WORD & SPIRIT can sometimes mean WORD-only

I know this post will probably be misunderstood, but that's okay.

I am a WORD & SPIRIT guy. I want to share God's written, inerrant WORD AND I want to do so with demonstrations of the power of the Holy SPIRIT.

Non-Charismatics are pretty much WORD-only people. I used to be one. And that isn't to say we didn't believe God would anoint/bless His Word as we shared it which is the Holy Spirit's activity. But what was clear is that we didn't expect much else.

When I became a Charismatic, there was most definitely a pendulum swing. To be honest, I became obsessed with healing and other types of miracles that constituted the power of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes that resulted in us under-emphasizing the proclamation of the WORD. We'd often pray for people, and see healing but not end up sharing much of the the Gospel. Possibly a good critique for such a dynamic is that I was at times a SPIRIT-only person. 

Thankfully, I had some great 'voices' in my life who were fully Charismatic and would challenge a trend they were seeing in Charismatic circles where "Treasure Hunts" and/or other power evangelistic outings were not as "evangelistic" as God would have wanted.

I'm not saying we always will get the chance to share the Gospel, but to be honest, we can often share a lot more than we think we can.

This morning as I am working my way through the Book of Acts again, I read Acts 17:1-9 when Paul and Silas on Paul's Second Missionary Journey were ministering in Thessalonica and there is no record of any miracles. No healings. No exorcisms. No angelic visitations. No so-called "demonstration of the Spirit's power" (1 Cor. 2:4).

Rather, it says Paul "reasoned with them from the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2). The result was that "a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women" (17:4) became followers of Christ.

Can I say for certain that there were no demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's power? No, I can't. However, the Book of Acts has sometimes been called "The Acts of the Holy Spirit" as Luke emphasizes the Holy Spirit's activity throughout the book. And it would be strange if God had done something miraculous there in Thessalonica that he wouldn't have mentioned it.

So, sometimes our assignment (to the applause of my non-Charismatic friends - 👏) means we will only share God's written WORD, the Scriptures, with the people we are ministering to. 

Don't get me wrong - I and still 100% a WORD & SPIRIT guy but sometimes it is okay to be a WORD-only guy as well.