See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
1 John 3:1And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.
John 14:16We have been through a lot together this week
We have remembered what we loved. We have faced what is real. We have named what went too far. We have grieved what was lost. And now, I want to end with this.
The fire is still real. The Holy Spirit is still here. And this is not the end.
What we lost and what we did not lose
Let me tell you what we lost. We lost leaders who were not who they said they were. We lost movements that were built on sand. We lost certainties that were never certain to begin with. We lost the idea that any person or platform or system could be our source.
But we did not lose God. We did not lose Jesus. We did not lose the Holy Spirit. We did not lose the gifts. We did not lose the fire. We did not lose what is real.
We lost what was fake. We lost what was exaggerated. We lost what was built on the wrong foundation. And that is painful, but it is also clarifying. Because now we know what we have that cannot be taken away.
The Spirit is still here
The Holy Spirit is still here. He was not in the leader. He was not in the movement. He is not in the platform. He is here. With us. In us. Drawing us closer. Speaking to us. Leading us into all truth.
And the gifts are still real. Not all the claims. Not all the exaggerations. But the real gifts. The real move of God. It is still happening. In small places and large places. In places we know about and places we do not. The Spirit still moves. The fire still burns.
I have seen it. I have felt it. I have been in rooms where something was happening that could not be explained. Not by science. Not by psychology. Not by anything but the presence of God. And that is still real. That has not stopped.
The evidence is still there
And the evidence is still there. The documented healings. The studied tongues. The verified miracles. The changed lives. The communities that persist through trial. The joy that cannot be explained. The peace that passes understanding. It is all still there.
The world wants you to think it is all been debunked. It has not. The skeptics want you to think there is no evidence. There is. It is just inconvenient for their worldview. It is just too threatening to their certainties.
You are not crazy for believing. You are not foolish for hoping. You are not backward for expecting God to move. The evidence is on your side. And it has not gone away.
What is left
So what is left? After all of this? After the losses and the grief and the questions?
What is left is Jesus. What is left is the cross. What is left is the resurrection. What is left is the Holy Spirit. What is left is the Book. What is left is the faith that survives when everything else falls away.
What is left is a relationship. Not a religion. Not a system. Not a movement. A relationship. With a God who loves us. Who came to us. Who died for us. Who rose again. Who is coming back.
What is left is hope. Not the hope that things will go our way. The hope that God is who He says He is. The hope that what we have is real. The hope that what remains is eternal.
A new way forward
So what do we do now? How do we move forward?
We move forward with eyes open. We move forward with discernment. We move forward with the Book as our standard, not personalities. We move forward with community that holds us accountable. We move forward with expectation that God still moves, but with testing that keeps us safe.
We move forward with love. For those who hurt us. For those who disappointed us. For those who are still grieving. For those who are still in the movement. For those who have left. For those who are watching and wondering.
We move forward with hope. The hope that the fire is not out. The hope that the best is not behind us. The hope that God is still at work, in us and around us and through us, in ways we cannot imagine.
This is not the end. It is a new beginning. A more honest beginning. A more discerning beginning. A beginning that is based not on personalities but on the Person. Not on movements but on the Spirit. Not on platforms but on the Word.
Take One Step Forward
Take one step forward in your faith with eyes open. Test everything. Hold on to what is good. Keep moving.
- What have I lost that I do not miss?
- What have I lost that I will always grieve?
- What remains that I will never lose?
- What does a new beginning look like for me?
- How do I hold grief and hope at the same time?
- What does it mean to move forward with discernment?
- How do I keep the fire alive when everything has burned down?
This is not the end. It is a new beginning. The fire is still real. The gifts are still real. The Holy Spirit is still here.
Father, thank You that this is not the end. Thank You that the fire is still real and the Spirit is still here.
Help me to move forward with eyes open, with discernment, with hope. Help me to hold on to what is real and let go of what was not.
You are who You say You are. My faith is not in a movement or a leader. My faith is in You. And You have not left me.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Thank you for walking through this series with me. I know it was hard. I know it brought up a lot. But I believe it is important. I believe we need to be honest about what was broken. And I believe we need to hold on to what is real.
The fire is still real. The gifts are still real. The Holy Spirit is still here. And we are not done yet.
With honesty and hope,
Claire