The Many ways of the Spirit

            When Peter preached his first sermon on the day of the birth of the New Testament church, he preached to the crowd about “Jesus Christ, attested to you by signs and wonders”.  The miraculous workings of the Spirit in Jesus’ life were a irrefutable testimony to His claim of being the Son of God.  Likewise, Jesus told His followers that it would be that same powerful working of the Spirit that would bear witness to the authenticity of the faith of those who proclaim to be children of God saying “these signs shall follow those who believe”. The signs He was speaking of are the many powerful evidences that continue to testify today to who the true children of God are. Some of those workings the scriptures recognize are healing the sick, casting out demons, visitations of angels, and various types of miracles, all of which are signs of the Spirit of God that abides in all true believers.  This list of some of the powerful evidences of the Spirit's presence only begins to reveal the multitude of ways the Spirit of God so willingly displays God’s power.   

There are other workings of the Spirit that although equally powerful to those I have just mentioned are to a lesser degree recognized as evidence of the Spirit’s power working in this world. The list of those less recognized works includes the conviction of sin, the revelation and understanding of God’s Word, and the believer’s awareness of the Father’s great love for them. These are also powerful workings of the Holy Spirit. Another equally powerful working of the Spirit in this world is the testimony of God’s abundant mercy that continues to reach out to souls, even in their last hours of their lives. I have witnessed this testimony of God’s mercy in some very profound ways. It seems that it has been especially “after” the Lord has displayed His great mercy that I have been able to look back upon it and recognize the powerful working of His Holy Spirit.  

While pastoring a small church in a predominantly Mormon community in southeast Idaho, I was in the parsonage one afternoon when there was a knock at the door. Opening the door, I found a young Hispanic man whom I had never seen before. He had been told that the pastor who lived here would be likely to provide him with some help. I could see past him into a car idling in our driveway that clearly had several other occupants. Through his broken English, the man introduced himself as “Uvaldo”, communicating to me that his baby was very sick and they could not afford the gas to drive to the hospital in a neighboring community.  Walking out to the car with him, I saw another Hispanic couple sitting in the front seats, with his wife sitting in the rear holding what was clearly a very sick and crying one year old little boy.       

With their permission, I climbed into the rear seat and took the baby in my arms. He was burning up with a high fever and crying uncontrollably.  After praying for the child, the fever did seem to lessen and he calmed down and appeared to fall asleep.  This allowed me the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ’s love with these two couples. Using both my broken Spanish and bits of English, I was able to adequately convey the gospel.  When I had finished, I gave the couple twenty dollars and watched them drive off to the hospital, thinking I would likely never see them again.  That would prove to be only paritally true!

It was three days later when I was again home in the afternoon and a knocking was again heard at the door. This time I opened the door to a young Hispanic woman. I quickly recognize this was Uvaldo’s wife (I do not remember her name).  Before she could do no more than smile and say hello, I blurted out “how is the baby?”  She responded that he was now healthy. However, that fact did not expunge the look of sorrow and grief on her face.    

Over the next few minutes, she was able, in her broken English and my limited ability to understand Spanish, to communicate to me that Uvaldo was dead. The day after I had visited with them in the back of their car, he flipped his car while driving along one of the nearby farm roads.  He died on the spot. She had come to both thank me for helping them get their baby boy to the hospital, and to see if our church could help with the funeral expenses.

I felt such sorrow and compassion for this mourning young mother that day. She was left alone to raise that little boy without her husband. As I prayed for her that week while thinking about those final minutes I had with Uvaldo, the Lord spoke to my heart showing me how much me loved Uvaldo. He had brought him to our door to hear the gospel one last time before he died. I learned that day that this too, like many of the miracles and salvations I had witnessed, was a work of the Holy Spirit. God’s mercy was powerfully working in Uvaldo, even allowing that baby to be sick so Uvaldo could have one last chance to choose Jesus.  What a powerful display of God’s great enduring mercy!   

I had been preaching and teaching at a rescue mission in Idaho for about a year when I was able to witness another of these powerful displays of God’s mercy. Several days each week I would go by the mission to visit and teach discipleship classes.  Only a percentage of those at the mission were on the discipleship program that the mission offered. These were the men who were regularly in my classes.  Since I had been visiting the mission consistently for around a year, I had also come to know several other men who although staying at the mission were not on the discipleship program or in my classes.

One particular afternoon I stopped by the mission to visit with some of the men. Soaking up the sun in the outer court that day was a man named Russ. I had known Russ for quite a long time, yet he was not in my classes and I had never actually sat down and had a discussion with him.  Russ was a grizzled looking older man with a shock of curly grey hair and a bushy beard to match. I sat down that day in the sun in the chair next to Russ.  As we entered into a lively discussion, I discovered that Russ was a very intelligent man. After a successful career, bad choices and bad circumstances had landed him first on the street, then in the rescue mission.  

When our conversation worked its way around to Jesus, I learned that Russ did believe in Jesus, but with the particulars of salvation he was not very familiar. I shared the gospel with Russ that day. He even allowed me to pray for him before I left.   It was two days later before I was able to return to the mission for a class I was scheduled to teach that afternoon. When I entered the classroom, there were about a dozen men were waiting for me.  The first thing out of their mouths was “did you hear about Russ?”.  I was then informed that two days prior Russ was found dead sitting in the sun in a chair in the outer court. Asking further questions about what day and what time, I discovered that Russ was found dead within the hour after I had left him that day.     

Both Uvaldo and Russ experienced a great move of God’s spirit. God was powerfully extending His mercy, even in the waining hours of their lives. I have had several other opportunities to pray with people just before their natural lives came to an end. These others, like Uvaldo and Russ, experienced the Spirit’s merciful power that was putting them in a place to be sure they knew the way of salvation. This too was a glorious display of the Spirit's power, extending His mercy because He is “not willing that any should perish”.  Do you see other areas in your life where the Spirit of God was powerfully working to show you His love and mercy?