Charismatics, We Need More Than Vibes

Fear not, Holy Spirit won't get chased off if you engage your brain.

Paul at the Areopagus of Athens

Date nights did not save my marriage. Engaging in the struggle did.

Don't get me wrong, I love date night with my wife, and we try to do it often. But the reason our marriage has lasted 25 years isn’t just happy hours and Taco Tuesday, it’s because we've walked through the fire together. We've intentionally worked hard at knowing ourselves and each other, making room in our lives for our partner.

It’s the struggles that transformed our relationship. We didn’t plan any of these struggles. We didn’t lay on the ground with soft worship in the background letting our imaginations guide us into times of trials that would strengthen our relationship. When we were at our wits end, we didn’t just argue till someone won. We went to marriage counseling and tried to gain a new understanding of each other.

It wasn’t ‘vibes’ that healed our marriage. It wasn’t more faith. It was engaging our brains, getting real with ourselves, and willingly going through the pain of marriage counseling to get real breakthrough.

This same principle of engaging our minds and facing hard truths applies directly to the Charismatic church today. If we aren’t continuing to wrestle with our faith and how it applies to the world around us, we aren’t growing.

The Charismatic Church Today: A Call to Depth

Let’s be honest, in many of our circles, it feels like we’ve traded lasting life change for 'vibes.' We’re told what to declare, what to believe, how to feel but rarely how to think. We love the rush of prophesying on a microphone in intercession. We don’t love figuring out what Jeremiah or Ezekiel were talking about when they wrote those verses we are claiming.

This is in part due to the proliferation of magical thinking in Charismatic churches but just as much the lack of education in many Charismatic ministers. So many either don’t know, or don’t care to know how to rightly divide the word of truth.

In other words, they don’t wrestle with the Text.

I love our vibrant worship, our passionate prayers, our miraculous testimonies. It’s who we are. But I hate how we play fast and loose with the Bible. I hate how we chase after pastors who claim to have the formula to get what we truly desire. I hate how we constantly see our apostles and prophets exposed as nowhere near worthy of those titles.

I especially hate that to question clear biblical error is painted as a lack of faith, or gossip, or the absence of revelation. We’re teaching people what to think, not how to think and that is half way to being a cult.

An Example of How the Holy Spirit Leads My Studies

I read widely but this is not an academic exercise. I am not interested in being right. I am desperate to encounter the living God and help others do the same. And the more language I have for the human condition, the easier it is for Holy Spirit to guide me in addressing how those needs are met in Jesus.

Let me give you an example.

Recently I have felt led to study ethics. Of course I studied ethics in Seminary with a focus on Bonhoeffer and others. But I felt the need to read more widely. I ordered a stack of textbooks online from used bookstores and went to town. I read broadly but began to focus on Immanuel Kant and his writings on moral philosophy.

Kant’s moral philosophy is grounded in the idea that morality comes from reason, not from consequences or emotions. He taught that an action is morally right if it is done out of duty and follows a universal moral law, which he called the categorical imperative. Basically, an action is morally right only if you can honestly and consistently wish that everyone would do it under similar circumstances. Central to Kant’s ethics is the conviction that every person possesses inherent dignity and autonomy, meaning we must always treat individuals as valuable in themselves, never merely as tools to achieve our goals.

Sound like anyone you know?

As I was diving deeply in this I began to study Micah with my discipleship group. Guess what? Same theme a couple thousand years apart.

Micah 6:8: 'He has told you, mortal one, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'

Kant, the ethicist, argued against using people as a means to some other end. Micah rebuked exploiting others for personal gain. It was the same truth, centuries apart.

Holy Spirit was leading me as much in my studies as when I have a word of knowledge in a Sunday service.

The Transformative Power of Intellectual Engagement

This is not easy reading for me. I have to read it slowly. I have to struggle through it. I have to read commentaries to understand the context and setting, what came before that the writers are interacting with, what they were refuting, what they were endorsing.

But wrestling with Micah and Kant, I was getting language for what God was birthing in my heart.

Like my marriage, I had to work hard to make room for something I didn’t already know.

To truly encounter God, we must allow Holy Spirit to shape our minds, our character, and our intellect.

This balance? It leads to genuine, lasting power. It transforms us into people who don’t just feel deeply, but think clearly, love authentically, and live faithfully. This is what a 21st Century Charismatic will look like.

A minister who has both the Spiritual and intellectual formation to understand and move with Holy Spirit.

Suggestions for Moving Toward Genuine Formation

If you have been discipled mostly by books published by Destiny Image, let me suggest a few things that will actually help you grow intellectually while you deepen your faith:

1. Study the Bible Intentionally. Don’t just read, study. Choose one book of the Bible and read it slowly with a good commentary. Take notes, reflect, and pray about what you’re learning. Let Scripture and trusted resources challenge and change your thinking. You can tell when people don’t wrestle with the text. They preach like they already know everything and never talk about what they learn. Don’t be that guy/girl.

2. Preach Parts of the Bible You Don’t Know. In Leonard Sweet’s Giving Blood, he quotes his mother commenting on sermons where it was clear that the preacher did not wrestle with the text but instead was presenting their own beliefs. She would say, “There’s no blood on the altar this week.” She knew that the preacher did not contend to know both what the Bible means and what the Spirit is speaking. Force yourself to preach stuff that requires study.

3. Read Hard Things. Select a book or author who will push your understanding. It could be theology, philosophy, biblical studies, or spiritual formation. Don’t rush through it. Wrestle with the ideas, and allow yourself to be shaped by the struggle. If you aren’t wrestling, you aren’t learning.

4. Discuss and Reflect. Share your thoughts regularly with trusted friends or mentors. Engage in meaningful conversations that challenge your perspectives. Listen deeply, ask good questions, and be open to growth through community dialogue. Don’t have anyone who can be that person? That is a warning that you have surrounded yourself with people who don’t know any more than you. Change that today.

A Call to Balanced Pursuit

I am all for chasing 'vibes.' But vibes are fleeting and make for a terrible God. When we lean in and study to sharpen out thinking about God, this world and the Truth, we give Holy Spirit language to communicate the eternal truth of Christ. Let's pursue that kind of power. Let's pursue the Spirit with our minds and our hearts, and change the world.