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Athletes use a phrase to describe a phenomenon when it seems as though they can do no wrong; when all their shots are falling; when all their passes hit the receivers in the numbers; when all their pitches are strikes. They call it being “in the zone”. Athletes describe being in the zone as an experience in which they are hyper-focused and able to block out all distractions. When they’re in the zone it means that everything they do seems to be working. NBA legend Michael Jordan was famous for being in the zone. One time, in an NBA finals, seemingly every shot he took went in. There’s a famous video of him after he made his 6th 3 pointer in a row in the first half of a game where he smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “I can’t explain it. I’m in the zone.” I have often wondered what it must have felt like for Michael Jordan to be in that zone. I stink at basketball so I guess I’ll never know; perhaps none of us will ever know that feeling.
And yet when I read the Bible I see stories of people who did amazing things; they stood up to tyrants, they performed astounding acts of courage, they spoke in languages previously unknown to them; they displayed bold acts of love and compassion; they withstood temptations of the fiercest kind. And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31. They were in a zone; maybe not the same kind of zone as Michael Jordan, but a zone nonetheless; they were in a spiritual zone. And the way they got in that zone was something you and I have access to. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and this is a gift that is available to all of us, not simply the Michael Jordans of the world.
The Holy Spirit is the presence of God that fills us with a power to do things we simply cannot do on our own. It’s a power that cannot be explained; like Michael Jordan we can only shrug our shoulders as if to say, I can’t explain in but all of a sudden I find that I’m able to forgive people I previously thought were unforgivable; I can love people I once thought were unlovable; I can display acts of courage I previously thought impossible for people like me. This is a power that is available to all of us. This is a zone we can all live in. This morning and throughout this week, may we ask God for his Holy Spirit, his presence, to fill us and then step back and see what he does through us as we live in the zone.
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