To have the privilege of enjoying the presence of the Holy Spirit, we must first understand that Jesus left him on earth to be the leader, guide, and Comforter of the Church. The more we know about the Holy Spirit; His role in helping the Church, and his role in our personal lives, the more we will see the manifestations of him in our individual lives, as well as when we come together as a group, corporately.
When we gather together in a corporate setting, for corporate praise, worship, prayer, preaching, Bible study, or whatever the purpose: The scriptures say where there are two or more, gathered together in the name of Jesus that the Holy Spirit is in the middle. But before He manifests (shows that He is present), there must be a certain atmosphere created for Him to manifest.
I have listed fourteen things that I have learned during my nearly thirty years in ministry about how to create an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to move in our services. This relates to corporate praise and worship, not private devotion.
- Before any service begins, there must be a person recognized or designated by the group as the praise and worship leader. This is important because every time God’s people come together, someone must take the lead. The Holy Spirit honors authority and leadership. Why? Because it was ordained by God the Father. The Holy Spirit understands his place within the Godhead and works within the authority God has given him. He will not usurp his authority or anyone else’s. He does not seek praise or worship for himself, only for believers to praise and adore God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.
- Recognize that whenever God’s people (2 or 3) gather in the name of Jesus, He is automatically in the midst. Although He is there, He will not automatically manifest unless He is asked to do so.
- Once we realize that He is present, we must acknowledge and honor His presence.
- Invite Him to come to the service and ask that His will be done in the service. This is necessary because the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He is very sensitive and will not stay in any place where he is not welcome or wanted. He will not impose his will on anyone. He will appear but will not manifest; only if he is asked or invited to do so. If he gets sad, he will leave. That is why there are spiritual gatherings where no matter how spiritual one is, he may not be able to feel his presence. That is because the proper atmosphere has not been established for Him to manifest. If the Holy Spirit is saddened by leadership or what is going on in that environment, He will leave and you will not feel His presence. Again, He always appears when two or more believers come together in the name of Jesus, but He will not always manifest Himself; for the reasons I have stated.
- Once the stage is set, by inviting him to the service, everyone should start praising and worshiping Jesus Christ together. The Holy Spirit wants us to exalt the name of Jesus; that name which is above every name. Unless there is a praise and worship team or worship leader appointed to lead the service, the one who will lead the Body into corporate worship may not yet have emerged. He or she is worshiping as part of the group, the corporate body.
- At the beginning of praise and worship; before feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit; he can feel dryness in his words. Words spoken to the Lord can feel lifeless; as the Lord does not listen to you; he can feel that his words don’t go up to the sky but just bounce off the ceiling. This is because your carnal mind and thoughts need to be cleansed and your carnal thoughts need to be transformed into spiritual thoughts. Don’t give up and don’t despair at this point because this is the phase where you are moving from the carnal/carnal realm to the spiritual realm. Sometimes it can take a while for the group, or even the leader, to get through this realm into the spirit realm and come to terms. Just keep praying and worshiping God, and exalting the name of Jesus. Keep talking to Him and telling Him how much you love Him; how wonderful He is and so on. This is where a strong praise and worship leader, minister, or someone who has been fasting and praying is very important. He or she will continue to press through the carnal/carnal realm and into the spiritual realm with words of praise and thanksgiving to God until there is a breakthrough where God’s presence begins to illuminate the main worshiper and the other worshipers. At this point, everyone who has entered the spiritual realm begins to feel that God is listening to his words of praise and thanksgiving.
- By now, the praise and worship leader should have taken the lead and started leading everyone else in songs, psalms, words of exhortation, prayer, prophecy, etc. Now, everyone should be encouraged to speak up and express their personal feelings to the Lord. As an example, he may be instructed to tell you how wonderful he is; how wonderful He is, how much they love Him; how you depend on Him and without Him you can do nothing. If you don’t know what to say, follow the words of the worship leader, or you can prepare a start of time by reading the Psalms of one of the most famous worship leaders of all time: King David. He writes some of the words, statements, and songs that King David, the shepherd, the warrior, or the servant, used to worship and magnify the Lord. He may just want to read words of expression to God, right out of the Bible. The purpose of this is to put your mind on spiritual things and in touch with God. In general worship, the Holy Spirit will respond when we sing from our hearts, songs to God and Jesus, not songs about them. It is very important that we sing to Him in praise and worship, and not about Him. This will bring His presence into a room faster than anything else. We see this when David sang and played his harp before King Saul. The anointed music brought the presence of God and drove evil spirits away from Saul’s presence. David was a minstrel and this is the work of a minstrel.
- During this time of corporate praise and worship, the anointing of the Holy Spirit will begin to rest on one person in the group (who may or may not be the praise and worship leader). Whoever the anointing falls on, that person should take the lead in continuing to praise and worship, leading the group as far as possible into the Spirit of unity. The goal is for everyone to participate. an agreement. The leader may change from one person to another, during the course of the general praise and worship, or it may be one person throughout the time who takes the initiative and leads the group into action. the spirit of unity. All this is done in unity… decently… and in order and without confusion.
- When the group has moved from the carnal or carnal realm to the spiritual realm, everyone will be in one accord and should feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Again, this sense of His presence occurs through personal praise and adoration, telling the Lord how much you love Him: usually simply praising Him with personal words of love, gratitude, and admiration, or singing songs to Him and not songs about Him. Him. One by one, as the group feels the presence of the Holy Spirit, that is when pure praise and worship begins to take place, and the presence of the Holy Spirit becomes stronger and stronger. At this time more and more people will begin to feel his presence.
- Once the group is in an agreement, pure praise and worship now goes up to the throne of God – to God the Father. In John 4:23-24 Jesus said: “The hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is Spirit; and those who worship him must in spirit and in truth worship.” Hopefully, everyone in the group is now feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit on some level. Pure praise and worship is now moving forward. The presence of God/Holy Spirit should be strong at this point. This level of praise and worship will continue until the Holy Spirit begins to move on the worship leader, or minister, to move from corporate praise and worship to another direction in the now Spirit-filled service. At this time, one person in the group , the pastor, apostle, elder, prophet, evangelist, teacher, musician, etc., must be anointed to take the initiative and begin to flow in the Spirit through praise, worship, singing, prayer or some other continuous manifestation of the Spirit.
- When the group is unanimous is when the presence of the Holy Spirit is strongest. Thus, the greater the unity in the group, the stronger the presence of God the Holy Spirit. The more divided the group; weaker the presence of the Holy Spirit. If there is a lot of bitterness and discord among the group, it is very unlikely that you will feel his presence in a tangible way.
- When the presence of the Holy Spirit is strong in a group, and almost everyone feels the presence of God; He begins to search the hearts of the people for faith. When He finds faith, He will begin to move on the person with faith to ask God for whatever is on his heart. That person or persons will begin to feel the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit. The stronger the faith of the group, the greater the manifestation of the Holy Spirit both corporately and individually. As the Holy Spirit begins to personally minister to those in the service, there may be manifestations of joy, shouting, dancing, crying, kneeling in worship, etc. If there is collective faith for a certain need, the Holy Spirit will begin to inspire someone anointed to minister in that area. The Holy Spirit can begin to move on a person or persons in the group, depending on his individual anointings (ability). That’s when one or more of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit can begin to operate: The gifts of divers tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy; the gifts of the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the discerning of spirits; the gifts of faith, working miracles and healings can begin to manifest. These are the nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11).
- The Holy Spirit is manifested through the nine gifts of the Spirit according to the knowledge and maturity level of the believers present. If pure faith and dependence on God alone is demonstrated, He will work miracles regardless of the believers’ maturity and knowledge. He is prevented from the greatest manifestations if there is disbelief and doubt in the group. The greater the doubt and unbelief, the less it will manifest. The more faith and knowledge of God’s Word are present, the greater will be the manifestation of His Spirit and Presence, and the greater will be the signs, wonders, miracles, and answers to prayer.
- Respond quickly to praise and worship that exalts Jesus Christ; and particularly to anointed music that is played and sung to glorify God and not the one who sings or plays the instruments.
There are too many services in the church where the presence of the Holy Spirit is not welcomed or understood. As believers in Christ, we should welcome his presence among us; After all, Jesus said that he would not leave us here without comfort, but that he would send the Holy Spirit to carry on his work after he ascended to heaven.
