Rufus, the HM office fish (a male Beta) will make noise by jumping and twirling in a fast, tight circle, which lifts the gravel in the bottom of the fish bowl like a strong wind blowing leaves, and then he will swim in place and look at me. I think that's my cue to feed him. This usually only happens after I pass his normal feeding time -- my arrival in the morning. That's pretty funny.
Last night was a first: a record company sent me the new Slayer album. That has never happened before in 21 years of HM Magazine history. So my wife and I celebrated by going out to eat (at a Tex-Mex place, of course). It was a family-owned restaurant in Hutto called "El Poblanito." They serve a pretty good fajita. I had two fajitas left over that I took home in a "to go" box, but wouldn't you know it -- I left them at home today. But, of course, I jest about celebrating the arrival of a Slayer album. This is the very first Slayer album I've ever owned or received, though. I saw them in concert in the early 90s, and witnessed the most terrifying-looking moshpit in my life. They were flying around in that circle like richocheting projectiles. I imagine that more than a few people got hurt that night, but I don't know. I stayed plastered against the side wall, watching in awe.
"Heaven ablaze in our eyes"
I think the singer from HIM is a Christian waiting to happen.
Chapter 32 of Rees Howells, Intercessor tells of a "Visitation of the Spirit." This is a real-deal thing, and it must have been wonderful. Here's snippets of a brief report:
"The first outward sign that He was working in a new way was when one of the staff broke down inprayer, confessing her sense of need and crying to the Holy Spirit to meet her. THen we heard how the Holy Ghost had so manifested Himself in the glory of His Divine Person to some of the girl students that they wept before Him for hours -- broken at the corruption of their own hearts revealed in the light of His holiness. An awesome sense of God's nearness began to steal over the whole College. There was a solemn expectancy. We were reminded of the 120 in the Upper Room before the day of Pentecost. Like them, we only wanted to spend our time in prayer and supplication -- conscious that God's hand was upon us -- conscious that He was about to do something. God was there; yet we felt we were still waiting for Him to come. And in the days that followed, He came.
"We read the Acts afresh and found we were reading, not the acts of the apostles, but the acts of the Holy Ghost. The bodies of Peter and the others had become His temples. The Holy Ghost as a divine Person lived in the bodies of the apostles, even as the Savior had lived His earthly life in the body that was born in Bethlehem.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.
"Why had He manifested Himself to us in this way? He made that quite clear. It was because there was a work to be done in the world today that only He could do. No wonder the Master told His disciples not to move from Jerusalem until they had received 'the promise of the Father.' BUt when He had come, they would be His witnesses 'in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
It makes sense from a whole new angle what this passage is talking about. And the time of expectant prayer in the Upper Room makes sense. And it makes sense how the Lord wanted His followers to do something for Him, but not until they were empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit.
That is some amazing stuff.
I remember as a youngster being at a church retreat somewhere in the Northeast (probably Pennsylvania or Northern Virginia) and the Holy Spirit fell upon the room. I felt it. Some heavy yet light emotion, as if the air was electric. People were singing, and getting up and hugging the people around them, and weeping. Tears were flowing freely. It was an amazing sight. It touched me so. This experience sort of "haunted" me in a subtle way, because I had tasted just one drop of water, as it were, of what Heaven or life in the midst of God's presence must be like, and I could never forget that. I knew deep down inside, even in my most prodigal, wild, debaucherous years, that Christians were the happiest people on earth.
I've seen it. No bitterness or church people letting me down can erase that memory. I am so glad that I "came back to the Lord" as a prodigal son years later. I am grateful that there is a promise for more times like that. How I wish that the Holy Spirit would fall on our congregation in Austin, and it would turn into a situation where we all wanted to linger and stay in prayer and communion. I'm not sure what brings times like that; or what we can do to make the time and context more prone for that kind of visitation, or if it's all just God's surprise sovereignty acting towards us. People will say that "no revival happens that wasn't prayed in," and I believe that at face value; but perhaps it's not entirely true. Maybe it's 100% God's sovereignty. I'd think that expectant and prayerful hearts are the furtile soil that He would "farm" in, and that is probably our blueprint of preparation, but we can't dismiss the idea that He could come at any moment and revive His people and awaken parts of the world.
That would be some exciting stuff.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at August 3, 2006 08:47 AM