Do you feel the Warm Tinglies?

So I was listening to Paris Reidhead the other day and he said something that I thought was kind of interesting, He talked about Soulish Blessing and Spiritual Blessing, focusing on the Soulish blessing being the times of emotional experience and warm fuzzy feelings we get when the "spirit is moving" as I have heard it said before many times especially among Pentecostals. The question that I seek to find the answer is has the church been longing and searching for Spiritual Blessing and in search of it found Soulish Blessing and got the two confused as being the same thing.

We had a prayer meeting and things were going as normal but then our pastor went outside to the big back lot of our church and took one of our christian brothers back there and started telling him of all the wonderful things that would happen back there if we built the building my pastor seeks to build. My christian brother said he felt warm and tingly and took this as a sign that this building thing was from God. My dad and I saw through this though, God can send us warm tinglies if He chooses but basing a call and push from God based off of getting warm tinglies doesn't seem wise.

My fear is that we have lost the discernment between the two may we seek to find the hidden things of God in His Word not warm tinglies or happy feelings because for all we know it could just be gas :) But in all seriousness let us pray for this discernment again. Any thoughts or comments to add to this would be awesome as well and the message by Paris was The Hidden things of God part 1 I think.

God Bless,
Matthew

1 Thess 5v21, 'Test all things...'

If we were to treat all goosebumps as a sign from God, then what would be our response when sinners get goosebumps?

Simply because interest and excitment at the prospect of a future building ensues, does not mean it is a 'sign from God'.

Discernment is so missing in this day and age of anything goes.

If only we would go to the word of God.

Matthew, pick up a copy of "The Latent Power of the Soul" By Watchman Nee. It expounds upon this discourse so well, you might just find yourself reading it over and over and over again.

-Jeremiah.

Have read Latent Power of the Soul.

Might read it again.

I have heard of the Latent of the Soul, my dad read it and then passed it on to my head pastor who read it and said it was a boring read and planned on reading it later, that was about 6 months ago though :) so I will just have to commendeer that book from him :)

That book is anything but boring. The implications for understanding the spiritual nature of our service on God's behalf is staggering. Watchman builds a case for truly understanding the difference between soulishness verses spiritual work. My Pastor has read it dozen's of times, and I might just follow his example, as the issues Nee deals with are probably more important by exponential degrees than it was even in his day.

I have actually thought that this little book needs a follow up book to develop the thought process further and amplify it in the light of our day and age. It would be awesome if some more of you guys read it so we could discuss its implications a bit. I read it in two sittings so it is easy, and I had a real hard time putting it down the first time.

-Jeremiah

Everest, I am a bit busy between now and tomorrow night, but I will try to write a synopsis of the book for you here before the end of the week. I would hate to be quick about it because the case he builds is so important I would not want to butcher it.

I believe it was Charles Finney that described the great change in the operation of the Holy Spirit once a person truly surrenders to God. When a sinner is in a convicted state they are feeling the weight of their sin, conviction, etc. However, when the person truly surrenders to God there is no need to continue bearing down upon them. The same Holy Spirit that was pouring on conviction of sin is now pouring in the joy and love of Christ. There can be an excitement that accompanies the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

I heard the testimony of a young man once that told of going home under great conviction all night long, etc. He wept through to 'repentance'. Never really spoke of joy. Many lauded this as a great salvation- but when we went back a year later he was 'backslidden' (obviously had never front-slid). But there was a rejoicing because the expectation was that a person must receive a good spanking from the Holy Spirit before they can be rightly saved. I found that it don't mean anything necessarily.

One of the great reasons why folk are tied up and in a stalemate with God is because they have already conceived what is and is not acceptable as to their reaction when God comes. David once danced before God with ALL of his might and he was under an Old Testament construct devoid of the New Testament experience that John the Baptist preached and never partook of. Why? A testament is not in force until after the Testator is dead. So neither David or John Baptist knew the level of joy and possibilities that we can experience today- and yet still David danced before God.

Too many Michals around. What did God do when she rebuked him? God shut her womb up. Why? Because God made sure that spirit never saw the light of day. Be careful how you judge people experiences. God is watching. You may end up with a barren ministry. Why? Read about it. It's VERY serious business.

If we form an expectation then we will lean that way. Let God be God. If you are changed and feel the urge to get excited- Heaven is rejoicing. Excitement is not spirituality and neither is deadness. What matters is a new creature. Watchman Nee's book has some interesting info but I would read it with caution. Men went into the world to change it in an wide range of emotions and demeanors. You think a lost world was looking for a somber demeanor in exchange for the oppressiveness of sin? They were needing the Joy of the Lord. It's what we all need. Not a wild excitement always as David had (that when he lost he sinned and in Psalm 51 begged back), it could be a slow burn. Who knows what David 'felt' when he saw the Ark coming into town. How do you think he would reacted if the Ark had came into HIM?

Yup Everest. It talks about those issues. I hope you enjoy it. And learn from it.

I agree wholeheartedly Robert, my concern isn't to judge people but to point to talk about something on a wider scale, the use of emotionalism and manipulation for "conversions" or a larger alter call. But since we don't have a clear understanding of Soulish Blessing and Spiritual Blessing then the average individual doesn't know the difference. For me the mark of conversion is a changed heart and life, I have heard of great emotion and no emotion at all at conversions, who am I to put God in a box? People however begin to base their conversion not on a changed life but on how many tears they cried on the alter, or how much they laughed that day. The true fruit of repentance is a changed heart and mind and ultimately life.

I also wanted to point to the fact that many people are going to church simply to feel these warm tingling feelings rather than simply conform to the image of Christ, and the Presense of the Lord isn't determined by changed lives but by how many tinglies I could get during worship and the message, this is quite contrary to the Word.

God Bless,
Matthew

You read the whole 86 pages that fast?

Another link to Watchman Nee's book: http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/nee/5f00.0634/5f00.0634.c.htm

Haven't read it, so I can't verify that this link has the entire text.

As I read through this thread I was very concerned because we are really discussing the interaction between God and man. When we begin making judgments of peoples experiences we need to be careful. John Wesley talked about being, 'strangely warmed'. It is not for me to duplicate his experience, but it is not for me to try and assess whether it is spiritual or soulish. When were talking about the concept of latent powers of the soul we are not even speaking of phenomena that can be biblically verified. These are theories.

The risk we run is what is typically found among biblical scholars. They sit around and talk about this type stuff until they sift their own faith and come away as confused as a termite in a yo-yo. If God is dealing with a person we need to be very careful how we speak into that situation.