Time is something that has always fascinated me. As a kid I would always love to watch time travel movies like Back to the Future and TV shows like Dr. Who. I very rarely can be seen without wearing a watch of some sort. One of the things that has always fascinated me about time is that an hour here, in the United States, is the exact same thing as an hour in Madagascar, Australia, China, Brazil -- anywhere else in the world. Time is measured constantly.
Because I love time so much I’ve owned several watches that are more...unique than what most people have. I had for a long time a Russian made “Raketa” 24-hour analog watch -- instead of 12, 3, 6, and 9 around the face, it had 24, 6, 12, and 18. Midnight was at the top and noon was at the bottom. I’ve owned several types of pocket watches, too -- I have one right here. This watch does not use a battery -- it still must be wound on a regular basis for it to run. This type of watch has what’s called a “manual movement” (a movement is what describes how a watch or clock actually runs).
This is how watches were made for hundreds of years -- you manually wind up a spring that unwinds at a set speed, giving you the familiar “tick tick tick” sound. During that time, Switzerland was know as the “king of watchmakers” -- everyone wanted a Swiss watch. That all changed in the late 70s, when a new invention took over -- the Quartz movement. This used a battery and a piece of quartz that vibrated at a set speed, giving a much more accurate measurement of time than previously available. Quartz watches were invented by a man working for the Seiko corporation -- headquartered in Japan. Switzerland saw this new-fangled Quartz watch and decided it was just a passing fad -- no one would want this! Switzerland had been making the world’s best watches for hundreds of years! Why would anyone want to go to this unknown Japanese company instead? What did they know about watches?
Apparently, quite a lot. By 1981, almost 81% of the Swiss watchmakers were fired. Japan was the new king of time.
Swiss watchmakers lost out on an amazing future because they had a preconceived notion of what a “watch” must be. Anything that did not fit their pattern of a watch would be quickly dismissed as worthless. This same attitude can be found in many areas of life -- you have to be this strong, or you’re not a real man. You have to be this skinny, or you’re not a real woman. We all know that these ideas are complete junk -- but the world is full of them. Thankfully, we’re in the church, where such bias doesn’t exist, right?
Well, the problem with churches is that they’re filled with imperfect people! The first time I was ever baptized in the Holy Spirit, I was at a youth convention in the mountains of Vermont. Some of you already know this story. I felt the Spirit come over me, and the only response I had was to giggle like a little boy. Shortly after this started -- I still don’t know how long it went on -- I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I stopped and turned to see one of the leaders from another church standing there. I thought he was going to pray for me, but he told me that “we don’t laugh at the Holy Spirit”. It took me years to allow myself to really be filled with the Spirit again, because every time I felt the laughter come up, I’d force myself to stop.
That leader had good intentions, but he had a preconceived notion of what baptism in the Holy Spirit “should look like”. He was like the Swiss watchmakers. Unfortunately, many people are the same way -- if not with other people, with themselves. Many people in the church are afraid to see God’s movement in their lives because they expect it to come a certain way. They know who the Holy Spirit is, they know that He works in people’s lives, they are even saved. They put God in a box, though -- and if something happens that’s different from what they expect of God, they automatically assume that it can’t be from God.
Turn with me to the book of Joel, chapter 2. While you’re finding that book, I want to give you some background on Joel, the man. I am going to give you everything we know about him, are you ready? Joel was the son of Pethuel. His name means “Yahweh is God”, and he lived before the coming of Christ.
That’s it. We can guess on a few other things, but that’s all we really know for sure. What can he possibly tell us about the Holy Spirit, or how God moves? Don’t we need more information than this? Isn’t this just a little...simple?
Well, Joel was a prophet, so everything he wrote in his book comes directly from the Lord. Joel prophecies about Judah’s destruction because of their sin. We’ve gone over this before, when we spoke about Jonah -- when you sin, you will be punished. Joel prophecies this to the nation of Judah in chapter 1. But that’s only the first chapter! The second and third chapters detail God’s restoration from that sin. Just like He did with Jonah, God restores after sin. Joel is a book about hope. Let’s read 2:28-29 to find out what that hope looks like:
Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.
Well, wait. This sounds familiar, right? Isn’t this verse supposed to be from the New Testament, during Pentecost? Acts 2:17-21 is a direct quote of Joel! Peter sees that Joel’s prophecy has come to pass.
This means that the time is now -- the Holy Spirit is currently pouring Himself out on all of us. That means that we all hear the same things, and we feel the same things, right? Isn’t that what Joel -- and Peter -- are saying? After all, they say that the Spirit will be poured out on all people -- sons and daughters, old men, young men, servants -- “men and women alike”.
No, that’s not what Joel and Peter are saying. Listen to the verses again:
Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.
Yes, Joel says that the Spirit will be poured out on all people -- but notice he never mentions what it will feel like or what will happen when the Spirit does thes. He just said “all people...men and women alike”.
The way God interacts with me is different than the way He interacts with you. When I’m praying -- especially when I’m praying for a person -- I start with a bit of silence. This isn’t me trying to think up what to say, but it’s me waiting for the Spirit to tell me what to say. When He does, it’s like my own voice hammering me in the head -- “Prayforthisprayforthisprayforthis!” Most of the time, I don’t even know what I’m praying until after I say it -- I let the Spirit take over. The only way I know it’s God is because I spend so much time in prayer that I’ve come to recognize His words, even though in my mind I hear them in my own voice.
Sometimes, He speaks to me through another person. Very rarely does someone come up to me and say, “God told me to tell you…”, but most of the time they say something that resonates inside, where I know that God is using that person to tell me something I need to know.
This may sound strange, but I can’t tell you for certain how to tell if God is speaking to you. No one can, really; the only people who know this are you and God Himself! All I know is how God speaks to me. I’ve heard other people explain it, but I’m not them. I’m not in their heads, I haven’t had their experiences. God may very well speak to them in the same way He speaks to me, or it may be completely different. But one thing is consistent -- one thing will be true no matter how God speaks to you:
You won’t know unless you spend time in prayer.
We’ve said before that prayer is a conversation -- and in any good conversation, everyone involved gets a chance to speak. That means sometimes we need to hush and let God talk. When this becomes a habit, you’ll know when God’s speaking to you. Joel was a simple man because it really is just that simple. Don’t overcomplicate it by expecting God to move in a certain way; just expect Him to move, and listen for His voice. What comes next just may surprise you.
