When the Holy Spirit moves.

[baby blue]

What would you say are signs of the Holy Spirit moving in a person's life?

I know a few; conviction of sin, leading to Godly sorrow, leading to repentance, for one.
Speaking in tongues is a well known phenomenon.

Would you agree that crying in church, is a sign of the Holy Spirit touching a person's heart?

For the pastors among you, if you saw someone crying during a service what would you think.
Is this a good sign, or a sign that the crying person is far away from God and full of sin. Is this a sign of a new conversion, or a cleansing by God's Spirit.

[Reformed Baptist]

Crying, can be the result of many feelings and emotions. Pain, grief, joy, laughter these all lead to tears for some. If I saw someone crying in the service I would seek to speak to them afterwards, or get my wife to (depending who it is!) and take it from there, but I would predetermine the caus eof the tears, perhaps they came in to service filled with grief over a recent bereavement. As christianity is not about feelings and emotions, we just cannot judge the moving of the Holy Spirit by feelings and emotions alone. Actually all visual signs can mislead if taken at face value.

[grahame]

Crying, can be the result of many feelings and emotions. Pain, grief, joy, laughter these all lead to tears for some. If I saw someone crying in the service I would seek to speak to them afterwards, or get my wife to (depending who it is!) and take it from there, but I would predetermine the caus eof the tears, perhaps they came in to service filled with grief over a recent bereavement. As christianity is not about feelings and emotions, we just cannot judge the moving of the Holy Spirit by feelings and emotions alone. Actually all visual signs can mislead if taken at face value.

I would agree with that. I remember I was in an evening service once and suddenly this man got up off the floor and staggered out of the church holding his head. I was concerned and wondered if he had just had a spiritual experience.
After the service I found out the real reason for his actions. He had fallen asleep during the sermon and fell off his chair. The reason he rushed out was because he was very embarrassed.

I've seen people cry in church. I remember one man was someone where my friend worked. He was a very vocal unbeliever. One night my friend took him to an evangelistic meeting. After the service this man seemed to be very moved at the message and shouted out to my friend, "Alan. He's through". Meaning that the counsellor after the service had at last reached him.

The next day my friend went to work and mentioned the "conversion" of this man to the rest of the work team.
They asked him what he meant. For they told him that the man was out the back still joking and swearing as he usually is. The man never again spoke to my friend. So you can see that feelings alone can be very deceiving.