I don’t know why, but I’m always rethinking the christian box. You know, the area around our perceptions of what christianity should be.  I grew up in a Nazarene church. They loved God dearly, and were wonderful christian people, but something was missing and I knew it as a child and as a teenager. It seemed that christianity was contained to the four walls of a church building. It was what we did in that building that made us all christians. I remeber thinking, “This is so dull. Why do people want to do this? There is no life here. It just feels dead. They have all lost their minds.” I kept repeating this over and over in my mind. I became bitter and rebellious because my parents wanted me to live this way, but it was simply impossible in my mind. Looking back, I can now understand what went wrong. I wasn’t a bad kid, just starved for His presence. It wasn’t until I started dating my husband and attending his church that I began to find what was missing, the Holy Spirit. I found a direct connection with God the Father. I had never had that before! Worshiping in His presence is the sweetest place to be. What had seemed like worship to a dead man, now seemed like worship to a living God.

I wonder, can people around us see the living God in us? So much of the world sees christianity as a dead religion and in many cases, rightfully so. Here’s a scripture to think about:

Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Even Jesus needed the Holy Spirit! If Jesus needed him, how much more do we need him? Also, His acts were not confined to a church building. The scripture states that He “went about.” I want to go about and show Him to the rest of the world.  The rules of the christian box state that salvation only happens in the church building, and so does healing and deliverance. Wrong! I charge you to go about and do good in your community, neighborhood and workplace. Let them see the Holy Spirit on the inside of you! That is God’s plan for the world, one neighbor at a time!