What happened in those situations where the manifestations were distasteful is that people almost started showing off. A couple is not going to have intimacy in front of everybody. It is as if people wanted to take the intimacy God had given them and show it off, as if they were saying, “Look at this! We’re spiritual.” I find that the more I know the Holy Spirit, the more I want to protect Him (His gifts, His ability, and His power) in a respectful, honoring way—not in a way that quenches Him. The Bible talks about quenching the Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21. Quenching the Spirit happens when you quench His power and His gifts. Don’t do that! But do honor Him. Don’t display Him as if He is some cheap influence or power.

Lisa: I want to say that we are asking and inviting God to do whatever He wants to do. I find that the Holy Spirit will sometimes do things in a way or at a time that might be inconvenient, but never with force, never to contrive, never annoying. It is never going to draw attention to people; it’s going to draw attention to God—and there is usually an atmosphere and a presence for it.

I was recently with a group of people from all different denominations. I heard some of them mocking the manifestations that I believe had been real at one time, and then maybe got carried forward in hopes that God would continue to bless what He blessed before. The function had gotten lost along the way, but the form had stayed, and these people were mocking it. We’re not mocking any of these manifestations. We want everything that the Holy Spirit has, but we want it to be in faith. We want it in decent order, and we want it to be accompanied by God’s presence.

Lisa: Is it possible for a person to really feel like they have a peace about something and it not be from God?

John: Yes. Absolutely. If you look at Ezekiel chapter fourteen, God talks about the people who come to Him with idols in their hearts. Now, what is an idol? New Testament idolatry is covetousness (see Colossians 3:5), incorrectly desiring something. People with idols in their hearts will even go to a prophetic person and say, “Please pray over me and speak the word of the Lord to me.” God said, “I’ll answer them according to the multitudes of idols in their heart” (see Ezekiel 14:4). When I go into God’s presence and ask for something, I have to make sure my heart is neutral. There have been times when I have not done this. Because my heart wasn’t neutral, I had peace that wasn’t from God, and it caused me a lot of sorrow.