Someone once asked about a move of the Holy Ghost, “Is this really necessary?” An old-time Pentecostal preacher answered, “It is not necessary unless it is necessary.” That may sound funny, but there are things the Lord does that we do not understand with our natural minds. He knows what is needed in a service and what He is doing in the people.
I have been in meetings where people laughed under the power of God. Others spoke in tongues or fell under the anointing. Some who were watching wondered why those things were happening. They could not see what the Holy Ghost was doing in that person. We should not decide that something is unnecessary just because we do not understand it.
Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).” Our contact with God is spiritual. We can become so occupied with what we think about a service that we fail to recognize the Spirit of God moving in it.
That does not mean everything someone does in church is the Holy Ghost. People can put on something in the flesh. I am talking about yielding to the Spirit of God when He is moving. There is a difference, and we must learn to recognize it.
Learning To Yield
Yielding to the Holy Ghost is something we learn. A person may sense the Spirit of God upon them and not know how to respond. Those who have spent time in prayer often recognize His leading more readily. They have learned something about spiritual things through their fellowship with the Lord.
I have watched people who have walked with God for years yield to Him in a service. They were not trying to get attention. They recognized what the Holy Ghost was doing and went along with Him. Some of us are so concerned about looking proper that we resist what the Lord wants to do.
There have been times when a move of God did not make sense to my mind either. I had to learn to follow the Holy Ghost. Being unwilling to do anything we cannot explain naturally will hinder us from receiving some things from Him.
Ephesians 5:18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Paul goes on to speak about psalms and spiritual songs. Being filled with the Spirit includes our participation. We give expression to what He supplies as we yield to Him.
The Word And The Spirit
We had been preaching and teaching the Word in the meetings. Then the Holy Ghost began to move in a greater way. Teaching the Bible had not been a mistake, and we were not finished with the Word. The Spirit of God was working with what had been taught.
Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4–5)
There was preaching, and there was a demonstration of the Spirit. We need to allow room for that in our services. A minister can become so determined to finish what he planned that he does not give the Holy Ghost an opportunity to do what He desires.
Psalm 126:1–2 says, “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.”
Their laughter was connected to something the Lord had done for them. We may see someone rejoicing without knowing the trouble they have been under. As the Holy Ghost ministers to them, fear and worry can lift. Give the Lord time to work in the service. We do not have to hurry on to something else when He is helping people. When we trying to rush past what the Holy Spirit is doing, ask yourself, “What am I rushing to? What can I give them that is better than what God can give them? What is better than the presence of God?”
We may not understand what God is doing all the time in a service, but when it is necessary, it is necessary.
