Thursday, November 11, 2010

You Can Do It...He Will Help

I saw this shirt the other week. It was a bright orange shirt that looked like a billboard for the Home Depot. Actually, it looked just like the Home Depot sign. Instead of reading, “Home Depot” it read “Holy Spirit”. For years, the Home Depot has had the slogan, “You can do it, we can help.” Well on this shirt it says, “You can do it. He can help.” And it is true, you CAN do it! Whatever it is. Too often we limit the potential of the Holy Spirit by saying things like, “Oh I can’t do that.” We face resistance and we sometimes give up. But there is a voice that tells you, “I believe God is at work in you!” What would happen if we let go of our need to control? What would happen if we truly relied on the power of the Holy Spirit? What would happen if we truly believed God is at work in us? What would happen to us? What would happen to our churches?  We know what it is like.  We go to a conference, hear other speakers, read about new ideas only to have them squashed by other people. “Oh there’s no way we could ever do that,” some would say. “Oh people won't like that," others would say.  “But we’re Lutheran,” comes the response. So!?!   Why limit what we can do? Why limit the power of the Holy Spirit? Because when we do, we end up declining or happy with "status quo".  We end up being half disciples only producing half of our potential. Because here is the truth found in Scripture- Jesus promises a coming Advocate (The Holy Spirit) and that Advocate is present with us. God has given us a God sized vision and we can’t let the present realities overshadow the possibilities of tomorrow. You CAN do it, and he WILL help!