I’ll never forget the moment I decided to give my life to Christ. I was 12 years old and scared to death. After being promised by my mom that she would accompany me to the altar, I decided that the time had come. I stepped to the front, prayed a simple prayer, and my life changed forever because of that one moment. I come from a rich heritage of faith. I remember the nights that were brought to a close by the prayers of my Grandfather, F.J. Barfield. It was an unmistakable moment. He would muster the strength to sit on the edge of his recliner and, just before he bowed his knees, he would always say two words…two simple words that informed everyone within earshot that it was time to pray. He simply said, “Y’all be pretty.” Everyone knew what that meant. It was code for “It’s time to pray. Act right.” I miss those times. I miss hearing my mother pray. I miss going to church with my grandmother. I miss that foundation.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that there was something unique about the times and experiences that I shared with my family in certain small churches known to be part of the Church of God denomination here in South Georgia. While most would agree that church services tend to be boring and uneventful, somehow ours were completely different. As I grew older, learned more of the Word of God, and listened to those in authority over me, I quickly came to understand that the difference was not a man, a program, a desire to be different or any other attempt to muster some form of life and excitement within the church. I had come to understand that the difference was the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:13 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” As I grew older, I quickly experienced the reality of this verse. I knew what it was like to feel a gentle urging from the Holy Spirit. This urging allowed me to see things from a spiritual perspective when I veered off God’s course for my life, spoke or acted out of His will or came close to the danger of disappointing Him in any way. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life is the single most important aspect of my relationship with God. Sadly, this is not the case with many believers.

This entry is not for the purpose of lamenting the “good old days” when church life and spiritual experiences were thought to be much better. The Word of God teaches that fools are the only ones who thrive on the experiences of their past. However, I would like share a few insights that I’ve received over the last 15 years of full-time ministry. It seems to me that the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power that comes with that presence has not been given it’s proper place in our churches. We no longer feel compelled to seek the face of God and seek His Spirit like we once did. After all, “we have things to do and places to go. It’s really not reasonable or practical for anyone to be expected to spend more than an hour or two in a worship service. We live in a fast-paced world. Times have changed.” But have they?

From where I stand, things have remained the same more than we realize. God is still God and we need Him. We still live in a fallen world that’s ruled by our enemy. His goal is to destroy our lives and the plans of God for those lives. The world is still competing for our attention and devotion. It all sounds the same to me. I’m only one of countless believers around the world who are fed up with church as usual. We’re tired of going through the motions. We’ve had it with fulfilling weekly house of God duties. We’re ready for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit so that life and living water can flow through the kingdom once again.

I believe that we will continue to deal with no-care attitudes, lack-luster dedication and half-hearted believers until we stand ready to receive the outpouring described in Acts 2. Until then, churches will continue to struggle, believers will continue to backbite one another, many will continue to be offended as Jesus said that they would, and we will scratch our heads trying to figure out why we can’t win our communities and what it is that we’re doing wrong. There are many things that the older generations missed in terms of accuracy when it comes to our convictions. But they had many things in perfected perspective. We will never enjoy the presence of God’s Spirit until we give Him the number one place of priority in our lives. Then, and only then, will our services come close to those “old-style” services in which you could sense the awesome power of the Holy Ghost and know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that God was present in the sanctuary. It’s our choice.