Week 4 July 2025, Devotion Part 2

Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.  1 Corinthians 14:12

Spiritual manifestations must never be divorced from the Person of Jesus Christ and the redemptive office ordained by His “holy” and “righteous Father” (John 17:11, 25). As the Son sought to glorify Him, so the Holy Spirit seeks to glorify Christ. “When the Spirit of truth comes…He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you….All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-15).

We are rightly in our glory, as the saying goes, when the fullness of the Trinity flows freely into us and swells our stream of God-consciousness. But the church must be built on the cornerstone of biblical revelation, not private experience. We must resolutely join the gift of our being “chosen and precious” to that of our fellow heirs in Christ. Then diversity and unity will not be mutually exclusive, and a cynical world will not amuse itself by bashing us as fanatics and builders of castles in the sky. The Church of Jesus Christ herself is the most foundational and excellent of all spiritual manifestations.  She is the gift that keeps on giving when our ecstasies have been tempered by spiritual dishpan hands.  Part 2 of 2

Comment: “Fine,” I said when asked how I felt after a recent fall.  I wasn’t hurt, but the struggle to get back on my feet left me feeling surprisingly sore.  If some kind soul had said, “I feel badly for you,” the spellcheck part of my “wordhound” brain would have howled in protest, because I don’t feel “goodly” about injured grammar.  Please allow the slightly more humble devotional writer to retreat to an analyst’s couch to sort out her feelings about emotions.  I clearly “own” mine as God’s gift to humanity, His incarnate Son having publicly exhibited many of them.  J.B. Phillips, the translator of the N.T. into modern English, changed the “Now my soul is troubled” of John 12:27 to “Now comes my hour of heart-break.”  He himself kept struggling with depression.  I’m pondering the biblical validity of worshipers who feel the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church, versus those who can’t relate and might wonder what they’re missing.  Let’s remember Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it will.”  On Pentecost it registered as a violent manifestation of His Breath. To depressed Elijah holed up in a cave, it came as a gentle whisper.  We don’t dictate to the Head of the Church in what voice He should address the sheep of His pasture.  Still, the apostolic imperative to walk by faith, not feelings, prevails.  We must abide in Jesus and have His Word abide in us.  Judas’ feelings of remorse for betraying Him led to his suicide. Jonah, who didn’t feel that Nineveh deserved God’s grace, had his travel plans reversed in a fish belly.  To his consternation both king and country repented on the spot.  It was an active, outward visibly response, making them put sackcloth even on their cows.  1 Corinthians 14