The Holy Spirit Lives in My Shower

I first recognized that the Holy Spirit lived in my shower when I heard His voice tell me to do something immediately to help a friend out. It was a big action that required money, time and sacrifice. It wasn’t a feeling. It was a voice, and it was talking to me in my shower. I ran downstairs to tell my wife about what the Holy Spirit had said, literally with a towel wrapped around my waist. When I told her, instead of looking at my like I was crazy, she said, “Ok, then that's what we have to do.” (Hebrews 3:7-14)

My friend Todd says that the Holy Spirit lives in his Escalade. Scott says that the Holy Spirit lives in his backyard. Jay’s opinion seems to change every day. The last time I talked to Jay he told me that the Holy Spirit lives on a beach in Florida that Jay had just visited. 

I heard a voice! It told me what to do and to do it now. In my shower.

As I think about it, the Holy Spirit maybe a bit of a stalker. Once, he did tell me to go talk to a person who was distraught in the DFW airport. My wife and I have had same thought/same moment compulsions to donate, work with people and reach out to a couple we suddenly felt needed us.(1 Corinthians 6:19) I was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached at my brother's funeral in words and ways that were outside of my preparation or thoughts. I look back in my journals and I am seeing a lot of Holy Spirit.

Todd, Scott and Jay’s Holy Spirit is the same as mine. There is one Holy Spirit and I have figured out that He does not travel like Santa Claus. The Holy Spirit does not race around speaking to different people at different times.  The scripture tells us that He is within us. (Acts 2:2-4) If that is true, why can’t I hear Him all of the time? As my brother Tim used to say, “I know God has a plan for me, I just wish He didn’t keep so many secrets.” 

A friend of mine, Ray, says that the Holy Spirit talks to us all of the time, but that it is our lack of listening that is the problem.(2 Timothy 1:14)  For Todd, Scott, Jay and me, the Holy Spirit seems to speak loudest when we are quietest. He comes when I am not praying. Weird, right? Shouldn’t He come when I am praying? Probably not, at least in my case. When I am praying I am usually talking to God, not really listening to what God has to say. When I do ask to hear from God, it must sound like, “Tell me something, I want to hear from you right now!” For me, forcing the Holy Spirit to speak to me has not been very effective. I have heard the Holy Spirit when I have not expected it. I have spoken words to people, telling them of God's love and the promise of their redemption. It happened last week on a business call! I assure you that what I said was not on the agenda. The conversation was going along in a predictable way and then all of these words and thoughts came out. (Mark 13:11)

It also seems that the more the Holy Spirit is showing up in my life, the more He continues to show up. Having said that, I am better at hearing the Holy Spirit and acting upon His counsel when I am relaxed, quiet and mentally accessible. It seems that for me this includes the shower.