Lynne Little Ministries - Higher Realm

Spirit's Call: Unveiling the Holy Spirit's Ministry

• Lynne Little

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Why is the Holy Spirit so often overlooked in Christian circles? Though equal with the Father and Son in the Trinity, this divine Person remains mysterious to many believers today.

My spiritual journey began with inexplicable childhood encounters—moments when an unmistakable Presence would wash over me like liquid love. These experiences crystallized during Katherine Kuhlman's healing services in Pittsburgh, where I witnessed extraordinary worship and fell "under the power" without being touched. That moment changed everything, launching me on a quest to understand who was behind these encounters.

The search led through Young Life meetings to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement and eventually to an Assembly of God church where I discovered the biblical connection between the Holy Spirit and power. We watched in amazement as fellow high school students experienced conversion, healing, and deliverance from addictions—all through the Holy Spirit's work, always glorifying Jesus Christ.

Church tradition frequently diminishes the Holy Spirit's ongoing role, suggesting the miraculous elements of faith were merely for launching the early church. This perspective unintentionally portrays Him as less important, contradicting both scripture and experience. The truth? He remains fully active today, empowering believers just as in the book of Acts.

Join me on this journey of discovery as we explore the character, roles and present-day ministry of our wonderful friend, the Holy Spirit. Have you had an encounter with Him? I'd love to hear your story in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe for the next episodes in this illuminating series.

Lynne Little:

You are listening to Higher Realm with Lynne Little. Our program highlights biblical strategies for moving through life's difficulties and finding your path to healing. We tackle issues particular to those who have experienced painful loss in any form. Lynne is the founder and president of Lynne Little Ministries and the author of "Missing Lisa, apparent Grieves and Finding God in Death and Life A Passage Through Grief. Now here's Lynne.

Lynne Little:

Hello and welcome. Today is the first episode in a series of conversations about the present-day ministry of a very important member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Word of God describes the Trinity as the three facets of God that nevertheless present in one entity known as God. The members, of course, are the Father, Jesus, the Son and the Spirit of God, also known as the Holy Spirit. As believers, we're taught many things about the characters and the roles of both our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our Savior. The revelations afford us tremendous access to all the rights and privileges presented to us from God through his Word, beginning with our salvation through the death and resurrection of his Son, to hope in our daily lives and also to the assurance of a secure hereafter. Although the Church has barely scratched the surface of understanding the matchless riches found in God, there is a decided concentration of focus on the Father and the Son members of the Trinity. Yet there remains the third member whose character and work is often overlooked, and that is, of course, the Holy Spirit. The subject of the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood in the church. Although he is a person, he is often ignored, sometimes maligned and even disrespected in these same circles. In the next few weeks, I hope to right this wrong and present information that will clarify the present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit. My aim is to set the record straight about who He is, what He does and what role or roles He fulfills in the individual, the church and even in world affairs. I don't mean to suggest in the least that the Holy Spirit's ministrations are only for the present day, because we will see, as we examine the scriptures, that His presence has always been there, because He is very much God, the very Spirit of God himself. He is as much God as Jesus and the Father.

Lynne Little:

What launched my search into this topic were encounters with the Holy Spirit that occurred in my childhood and for which, at the time, I had no meaningful frame of reference to explain. These encounters with the wonderful Holy Spirit took place after I had become a Christian, at age seven. I recount these experiences in part in my book Finding God in Death and Life, a Passage Through Grief, and I quote here. "Once in a while, a flash of recognition or an insight of sorts that reminded me of my very first steps of faith would come to me unannounced. Such is the time when, on a road trip, our family stopped at a miniature golf course structured like a village scene, complete with tiny chapel. As I stood behind the child-sized pulpit pretending to preach, there came an impression of almost inexpressible longing for something or someone beyond myself. Such feelings came to me at seemingly random moments throughout my young life, during times of joy or poignant sorrow, and it was during those times that, in an inexorable sense that I was not alone would wash over me, and an understanding that a presence was near, though not quite within my reach, end quote. Now, these moments were significant to me because I knew that there was a person behind those moments, and to a sensitive child they made an indelible impression. Other very significant encounters with the Holy Spirit happened at a series of Katherine Kuhlman meetings in downtown Pittsburgh.

Lynne Little:

Now, catherine Kuhlman was a bit of a Pittsburgh institution. She had a ministry that spanned the globe but her headquarters were located in Pittsburgh and she frequently held meetings at the *First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. (I incorrectly stated Carnegie Hall in the podcast) People referred to her as a faith healer, since many outstanding and very well-documented healing miracles occurred under her ministry. But she disliked the faith healer moniker because she always saw herself primarily as an evangelist. The meetings were characterized by tremendous times of worship and, in that atmosphere of corporate faith, miracles occurred which, as is their nature, had no natural explanation. Many of these miracles were witnessed and documented by the medical doctors and clergy of all faiths who were invited to sit on the platform. What distinguished her services from many others was the fact that she purposefully and decidedly invoked the presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit by name in every single one of her meetings. In every single one of her meetings, she addressed the Holy Spirit in a very personal way, still not commonly done in most churches. In her sermons and teachings, as well as her radio and TV broadcasts and books, she made it clear that the Holy Spirit was welcome.

Lynne Little:

In any case, my grandmother attended these services and she began to take me with her. She had given me two books of Ms Kuhlman's and saw their effect on me. I was an early reader, reading everything I could get my hands on, and these books were captivating. I remember lying on my grandmother's sofa reading the accounts of divine healing in the books. I Believe in Miracles and God Can Do it Again. As I read testimony after testimony of the love and power of God, I cried until tears saturated my ears. I could hardly dare believe that God could be that good, Recognizing the hunger for God in this little girl. My grandmother took me to the meetings more than once and I was absolutely enthralled by what I saw there.

Lynne Little:

To begin with, there were lines that went all the way around the block. Hundreds and hundreds of people came hours early to get a seat, some camped at the door overnight. Every kind of situation was represented there. It was a mind-boggling stream of hurting humanity. People came on crutches and in wheelchairs, walking assisted by family and friends. Ambulance drivers brought the sick on stretchers to a side room where they could just enjoy the service while lying there undisturbed. I remember thinking my legs would never hold me the length of time we had to wait. But when the doors finally opened, people surged in, found their seats and the worship began. To this day I have never been in a service with such indescribable worship. It was so passionate and so beautiful. It lifted you out of your seat.

Lynne Little:

Choir members from many churches participated in these services. There were professional musicians in these services. There were professional musicians, beautiful piano medleys, soloists and the singing, oh the singing. It went on for a long time, longer than any service I'd ever been to. And yet for a young child who would tend to be restless? It seemed like only moments. Who would tend to be restless? It seemed like only moments. The time just flew by. Sometimes a reverential hush would fall upon the crowd and no one wanted to move or speak. It seems that even babies and young toddlers brought to the meetings for healings barely cried out. We sat virtually motionless, just basking in the presence of God. It was really quite something.

Lynne Little:

Well, one day, as my grandmother and I were seated in the middle of the auditorium, ms Kuhlman came off the platform and started down the aisle that was closest to us. Sensing her moment, my grandmother took me by the hand and pulled me across a row of seated congregants until we reached the aisle. As we stood in the aisle alone, I was terribly embarrassed, thinking the ushers would be sent to throw us out for interrupting the service. To this day, I don't know why she did what she did. I had health issues as a child. Maybe my grandmother wanted me to be well, or she may have been hoping for the healing of her heart trouble, or perhaps she just wanted to have a touch from God trouble, or perhaps she just wanted to have a touch from God. What she could not have known is the effect that it would have on me for the rest of my life.

Lynne Little:

Miss Kuhlman saw us standing there. I mean she couldn't miss us. We were the only ones in the aisle. Usher scrambled to reach us and immediately I thought uh-oh. But she stood stock still, perhaps 200 feet away, pointed to us and said one word Jesus At that name. Both grandmother and I were hit with a wave of warmth and power and we fell backwards into the usher's arms. Katherine Kuhlman hadn't even touched us. The ushers gently lowered us to the floor where we lay enveloped in this extraordinary warmth. It felt like being immersed in a tub of liquid love. We were powerless to get up and lay motionless for some time until the ushers picked us up and set us on our feet. We wobbly returned to our seats, still basking in a warm glow.

Lynne Little:

I had no idea what had happened and later learned that old-timers called that falling under the power. But I did know this. I came off, that floor changed. It was unmistakably God and unmistakably good, and so began a search to solve the mystery of this presence, a search that continued through early adolescence and into young adulthood. It wasn't that I was necessarily seeking to recapture the sensations I experienced, but I needed to understand who or what was behind them. Later, my search for the truth led me to attend Young Life Evangelistic meetings, which resulted in my rededicating my life to Christ, along with many of my friends.

Lynne Little:

But soon I began to hear about a movement that sounded very much like what I had experienced under the ministry of Katherine Kuhlman. The movement was known as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Catholics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh who had attended a Protestant worship service claimed to have encountered the Holy Spirit through an experience they called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Although the movement took hold in the Catholic Church, it grew to be very widely ecumenical and swept through major Christian denominations, through people who had this shared understanding of the Holy Spirit. Well, I wanted to know more.

Lynne Little:

So my newly born-again friends and I started a Bible study and we began to search the scriptures to understand this phenomenon. We wanted a faith that was alive, not dry as dust. We started to attend an Assembly of God church where they taught that the Holy Spirit was still moving in this age, just like in the book of Acts. It was a very different vibe from the Methodist church where I had been raised. The worship was ebullient and enthusiastic. People prayed and testified with great passion and joy. They spoke of miracles, believed in divine healing and for the first time I heard them speaking in a strange language, although I understood very little of this. The adage about the slippery creek bank held as one friend after another developed a hunger for a deeper walk with God.

Lynne Little:

Soon we began to explore the issue of what was termed the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We knew there was a definite connection between power and the Holy Spirit because of the words of Jesus to his disciples. He said that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. As documented in the Book of Acts, the early church moved in a dimension of power that turned the known world upside down. We observed the Book of Acts in practice when many students in our high school came to Christ and were water baptized. Some received divine healing, while others were delivered from drugs and alcohol.

Lynne Little:

The Holy Spirit within the charismatic movement was the catalyst for these dramatic happenings. It's important to point out that nothing and no one in this movement ever diminished or de-emphasized the Son of God. Everything that happened was done in the name of Jesus and for his glory, in keeping with the manner in which Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to his followers. He had this to say in John 16: 14, "he, the Holy Spirit, will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you Now.

Lynne Little:

Church tradition tends to de-emphasize the fact that the Holy Spirit is fully God. They often skip over the book of Acts, claiming that the day of miracles has passed away, or that God had initially moved in this manner to jumpstart the church, and now it's not necessary. Without meaning to, those who believe this seem to be promoting the incorrect premise that the Holy Spirit is a less important person of the Trinity, and nothing could be further from the truth. Well, there's more to tell of my journey, but I will leave that until next time. In the coming weeks, we'll explore this wonderful person of the Holy Spirit in more depth, and he is, first and foremost, though, a wonderful friend to those who have received Christ as their Savior. Have you made that commitment yet?

Lynne Little:

Jesus was sent to the earth to be a bridge from sinful man to a holy God. He bore our sins on the cross and paid the price for us to be made brand new. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 53: 6, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, but the Lord has laid on him, jesus, the iniquity of us all.

Lynne Little:

Romans 10:9- 10 reads If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Would you like to pray with me right now to have Jesus as your Lord? Just repeat this prayer and mean it in sincerity Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive my sins, come into my life and make me brand new. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Help me live for you for the rest of this life. In your name, I pray Amen. If you prayed that prayer, email us lynnlittleministries at gmailcom. Until next time, God bless you.

Lynne Little:

Thank you so much for listening. Lynne Little Ministries is a 501c3 whose mission is to assist those who have suffered loss and to help them discover hope, peace and restoration. For books, resources or to make a tax-deductible donation go to lynnelittleorg.