The Brooding (Moving) of the Spirit
God is good!
Our unscheduled revival continues tonight in Gadsden Alabama. Last night the Presence of God again hovered over the congregation and ministered to all in attendance.
I preached from Genesis 1:1-5 on the Brooding of the Spirit. Sunday morning the Lord began speaking this to me and I couldn't quite get a handle on what He was saying. Yesterday I began to meditate on it some more and four thing began to unfold about the Brooding of the Holy Spirit;
1. The Brooding of the Spirit awakens us! Sometimes we are dead spiritually and don't even realize it! There have been times in my own life God has been using me, speaking to me about others, yet my spirit man was dead asleep! But the more time we spend in prayer. Bible study or reading and meditating on the promises of God, the brooding of the Spirit begins to take place…and He wakes us up!
2. The Brooding of the Spirit excites us! At least it does me! To know God is near should cause the same excitement we have when it's almost time to open the gifts at Christmas! John G. Lake said "ten seconds connected to the lightnings of Jesus is the cure for all of humanity." All throughout the Bible, every person who was ever touched by the Spirit of God got excited! Nothing gives grieves my heart any more than to see dead Christian people who have lost their excitement of being saved! We need to come back to our first love! Remember how excited you were when Jesus first touched your life? Remember how fired up you were when His Spirit would just brood over you then? Where is that excitement now?
You can call it maturity now if you want to; or say I'm just full of youthful zeal if you want to, but truth be told, you are dead! He needs to wake you up!
3. The Brooding of the Holy Ghost encourages us! There are times I have sensed (didn't completely "feel" Him, I just knew He was there) God was up to something…dealing with me…brooding over me in such a way it brought exactly the encouragement I needed for that situation! Who doesn't need a little encouragement once in a while?
4. The Brooding of the Holy Spirit brings us into a greater fellowship with Jesus! John 6:44 "no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him…"
All creation in Genesis started with the moving or the brooding of the Spirit. All the Spirit filled fellowships we have in the world today trace their roots back to the brooding of the Spirit at Azuza St. where the majority of their time was spent allowing the Spirit to brood over the services, waiting for the Father to show up in fullness and give direction for that particular day or service.
If that's where we trace our roots to; if this thing was started with and by the brooding of the Holy Ghost, what makes us think we will survive or accomplish anything for God (much less flourish) without HIM continuing to move on us, to us and through us?