…BY MY SPIRIT

Zech.4:6 – This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Recently I have been flooded with memories about my days in California at God’s Army and the swirl of the Jesus Movement that I found myself in. I started reading the story of Lonnie Frisbee and the outpouring in Southern California at Calvary Chapel with Pastor Chuck Smith and found this funny quote from one of the worship leaders by the name of Debbie Kerner. Its funny to see the various flavors of the Christian world colliding. I love Kathryn Kuhlman and Chuck Smith, both were mighty tools of the Lord even if they were operating quite differently. Check out Debbie Kerner’s quote.

“One of the exciting things that happened
while we were still raising support for our trip (to Europe) was that I got to
arrange the music for and sing on the Kathryn Kuhlman show at a
large meeting she held at the Hollywood Palladium. Kathryn was
really “on fire” and was thoroughly enjoying a meeting with so many
young people. I don’t remember everything she had Lonnie do, but I
do remember that at one point a man from the audience came up for
prayer and started falling over when Kathryn laid hands on him.
Chuck Smith saw that no one was there to help break his fall, so he
jumped up to catch him. More people who came up for prayer started
falling over around him, so Chuck kept catching people, which was
funny because he felt really uncomfortable with people being “slain in the Spirit.” …we’d pray for people and grab them, saying, “Don’t fall!” But Chuck was like a father to me—and to
Lonnie—and I knew that being a “catcher” was definitely not the job
Chuck asked for. I wanted to find a graceful way out for him, so at
one of the breaks I decided to stop playing and sat down. Chuck was
able to ease out of the action.”

I love the way the Lord moves in the middle of all the various streams of the Body of Christ. About the time of the Jesus movement the Lord was not only moving among the “Jesus Freaks” but He was sweeping through the Catholic Church, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Baptist, and even the Assemblies of God. All of these various church cultures were greatly impacted during that season. The Lord must sit in the heavens and laugh as we see our theology and religious culture swept up by the moving of the Spirit. The wind is blowing again; that wind may cause all of us to get a little uncomfortable when our stuff starts getting swept up in the move of God.