Freedom Inside the River Banks
As Dayspring began to stop grieving Holy Spirit at the same time we were leaving old connections not knowing if/where we’d find new ones, God quickly began to give us divine appointments with new friends in His broader Church who had much longer experience embracing Holy Spirit. God used many of them to help coach and encourage us along the way.
One evening after a powerful worship and response time at a Flourish gathering with our new Evana Network, Dayspring’s staff lingered up front at the altar with Lloyd and Elaine, basking in the glow and talking together about what God had been up to that night.
None were more sweet and well-timed than meeting Lloyd and Elaine Hoover, bishops with Lancaster Mennonite Conference who had pastored their church through a similar journey from ignoring Holy Spirit to loving Him. Lloyd and Elaine taught and modeled worship, listening prayer, prophetic and apostolic giftings, the practical blessing of Jesus’ gifts in Ephesians 4, words of knowledge, and many of the things God had taught them about how He often walks church families into deeper walking with and in The Spirit.
As we often did, we began to ask them more about how to successfully walk Dayspring into growth with Holy Spirit without suffering as much divisiveness that some churches have gone through.
In that moment, Lloyd introduced us to the imagery of freedom inside the river banks as he explained some of the beauty and mystery of Holy Spirit much like Jesus did with Nicodemus. Lloyd said that following Holy Spirit is not like being in a pond or lake that lacks current. It is much more like a river; there is movement, there is flow. At times the current is casual and pleasant. At times it is roaring and feels more powerful and even a bit dangerous. But rivers have river banks to keep the water where it belongs. Holy Spirit provides freedom within the river banks.
Lloyd’s inspiration from Holy Spirit has stuck with Dayspring to the point of including this imagery in our Culture Statement. – [by Pastor Kent Miller]
