Allowing the Flow of the Spirit

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.  I Cor. 2:4-5

One of the first callings of God on my life was that of the office of Teacher. Others have followed, but still, teaching is a focus of my ministry. In John chapter 14, Jesus said that His Believers were to do His works, and He did more than teaching and preaching. He also healed the sick. Mark 16 says that healing is still to be done in His Name. Jesus followed the Spirit. He said that He did things that He “saw” the Father do. He followed the flow of the Spirit. Today, Christians are members of the Body of Christ. I Corinthians 12 teaches that we have different abilities. Some of us have special gifts to minister in special ways. No one minister can do everything that Jesus did. While on the earth, He was the entire Body of Christ with the fullness of the anointing. Today He is the Head and we are the Body, with various gifts and anointings differing from others also in the same Body. I would stress, we need to allow the flow of the Spirit in our midst. No one has it all. We need others and the gifts from God that they also have.

I pastored for over fifteen years. I’ve also been a traveling minister. In either place, I want to be sensitive to the flow of the Spirit. This is true during the music … God may have a special song or prophetic word at that time. This is true during the teaching and preaching of the Word. The Holy Spirit may have a special word for someone … a healing … a demonstration of His Spirit. I want to be sensitive. I realize that there are gifts of God in me, but they operate as He wills. I’m now a traveling minister. I realize that I may have gifts that the pastor may not have. I’m aware that pastors need traveling ministers to come into their churches. But even so, I want to fit in with what that pastor is doing … to be a blessing … to add to … I want to be sensitive to what God is doing in that church and through that pastor.

I’m also aware that God is a gentleman, so to speak. He responds to desire. He also responds to apathy. When a church is praying for a move of God, hungry for a move of God, releasing faith for a move of God, I expect more to happen in our services. And I want to be sensitive to that. But if the pastor, who is the head of that local church, is competitive, or feels threatened by gifts in his midst that he does not have, then that can stop the flow of God. I’ve been there when one mighty work would occur … where a miraculous healing would occur … and then no more. I don’t always know why. But sometimes I do have the perception … or it’s revealed … that the pastor got jealous or felt insecure in his own ministry. God will honor those desires and respond to those attitudes. He will stop His flow where His flow is not welcome.

I had a pastor tell me one time that he would rather I not do certain things while ministering in music. He called it preaching. As the Spirit moves, I might prophesy or sing a new song I’ve never heard before … or have a word for someone … always endeavoring to follow the flow of the Spirit. If I’m not the guest speaker, but instead the guest musician, I want to fit in with the other ministries, hoping we all want to follow the Holy Spirit. I want to fit in with the pastor’s ministry and what he wants. However, it’s to be regretted that we aren’t always able to flow together and follow the Spirit and allow the move of the Holy Ghost. Others have the Holy Spirit and they can confirm or judge the move of God. However, some people are not open to the move of the Spirit, and this can quench the Spirit and hinder what God wants to do.

Let us then, come to the place where we’re hungry for God, hungry for the move of God, the confirmation of His Word and the demonstration of His Spirit. Let us be people who do not care what vessel He uses or what person He anoints … as long as it’s God … where it glorifies God, magnifies the Name of Jesus, and brings blessing to people! Let’s be open to the flow of the Spirit and the various anointings, gifts, offices, and ministers in His church.

Tony McCanless

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