Spiritual Inspiration – Part Two

In my new book, Transforming Presence: How the Holy Spirit Changes Everything From the Inside Out, I have included more than 250 footnotes. I wanted this book to be clear, well-researched, and in line with some of the historic and contemporary voices of the Christian faith. Below are just a few of the many insights I discovered from some of the great pastors and theologians of today and yesteryear. I trust these will be an inspiration to you today.

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“Worship is not restricted to what we do to come together in church, but about the way we relate to God through the Spirit and in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, that touches the whole of life.”[1] Colin G. Kruse

“Within you! Within you! . . . God created man’s heart for His dwelling . . . the kingdom of God is within you. It is within we must look for the fulfillment of the new covenant. . .. The Spirit of Christ Himself is to be within us as the power of our life. Not only on Calvary, or in the resurrection, or on the throne is the glory of Christ the conqueror to be seen – but in our heart. Within us is to be the true display of the reality and glory of His redemption. Within us, in our inmost parts, is the hidden sanctuary where the ark of the covenant is sprinkled with blood. It contains the law written in an ever-living writing by the indwelling Spirit, and where, through the Spirit the Father and the Son now come to dwell.”[2] Andrew Murray

“Within you! Within you! . . . God created man’s heart for His dwelling . . . the kingdom of God is within you. It is within we must look for the fulfillment of the new covenant. . .. The Spirit of Christ Himself is to be within us as the power of our life.” Andrew Murray

“There’s no dichotomy between God Spirit and God’s word. The Spirit is the one who gave us the Scripture in the first place… That means our ‘Spirit-filled worship’ is to be evaluated by and submitted to what God has revealed in the Bible. The Spirit is intricately and inseparably connected to His word.”[3] Bob Kauflin

“We must desire to know more of God’s presence in our lives, and pray for a display of unleashed, reforming, revivifying power among us, dreading all steps that aim to domesticate God. But such prayer and hunger must always be tempered with joyful submission to the constraints of biblical discipline.”[4] D.A. Carson

“The glory of God is the magnification of the person of Christ on the lips of His people and the manifestation of the presence of Christ in the lives of His people.”[5]  Daniel Henderson

“The glory of God is the magnification of the person of Christ on the lips of His people and the manifestation of the presence of Christ in the lives of His people.” Daniel Henderson

“The early church was first and foremost a fellowship… When they met in worship, it was the very opposite of our present church services, divided into the two categories of the preacher and the preached to. It was a living fellowship in action. All took part… We have now replaced fellowshipping by preaching in our modern life, and the reason is not hard to find. Fellowshipping necessitates a real flow of life in the fellowship, for each person has to be ready to contribute his share of what the Lord is really saying to him: Preaching is an easy way for a not-too-living fellowship… in the Scriptures it is also obvious that an important part of fellowshipping was to be mutual exhortation, not just public exhortation by a preacher but each one exhorting the other.”[6] Norman Grubb

“It is of the highest importance from the standpoint of worship that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, worthy to receive our adoration, our faith, our love, and our entire surrender to Himself, or whether it is simply an influence emanating from God or a power or an illumination God imparts to us. If the Holy Spirit is a Person, and a Divine Person, and we do not know Him as such, then we are robbing a Divine Being of the worship and faith and the love and the surrender to Himself which are His due.”[7] R.A. Torrey

“If the Holy Spirit is a Person, and a Divine Person, and we do not know Him as such, then we are robbing a Divine Being of the worship and faith and the love and the surrender to Himself which are His due.” R.A. Torrey

“A person who is drunk, we say, is ‘under the influence’ of alcohol’; and certainly a Spirit-filled Christian is under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit . . .Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we do not lose control; we gain it.”[8] John R. Stott

“Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we do not lose control; we gain it.” John R. Stott

“There is great confusion about all this, and people are waiting for an experience of being filled because they have a wrong conception of this particular teaching… The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. So many seem to talk about being filled with the Spirit as if the Holy Spirit were some kind of liquid. They talk about having an ‘empty vessel’, an empty jug, and having the Spirit poured in. That is entirely wrong because it forgets that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not a substance, not a liquid, and not a power like electricity. We all tend to fall into this error. We even tend to refer to the Holy Spirit as ‘it,’ forgetting the Holy Spirit is the third Person in the blessed Holy Trinity. Our ideas about being filled with the Spirit go entirely wrong just because we have forgotten that He is a person.”[9] D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

“Christ is the ground and the content of Christian song. Christians sing about Christ. If they sing about God, it is especially what God has done through Christ; if about the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit as the gift of Christ; if about instruction to one another, it is the life of Christ.”[10] Everett Ferguson

“But when we are really in that power, we will find this the difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.”[11] A.J. Gordon

“But when we are really in that power, we will find this the difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.” A.J. Gordon

“Of course, our reach can exceed our grasp. Even the way of the eagle in the air is beyond us. Hence, our interpretations of who and what the Spirit is, is inadequate because of our inability to read or to describe our own experience fully. Of this we can be certain, however: every believer may know without any doubt whatever the fact of the Spirit’s indwelling presence, life-giving energy, and sanctifying power. . .We can be in perfect agreement as to the fact and power of His indwelling.”[12] Herbert Lockyer

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[1] Colin G. Kruse, The Gospel According to John: An Introduction and Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B Eerdmans, 2003), 134.

[2] Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1979), 16-17.

[3] Bob Kauflin, True Worshipers: Seeking what Matters to God (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2015), 45.

[4] D.A. Carson, Showing the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 265.

[5] See Daniel Henderson, Transforming Prayer: How Everything Changes When You Seek God’s Face (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2011), 63.

[6] Norman Grubb, Continuous Revival, 52-53.

[7] R.A. Torrey, The R.A. Torrey Collection, Kypros Press: Kindle Edition, Location 136.

[8] John R. Stott, The Message of Ephesians (Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity, 1979), 204.

[9] Ibid, 47.

[10] Everett Ferguson, The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 269.

[11] Adoniram Judson Gordon, As quoted in They Found the Secret (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977), 64.

[12] Herbert Lockyer All About the Holy Spirit (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson publishers, 1995), 28.