Thoughts from Camp - Day 11 - The Holy Spirit

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

Peter's knees were no doubt knocking when he stammered out that he did not know Jesus. He denied his master three times in one night, and no one could have guessed that this coward would go on to become one of the figureheads of the early church. But it wasn't long after Jesus' ascension that Peter was hanging out in the upper room getting ready to celebrate Passover.


“When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).


Peter cracked open his Bible, and he started preaching. And people listened. That day thousands were save, and the church only expanded from there. Peter – cowardly, denying Peter – was now a bold preacher, and where he went, people listened. When he preached, people came under conviction. Why? What changed in Peter? The Holy Spirit had come.


The Spirit is the third part of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit are each individual persons, but are only One God. No analogy, no logic, no human intellect has ever been able to comprehend this concept. But there is no division, no dissension and no separation between the three parts of the Godhead.
Peter and the other apostles were bold for the gospel. The Spirit had given them the courage they needed to take the gospel to ancient Rome. By every bit of human logic and reasoning, Christianity was foolish to join. Jesus, our leader was known to have been publicly rejected and killed. Who would want to follow a man who couldn't save Himself? By 54 AD, Nero, the emperor of Rome, was martyring Christians in droves. He would dress them in furs to have dogs tear them apart, or crucify them, or cover them in tar and then burn them to light up his dinner parties. By human logic, no one in their right mind would walk the streets of Rome, look up at the torched body of a crucified man and say 'I want to be what he was.' No rational person could witness the bloody death of Christians, and say 'I want to become one of them.'

But the Holy Spirit was at work, calling men unto God. Yet for every Christian that was torn apart by lions in the Colosseum it was as though ten men would stand up and say 'I want to be one of them!' Eventually, even Peter would be one of those martrys. The man who denied Jesus would end up professing His name until he hung upside down on his cross.

Christians were like seed – one would fall to the ground and die, and a whole crop would rise from that ground. Christianity exploded across the Roman empire, and over the course of only a few decades, thousands were converted. Why? Why would any logical, rational, sane human being want to join that number? Why would anyone even consider becoming a believer? Proclaiming faith in Christ, was, at times, like willingly joining death row. What rational human being would give up their life for such a cause? Why couldn't Christianity be stopped? Because the Holy Spirit had come. Jesus had promised the apostles power, and their words had such power that men were persuaded to believe.

The work of the Spirit hasn't changed. He still gives men the courage needed to profess Jesus' name in difficult places. And more than that, He points out sin to the believer and non-believer. Because we are depraved, we are not able to see the sin in our own lives without His help. The Spirit must come and bring conviction before there will ever be an understanding of sin.


To give a more recent example of the Spirit's work, let's look at the year 1741 (which might not be so recent). Jonathan Edwards stood in Enfield, Connecticut and preached a sermon titled 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.' He was not a great public speaker – by the light of a candle he held his notes a few inches from his face, and read in monotone. People literally fell out of their chairs with conviction. He was interrupted several times by people crying out 'What must I do to be saved?' Stories are told of men clinging to the pillars of the church, fearing that they would fall straight into hell as the Holy Spirit penetrated their hearts and revealed their sin to them. What happened in that church spread like wildfire down the Eastern seaboard in what became known as 'The Great Awakening.' People came to Christ in droves. Why? The Holy Spirit was at work.


The Spirit that grabbed hearts in Connecticut can fill your heart too. He gives courage, and convicts of sin. When the Spirit fills your heart, your very life is a testimony that pricks the consciences of others and convicts people of their sin. Your words have power. The same power that persuaded Romans to join death row for the sake of Christ. Jesus had said. When a Spirit-filled Christian loves, it is with the very love of God, for the Spirit is God, and the Spirit loves through us. And when the Spirit-filled Christian speaks, it as though God were speaking through a man. And whatever the Spirit-filled Christian does, it is done in a way that those around him will see his love, his light, and his testimony.


We must seek the work of the Spirit in our own lives. Perhaps if we sought the Spirit the way we were supposed to, we would experience the kind of ministry Jesus described and not the kind of ministry we so often see.


Kevin Deane
Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario