From pot noodle to Pentecost

When Nick was a student in London, he used to make regular trips to his local supermarket to pick up food for lunch. Living up to the student stereotype, this generally involved buying a Pot Noodle and a cheap loaf of sliced white bread.

One day, he was waiting at the checkout when the lady serving him looked down at the items and then back up at Nick. Giving a gentle sigh, she looked him straight in the eye and said: “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way…”

As Christians, we hope that our churches will be vibrant places of worship, where people encounter the living God and are drawn into deeper discipleship with Jesus. We long for communities marked by unity, generosity and joy, where fruitfulness in ministry and spiritual gifts are released: healings, miracles, words of knowledge and prophecy.

And yet sometimes our experience of church can feel a little more…mundane. We sing a few songs. We listen to a talk. There are notices and prayers. Then we grab a coffee and head home to the promised land of a Sunday roast and the week ahead.

Often, if we are honest, simply keeping church functioning each week can feel like a feat in itself. Do we ever stop and wonder if there might be more?

Perhaps the Lord is looking at us with a wry smile and saying: “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way…”

Power and presence

In the pages of scripture, we see that God invites us into a rich experience. The psalmist writes: “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Elsewhere, God’s people are invited to “Feast in the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights” (Psalm 36:8).

When people encounter God in the Bible, the response is rarely mundane. They are filled with awe, reverence, courage, passion and shalom peace. It is profound and life-changing. It never seems like a ‘Pot Noodle’ experience.

As we approach the season of Pentecost – the moment that literally fired up the early Church with the presence of God – it is an ideal time to take stock of where we have begun to rely on our own capabilities. Have we unintentionally lowered our expectations of what God might do among us?

For a variety of reasons, we settle for functional cessationism: a belief in the work of the Spirit but not in an actual experience we can have today. Perhaps from a fear of manipulation, a lack of teaching, a concern about the messiness that might ensue – or sometimes a lingering doubt that we will actually see what God has promised.

Perhaps the Lord is looking at us with a wry smile and saying: “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way…”

If we are in church leadership, we have a responsibility to shepherd people well. Experiences of the Spirit can sometimes look unusual and the unfamiliar carries the potential for misunderstanding or division. It is right to take care. But we must not let our caution – however well intentioned – limit the possibility of the Spirit moving among us.

Jesus insisted that His disciples wait for the Holy Spirit before beginning their mission. He also promised: “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

The implication is that the Church cannot flourish – or even function fully – without the Spirit. It may not always be neat and tidy, or adhere to our strict running orders, but the reality is that the Church cannot grow without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, who is the true builder of God’s house.

Simply put, the house of God needs the power of God.

Stories of hope

During the Covid-19 pandemic, like others, our church had to get creative about how we gathered. We began hosting prayer meetings on Instagram Live, to pursue the prophetic and the work of the Spirit. We had absolutely no idea how it would work but saw many join us as we prayed each week for words of knowledge, healing and breakthrough. 

The house of God needs the power of God

Over the next 18 months, we witnessed some beautiful answers to prayer. It was also a slightly unusual and messy experience. One challenge of using social media was that we only had people’s usernames to go by. This meant we often found ourselves saying things like: “We really sense God moving in your life, @WigglyWaggly”, or:

“@pinkrabbit24, we feel God say: ‘The Lord is your shepherd.’”

We were regularly cut off mid-session when our internet connection dropped. We invited people to join our livestream who turned up in their pyjamas. At times, we shared prophetic words that didn’t land at all. But despite the oddness and hilarity, God regularly used those times to bring healing and hope. People were encouraged, faith was stirred and we grew in confidence to seek more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It was ridiculous, profound, moving and mysterious all at once.

One evening, someone in the chat mentioned a sudden sensation of pain in their shoulder. Another person responded immediately, saying that she had been suffering with severe shoulder pain, which was preventing her from sleeping. We prayed for healing. The next day, she emailed to say she had not slept all night – not because of pain, but because she couldn’t believe that the pain was gone! A week later, she wrote again confirming that the problem had gone entirely. It was a wonderful answer to prayer and raised our faith as we continued to press into the prophetic and ask for healing.

Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event

Again and again, we heard stories of people encountering God’s presence: ear infections healed, freedom from insomnia, conditions clearing up, relationships restored, people finding jobs and homes. There were countless prophetic words that encouraged people and strengthened faith. Each one carried the same underlying message: God sees you. God knows you. God loves you.

Leading those prayer evenings felt like a risk. We made mistakes and learned (and laughed) a lot. But the desire to see the Spirit at work in people’s lives meant we could risk the awkwardness and mess to see faith coming alive. 

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul writes about what should happen when the people of God gather: “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy…The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” (vv1-3). Paul does not suggest that believers should grudgingly allow space for the gifts of the Spirit. He says we should eagerly desire them – and for very practical reasons: strengthening, encouraging and comforting.

Whether our church is experiencing renewal or merely longing for it, we all need these things. Not only for the sake of those already in church but to fuel the mission of the Church. The well-known preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote in his book Revival (Crossway): “When God acts, he can do more in a minute than man with his organising can do in 50 years.”

The New Testament consistently confirms that faith is not merely a set of ideas or words, but a life lived out with God through the work and experience of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, there are at least 17 occasions where a miracle or act of the Spirit leads directly to people hearing the gospel and turning to Jesus.

Often, we think of gifts such as prophecy or healing as extraordinary spiritual experiences. Yet in the New Testament they appear surprisingly ordinary, woven into everyday life. Paul even says: “I wish all of you would prophesy.” Not as a spiritual party trick, but for the common good – the practical building up of the Church.

A friend once told us about a conversation she had during a taxi ride. She discovered the driver was from Ukraine and felt the Holy Spirit prompting her with a word of knowledge, or prayerful sense, that popped into her head: “You’re not a taxi driver – you’re a doctor.” This made him jolt in his seat and he asked her how she knew. She responded that Jesus had told her, adding: “You’ve been forced to flee Ukraine and leave behind a girl with waist-length dark hair, called Anna.” The driver began to shake. Anna was his daughter’s name, and he had indeed been forced to leave her behind. Our friend gently told him that Jesus knew his situation and cared about him deeply. She was then able to share the gospel with him.

Strengthening.

Encouraging.

Comforting.

Another friend was struggling with insomnia when he joined one of our Instagram Live evenings. He was about to switch it off when a person said that they felt there was someone struggling with sleep. These are his words about what happened next: “Heart racing, I typed in the chat that I thought that might be for me. People began praying for me and, as they did, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, shortly followed by flowing tears. After a few minutes, I laid my head down on my pillow and immediately fell asleep. It was 9pm. It’s easy to short sell quite how significant this was for me. This was the first time in years it hadn’t taken hours to fall asleep and, more importantly, it was the first time in six months that I had fallen asleep without having to take any substance. I woke up elated and sang the whole walk to work.”

Strengthening.

Encouraging.

Comforting.

In our midweek homegroup, someone shared the word ‘homesick’. Another person immediately responded, sharing some difficult things going on at home, saying that the word really summed it up for them. We were able to pray specifically into the situation. God was reminding us that these things aren’t hidden, that He knows and He sees.

Power for today

In the Old Testament the prophet Joel declared a promise from God: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29). This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost, but it also describes the ongoing life of the Church and the possibility for each of us as followers of Jesus.

So how might we press into this reality of life in the Spirit? First and foremost, it is in our own times of prayer and devotion, engaging with God’s word and asking Him to meet with us in that quiet place and fill us day by day.

But we can also encourage one another as we gather together. Each church and community will have its own model of creating intentional space for the Spirit. But here are seven suggestions to (safely) take some risks as we ask the Spirit to be at work among us:

1. Cultivate a safe environment

A leader’s role is to create a context where people can flourish in both freedom and failure. This means there is room to step out – but that people will not be embarrassed or shamed if it doesn’t go well. As a leader, if you show you are relaxed about this, it will go a long way in allowing others to feel safe enough to take a risk.

2. Determine to listen 

God’s voice is often like ‘the flutter of a butterfly’s wings’ and you can easily miss it. The more we step out and offer what we have heard, the more we grow attuned to recognising His voice.

3. Err on the side of freedom

While people must be free to engage however they want, we can gently encourage them to be open to the possibility that God wants to meet with them in the moment. This might be a chance to stretch themselves.

4. Learn to listen to one another

Sometimes it’s tempting to hold the microphone close (both metaphorically and literally!) but the process of maturing means enabling and allowing others to step in and grow in their own giftings in order to bless the group.

5. Develop an unoffendable heart

If others are experiencing something and I am not, it doesn’t mean they are more anointed or special than me – or that I am being left out. The promise is that the Holy Spirit is given if we ask, not if we ‘feel’ something. Start from the assumption that we are God’s children and fully loved. Then choose to bless what God appears to be doing in others, having a heart that is not easily offended.

6. Wait a little bit more…

Often our prayer and ministry times are squeezed out as we manage our gatherings alongside the need for coffee and kids’ work and so on. Do what you can to consistently ringfence time and space to invite the Holy Spirit, to give opportunity week in, week out to allow Him to be at work.

7. And keep being filled yourself!

Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event but an ongoing need. Whether we feel anything or not isn’t the point, it’s the posture of dependence and faith, believing that when we ask Him to come, He always does. This underpins the acknowledgement that we cannot – and do not want to – live the Christian life in our own strength.

As we step out, take risks, embrace the awkwardness and remain open to what God may do, we pray that the Lord will restore His Church to how He always intended it to be: A faithful, heavenly powerhouse.

Come, Holy Spirit! 

Powerhouse: Encouraging the ministry of the Spirit (IVP) by Nick and Ali Herbert is available now  

Nick and Ali will be hosting their first Powerhouse conference at Waverley Abbey on 19 September. For more information visit: waverleyabbey.org/event/powerhouse-conference