Chapter 23 - Planned and Spontaneous

In this chapter Kauflin presents a great contrast of using both the planned and the spontaneous during worship to follow the Spirit's leading.  There are many Christians who reside in the camp of "If you've planned it and it's not spontaneous, then it's not from the Spirit."  But this is simply a bogus notion.  God is a planning God.  He planned the universe through from it's beginning (creation), to it's redemption, (Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection), to it's conclusion (new heaven, new earth, and the bride of Christ (the Church) finally is united with Him), and on through eternity.  Saying that the Spirit must be spontaneous is like saying "The Spirit can't possibly plan ahead."  I for one have no intention of saying that the Spirit of God is limited in what He can do.  "We've found that the Holy Spirit's most important guidance often comes before the meeting even begins." (p. 182)

On the flip side, though, God has, and can certainly speak in the moment as well.  "Planning doesn't substitute for listening to the Holy Spirit during the meeting either." (p. 182)  This last weekend was a good example of how and why God might choose to speak in the moment.  If you weren't there this weekend I shared a short testimony of what God had been doing in my life and challenged people to actively pay attention to the Holy Spirit (and yes, I did cry in first service).  This is something that I couldn't have planned ahead of time because it wasn't until during the sermon that I made the connection between my experience and what Jim was saying.  And if I had tried to plan it all out and had a rehearsed speech to say, it wouldn't have had the same impact as it did in the moment.  I know for certain that the Holy Spirit was moving in me to share at the end of first service.  However, I'm still not sure if God intended for me to say it again at the end of 2nd service, but being unsure I decided to go ahead anyway.  I'd rather mess up trying to follow what I thought was God's leading rather than do things smoothly while ignoring Him.

"Spontaneity gives us the freedom to respond to present needs and promptings." (p. 185) "...the Spirit can also use us in powerful ways as we play notes we've practiced for hours during months of rehearsals.  But isn't it helpful to be able to do both?"

I think I (and we as a team) weigh more heavily on the planning side of the scale.  I like Kauflin's idea of "practicing spontaneity".  Being capable and able to readily respond to the Spirit at a moment's notice might take practice but it could help balance the scale.