3 am. Spirit Fingers.

Well good morning friends! It’s 3:30 am Friday morning and I’m wide awake! Which is rather funny considering the ungodly hour of the morning it is for anyone to be awake, and the amount of wit I’ve entertained in my head as I was lying here tossing and turning.

So when wit keeps you awake... it’s best you write something! You can tweet that.

I’m self proclaimed funny when i wake up this early! Which isn't saying much. However, this could be really fun when i'm married! You have someone next to you to enjoy (or loathe) your early morning humor. I enjoy it! For now, Blogger and i have a loving relationship. It’s a little one sided at the moment. But we’re working on it. Don’t worry about it.

Forty minutes of tossing and turning i told myself to stop fighting it and just get up and blog already. (A normal, rational decision at this hour of the morning.) I joked with a friend yesterday that I’ve been waking up at 5:30 all week for no particular reason and have had to force myself back to sleep. Well, I just upped the ante, 3:30 folks! Take that! (So unholy it’s absurd.) I now find myself up, typing a freaking blog, and doing such between yawns a plenty, so let me get out something good before I crash.

So thoughts this week have been on the Spirit. It may be 3am... but i'm bringing it. My small group is going through Forgotten God, by Francis Chan. And it’s rocking my world. Seriously. My thoughts on the Spirit, and his tangible movement in my life and the Church are being deeply challenged. And it’s good. SO good. Right now i’m wrestling with ideas of integrity. Integrity in claiming to believe something and having my life align with it. It’s simple, yea? I like simple. Why am i so bad at it when it comes to believing in the power of the Spirit and living my life like it? I beginning to see a lot of it has to do with fear and pride- but that is for another post.

Anyway, last friday at Bible study, a wise sister challenged us to do something i’ve never done before. She petitioned my small group to pray, daily, that the Spirit of God be alive and active in our lives. Considering that this Spirit is the very same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, it seemed like a noteworthy attempt towards powerful living. Sure, why not! I like power. (Or something.) So, I started the week positioned halfway expectant and compliant. I was kind of fearful to expect anything too big, but my rule-following tendencies had me praying it consistently. So i could report back well.

I’m a piece of work, this i know!

But, holy heck, is all i have to say. Don’t pray such a prayer if you don’t FULLY expect God to show up! Because he does so even when you don’t ask for it. Or half ask for it. He’s in the business of making himself known and esteeming himself greater and will blow you out of the water whenever possible. Even knuckleheads like me.

So, every morning, about 7:30, sitting in my chair in the living room, following a hot cup of coffee, i asked the Spirit to be alive and active -affective- in my life! And you know what, He did! Fancy that.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is now law!” Galatians 5:22-23

These are the fruits of the Spirit! Fruit of doing daily life with him! Don’t make me sing the cheesy song. While fire didn’t fall from the sky (that i’m aware of at least) and the foundation of my house didn’t split in two (thankfully so!), the Sprit showed up in powerful ways!

Folks- i still suck at this game. I struggle to clearly hear the voice of God--the moving of his Spirit. My life is often cluttered with other noises. Yea, those voices keep his muffled. This i know. But apart from my lackluster faith in the power of the Spirit, i’ve tasted the goodness of the Lord this week in a fresh new way. And it fired me up!

God cares. He really does! Personally and intimately. He gives good gifts to his children just to be kind! And because he's AWESOME!

At the end of the day, all I really want to do is love Jesus and love people like he did! Knowing Jesus greater comes by living actively in the Spirit. A truth, while so simple, I’ve glossed over for years.

No mo yo. So, here’s my challenge to you. Pray it. Ask the Spirit to be alive and active in your daily life. And see what happens. I dare you.

I triple dog dare you.

(i wait to see what comes at the end of your week. I'll also secretly pray it comes to mind at 3 am... and then ask for forgiveness.)

awesome.