April 2004
Page 1 - How Humility Helps Defuse Adversity By C. Peter Wagner
Page 2 - Momentum of the Spirit By Dan Siemens
Page 3 - Questions & Answers - Equipping Conference Pastors’ Lunch with Jack Deere
Momentum of the Spirit
By Dan SiemensI vividly remember the first downhill ski lesson I gave to my wife, Denise, now many years ago. After giving some brief instructions about snowplowing to help her steer and stop, she, being the lovely self-assured person that she is, confidently caught the lift and up we went. Unfortunately, it was late in the year and the only open slope was of medium difficulty, not to mention very icy conditions.
Once off the lift, I turned to remind her to “plow, plow, plow” and to steer back and forth across the icy face of the slope. But before I could utter a word, Denise, sporting a sly grin that said, “No sweat,” shot off down the hill—straight down.
For a brief second, I was almost envious of her form. Feet together and taking a line that I had only previously seen attempted by the most seasoned skiers, down she gracefully went. That is, until she reached the bottom.
A line of people snaked across the bottom of the hill waiting for the ski lift saw her coming amid shouts of “Look out! Look out! I can’t stop!” The line quickly unhinged like a door to let her through. She flew past them at a rapid pace now heading toward the full parking lot just on the other side of a tall drift of packed snow about 5 feet high. For a brief second, it suddenly dawned on me that my dear wife was going to learn about downhill skiing and ski jumping all in one day.
Amazingly, she skied haphazardly up the peak of the drift, almost certain to fly over and onto the first parked car. But at that precise moment she ran out of momentum, and after teetering forward and back precariously at the top, she slid backwards down the drift and landed, unceremoniously, in a heap in the direction from whence she came.
Of course, momentum is good, even desirable, but when left undirected or improperly harnessed, it can prove fatal. The same is true with our life in the Spirit and especially in the areas of revival and renewal.
Steve Nicholson, a leader in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, once said that even the devil can use uncontrolled spiritual momentum against us. In seasons of strong renewal and revival, Satan soon realizes that he cannot contain or stop it. So, he changes tactics. He then becomes a revival promoter and gets behind the natural momentum present and seeks to discredit the new movement by pushing it over the edge into imbalance and ultimately into deception. The ground from which the enemy often uses to ‘push’ us into uncontrolled momentum is that of the old nature within us.
This principle can be applied to any new area that the Spirit is currently restoring to the Body of Christ. These would include the apostolic movement, intercessory movement, spiritual warfare, angelic visitation, open heaven, intimacy with God, 24-hour worship, open visions, prophetic ministry, physical manifestations, etc. All of these truths being restored to the church are good and right and are to be welcomed as valuable gifts from the Lord. However, they always must endeavor to flow within the natural safety banks that can only be established within the living Body of Christ.
God takes a calculated “risk” when He releases new emphases in the Spirit. He knows that there will always be some vessels who become inadvertently caught up in the uncontrolled momentum that renewal and revival often bring. In the end they will be the ones who taint, or even tarnish, God’s good work in the eyes of the church and in the watching world. We all have this potential, though none of us wants to go there.
Those who hunger to live near the cutting edge of Spirit-initiated renewal activity must also learn how to keep in step with the cadence of the Spirit. While we certainly don’t desire to lag behind, neither should we zoom downhill, out of control, ahead of Him.
Dan Siemens, along with his wife Denise, is on the staff of Lutheran Renewal. They have since taken up cross-country skiing.
