The gentle, overwhelming, beneficent Spirit of God – Jesus needed this Spirit, and His followers have always felt the inborn need for the Spirit of God in their lives. They need Him even more so in these troublous times.
As a case in point, a colleague of mine who takes medication for hypertension told me recently of an interesting experiment he conducted, using himself as the guinea pig. One day after testing his blood pressure and, finding it to be a little higher than usual, he had a novel idea. He decided to take himself and his elevated blood pressure into his "secret closet"; he would go before the Lord in prayer. After the prayer session he would test his pressure again. This will prove the efficacy of prayer, he no doubt thought. He put his little plan into operation and, guess what – his blood pressure was higher than before! So much for unproved theories.
This was not a shock to me, however. It was as I told him: Too many of us Pentecostals (yep, I own up to being a true Pentecostal!) do not know how to relax before the Lord. We think the more intense our feelings and the higher the decibels (a numerical expression of the relative loudness of a sound) of our petitions, the greater impact we will have with God. Now don't read me wrong. There is without doubt a time for intense emotions and, for some, there is a time and need for lifting up our voices on high; but there is also a time for unwinding and resting in the presence of the Lord.
When I am greatly perturbed and tense in my mind, I surely am not seeking to make those feelings worse; I need just the opposite. I want to find rest and peace as I wait before my Lord. What we all need frequently is this quiet period spent with God. We need at that time to let go of every worry, loosen up our tense frame of mind and untie the taut muscles of our body and fall, exhausted and believing, at the feet of Jesus. It can do a marvelous work of "healing" for the mind and the body. We can jump and shout and holler at a later time, but for the present, when we are so keyed up, the jump and shout are counterproductive.
The Israelites of old were a very emotional people, very volatile and changeable. They could praise you one moment and think of stoning you to death the next. A large crowd of them went before and after Jesus on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a Sunday, but by Friday of the same week they clamored for His crucifixion! David's band of six hundred men willingly followed him into battle, endangering their lives for him one day, but when they met with disaster not many days later, they threatened to stone him.
In that day these high strung people needed a day of rest, a day of letting go of old hostilities and vengeance and all strenuous physical activities; they needed a Sabbath or day of rest. Today we too need our regular times of resting in the presence of the Lord. It is good for the body, the mind, the soul and spirit, and if we fail to take advantage of the rest God has promised us in this life, we will miss it spiritually and naturally.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
That calls me from a world of care
And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known!
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
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