By Larry Stover
The Selma Times-Journal

Yes, I really am ready for an invasion. Probably not the kind you’re thinking about but I’m ready for an invasion by the Holy Spirit into our community and churches. I’m not speaking about an invasion that is on my terms. Rather, I’m addressing the kind of invasion that comes when people have a hunger for God.

What would happen in our churches throughout Dallas County if we took 2 Chronicles 7:14 to heart? That timeless passage of scripture reads as follows: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Seeking the face of God through prayer, meditation, and the reading of his word must become an intentional effort of God’s people if we desire to see this invasion of the Holy Spirit in our churches and in our lives.

Too many believers today fall into the message from the prophet to God’s people found in Isaiah 29:13,

“These people come to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Any time the church experiences an outpouring of the holy spirit, it comes when the people decide to quit giving “lip service” to God and begin to get serious about being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Allow me to ask some questions about your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Answering them honestly may help you know if an invasion of the Holy Spirit is imminent in your life or not.

If Jesus were to analyze your association with him, would he describe you as someone who lives in a close relationship with him or someone who is not as holy as they ought to be?

Would Jesus say that you are more concerned about keeping a bunch of rules or enjoying a relationship with him that is led by the spirit determined to please him in all that you do?

Do you hunger daily for the presence of God in your life or are you just content to get by with little or minimal devotional time with him?

Are you happy just going to church to fulfill an obligation or do you anxiously prepare for worship anticipating the presence of God?

Is worship a high point of your week and you make sure that other things do not hinder you from attending worship on Sunday?

I believe that God would open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on us if we began to get serious about being prepared for a spiritual invasion of the Holy Spirit.

A revival of God’s presence is the answer to the needs of our area.  An invasion by the holy spirit would make our churches, homes, and lives “Simply Beautiful.”