there is no need to be concerned at the use of ‘Holy Spirit’ in this context, and there is no cause to always connect the terms ‘Spirit’ or `Holy Spirit’ with open miracles. Luke chapter II verses 10 to 13 reads…
“For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” R.S.V.
The work of the Holy Spirit here refers to ALL the “good gifts”, all the opened doors, all the “Loaves” which God gives to those who continually and repeatedly ask (Importune v.8) of God in prayer. Romans chapter 8 speaks of the very presence of the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God, and the way in which God directly helps us when we are even unable to find the right words to pray: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom. 8:26, 27. R.S.V.)
It is easy to contend that God does not answer prayer; for we will readily be proven right. God does not answer the prayer of unbelief. What we do not believe in we will not receive. It is easier to make our own decisions and worship in our own way than to have the patience to wait for God’s direction and to bend our will to His. We may think it safer to rely upon our own strength than to surrender fully to God’s wisdom. But on the other hand, if we admit to living in the presence of God, knowing the Master to be close at hand directing our path, then we can no longer live for ourselves or consider our own ambitions or welfare. With Paul, we must learn to say “. . . it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24 R.S.V.).
In writing this way I am painfully aware of how inadequate I am, to be exhorting my brethren and how far I have yet to come along the path of living close to God, and yet I cannot remain silent in the face of those who would take the power from religion and leave Christ out of Christianity
Is Pentecost Happening Today? (Part 7) – Tongues Shall Cease