Can you plan out the Holy Spirit?

 2 teams of average talent level take the floor at the start of the basketball game.  1 team has practiced, prepared, discussed a game plan, gone over scenarios, and trained hard for these next moments.   The other team has never discussed a thing, don’t know each other, but are wearing the uniforms and they are going to give it their all.   Which team are you betting on?

 

2 sets of parents are raising their children.  1 couple just takes life as it comes, handles each situation in the moment, and they never discuss beforehand what they value, what is important, and what they hope to impart to their children.  The other couple seeks to be on the same page, to be preventive in their approach as best as possible, and to be united in their messaging to their children to maximize their efforts.  Which parents would you like to have?

 

Two couples come to the end of their working days, and retire.  One couple has planned out their stocks, bonds, 403b’s, 401ks etc.  They have developed a plan to handle what comes next.  Another couple had lived paycheck to paycheck their whole life, and never discussed any sort of financial plan.  Which couple would you like to be when you retire?

 

These situations may seem black and white to you.  In most cases in life, planning is looked at as prudent and generally a great idea.  Being a worship leader for four years now, I have been in many conversations where the feeling is that planning a worship gathering is somehow unspiritual and limits the Holy Spirit’s ability to work in people’s hearts.

 

I understand the conversation, but whole heartedly disagree with its basic premise.  The Holy Spirit in my opinion is not limited by good planning.   Far more important than how long a song or announcements or a talk takes or doesn’t take,  is the heart of you and I, our desire to honor God, to seek His presence, and to love Him and one another.

 

There are realities that churches face that are just a fact of life. Parking, Sunday school, people’s attention spans etc.   These things take planning to some extent to coordinate, but does that make it somehow unspiritual?  Is Sunday morning the only time the Spirit desires to work and move?  Can He also do it during a basketball game, in your parenting, or how you handle your finances?

So what do you think?  Can you plan out the Holy Spirit?