10 things I believe about the Holy Spirit

There has been a lot said in recent days on the Holy Spirit in Churches. Many wise words have been written by Tim and Peter (their posts have links to much of the debate). At the same time there is a debate on claims for revival (or devil worship - depending on people's strong opinions) regarding Todd Bentley
I made a side comment on the subject in 42: Just watch it go. Now I want to lay things out in a little more detail.

10 Things I believe about the Holy Spirit

1. The Holy Spirit is active in the world today
2. The Holy Spirit enters a person at conversion, this may or may not be accompanied by visible gifts of the Spirit. Christians cannot be divided into two types or classes: Spirit filled and plain.
3. There are gifts of the Spirit (tongues, healing, prophetic words etc) given to people today, but not all gifts of the Spirit are given to all Christians
4. Many Christians (but not all) experience a dramatic, sudden "baptism" in the Holy Spirit. This does not mean the Holy Spirit was absent before this experience.
5. Churches should be praying expectantly for people to be filled by the Holy Spirit
6. Churches should be expecting the Holy Spirit to be active in their midst in both dramatic and gentle ways. If the Holy Spirit is not active then the Church needs to be concerned and seek change.
7. Christians should be constantly seeking to be filled with the Spirit both because we "leak" and because there is always more to experience and learn of God.
8. Not all Christians filled by the Spirit will speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not a test of whether someone is a Christian (or a Spirit filled Christian).
9. Christianity is about far more than just "Spirit filled" worship.
10. Many Churches that experience dramatic blessings of the Spirit seem to end up splitting over divisions about the work of the Spirit and the level of welcome to those with or without dramatic gifts. This connects with a tendency to judge and exclude people who have had different experiences to ourselves. It is not a good thing.

It is quite hard to limit yourself to 10 things about the Holy Spirit, there is a lot more that could be said, but instead I will simply end with:

Come Holy Spirit, Come

Comments

[Sally]

Good stuff here, as you say this list could go on and on...

[Tim]

Well said, Dave. Thanks.

[Peter Kirk]

Great! Amen to your ending!

[Sam Norton]

Good stuff (esp #4). I feel I might be quoting this extensively on Sunday morning...