Be Drunk on the Holy Spirit

10/26/2001

conversation one night recently while some saints were together for dinner…

“God’s Got an Army”

God’s got an army

Marching through this land.

Deliverance is our song,

His healing in our hand.

Everlasting joy

And peace in our hearts

And in this army, I’ve got a part.

What if everyone could get together and sing this song with someone each morning before they headed to work or started their day? What if everyone thought of themselves as spiritual “terrorists”? What do “terrorists” do all day anyway? They spend all day working jobs as accountants or taking flying lessons or going to Baskin Robbins or going bowling with their work buddies. They do all that stuff until it is time for their mission—then they go blow something up! They act kind of like they are part of normal society, but in reality they are on a mission. And all along the way they know they are! They take action and do what they are supposed to do—terrorizing the world around them. What if everyone thought of themselves in their work place that way or their neighborhood that way? “I’m a terrorist in hiding. I kind of look like everybody around me, but I’m on a mission. I know what I need to do. I need to continue heaving hand grenades and being a sniper against the things that don’t belong to God. I’m hiding in this job while my real mission is something else far greater.”

Question: I think that’s something I kick myself over so often. I just find myself thinking as a mere man. I begin to view life just as a mere mortal person in the world, and in the job place. I know God desires so much more, and Christ did and does so much more than that. Why do we function that way, approaching decisions that way, thinking according to mere logic or by the ways of mere men?

If we’re sloppy or lazy (kind of lose the edge and are disobedient in certain areas), then we get dull. And if we get dull, then we’re inactive. And not only are we inactive, but we’re also unmotivated. And if we’re unmotivated, but we know the truth, then we get discouraged. If we’re discouraged, then we get lethargic and even more worthless and down on ourselves. I think that’s why Paul said, “Be not drunk with wine, but be drunk on the Holy Spirit.” When you’re drunk on the Holy Spirit, you just don’t care. You’re not measuring everything, you’re not trying to figure out what the politically correct thing to do is, you’re not making all these deep judgments about whether or not you should do this or that or the other. You just do whatever comes naturally. That’s the way it is when you’re drunk on the Spirit. You’re not making all these judgments about yourself and about everybody else—weighing everything, measuring everything, and trying to decide if you’re worthy to do this or that. The nature of things is that we’re supposed to be drunk on the Spirit to where there’s a certain “carelessness.” : ) And we’re not all that introspective about all of it, and we’re not all that concerned if we make mistakes (“oh well, ha, ha”). That’s the nature of it. And so if it’s our goal to be drunk on the Spirit, then we’re not going to go through all the shenanigans of feeling dull and worthless and depressed all because we know we should be doing something that we’re not. You know how you can kind of lose touch with it all. “I know I should care but I don’t really feel all the care that I’m supposed to feel.” We’re just kind of out of it. The way to transcend all of that stuff is by being obedient in the little things, by making the choices that we can make in the small things, and by making ourselves available to be drunk on the Spirit.

“God’s got an army marching through this land, deliverance is our song, there’s healing in our hands.”

Do you feel that way when you go to work? His healing is in your hand? That’s an aggressive “terrorist” sort of, drunk sort of feeling. His healing is in my hand. It’s not like all the shy, introspective, cerebral sort of stuff—that’s just not the way we ever get anything done! We’ve just got to be about half crazy. We can’t get all caught up in all the details.

“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor!”

It’s not “Whine, O barren woman,” “Think, O barren woman,” “Talk, O barren woman,” “Moan and groan, O barren woman” it says “SING, O barren woman. SING!” which is kind of a crazy thing to do. But, that’s just how it works. Peter was kind of crazy. He was most useful in the early stages of the Kingdom in part because he was willing to be crazy. He didn’t have any proof that he could walk on water before he started trying. Have that kind of attitude whether it’s teaching world history, or going to work or the grocery store. Have that kind of attitude wherever you are and whatever you do. If we’re not willing to be half crazy, we’re making ourselves less than useful to God at the highest level. The joy and anointing of Life comes from “not drunk on wine, but drunk on the Holy Spirit.” This adds a certain “kamikaze” sort of approach to sitting in a room full with other people! : ) This adds a new dynamic in a workplace where there is a courage and a fearlessness that comes from being willing to be stupid and laughed at—being willing to do whatever you have to do without giving a lot of consideration to the consequences.

It’s a middle class carefulness that gets us all wrapped up in all the thoughts of the consequences—not wanting to be wrong, not wanting to be looked at in a certain way, even the hyper-spiritual carefulness of, “I don’t want anybody to think that I want to be anybody. So I’ll just bury my talent because someone might think that I want to be somebody if I do anything. So, if I don’t do anything, then I will be perfectly safe. No one will ever think that I want to be somebody if I don’t ever do anything or say anything courageous.” “Be not drunk with wine, but be drunk on the Holy Spirit” that would be a useful theme song to help the average American middle-class mindset. : )

Be willing to be a little crazy because God is certainly more able to use a person who isn’t bound by his own fears and perspective of what others might think, than He is able to use one who is enslaved by fear of making mistakes. God didn’t say, “Be not drunk with wine, but rather be extremely careful to not make any mistakes.” NO! He said, to those with ears to hear, “TAKE, KILL, AND EAT!”

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