The Holy Spirit's Team

 by Macy Johnson

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you all things

and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

(John 14:26 NIV)

 

The Holy Spirit is a person, an awesome gift of God Himself to me. A recent study of the book by Francis Chan, Forgotten God, reminded me that I often do not treat the Holy Spirit as a person, but as an object. Jesus is God in human form, while the Holy Spirit is God in spirit form. He, like Jesus, emanates from the Father. Understanding the mystery of the Trinity includes understanding the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Divide and Multiply

by Macy Johnson

“Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized,

and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

(Acts 2:41 NIV)

 

There was a big elephant in the room, and no one wanted to talk about it. The Methodist church had divided and gone separate ways, or so it seemed. More than half of the local congregation became Global Methodists while the remainder stayed with the United Methodist Church.

God's Rainbow

 by Macy Johnson

“I have set my rainbow in the clouds,

and it will be the sign of the covenant

between me and the earth.”

(Genesis 9:13 NIV)

 

I was a local church’s pianist for eleven years, with a three year sabbatical in the middle. Near the end of my tenure I felt the Holy Spirit shift in my heart. I sensed a call to move on and allow God to do something new in the church and in me. Although anxious and afraid of slipping out of the center of His will, I was safely guided through the fog.

Acorns

 by Macy Johnson

“For as the soil makes the sprout come up

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise

spring up before all nations.”

(Isaiah 61:11 NIV)

 

We had a bumper crop of acorns this year. As my husband, Jeff, and I sat on our porch and looked out over the beds of plants and flowers hugging massive trees, we noticed tiny oaks peeking out above the pine straw and mulch. The tiny saplings had sequestered the beds and provided an unwelcome blanket of ground cover.