J. Lee Grady has an article which lists 9 bad habits that we really should reconsider. I have experienced every one of these one time or another and it is a matter of degree in each case.

Anything that is a natural response to the Holy Spirit is one thing but when some of our actions become ‘expected’ and part of an act or when we attempt to re-create something that was a blessing at some conference or another is when we enter the territory that Grady is talking about here. It is the traditional ‘formulas’ that actual sap the strength of the Holy Spirit and drive it right out of the room.

“9 Bad Charismatic Habits We Need to Break” (Link NLA):

1. The body slam.

2. The courtesy drop.

3. The song that never ends.

4. The amateur flag corp.

5. The wannabe telethon offering.

6. The sermon with seven endings.

7. The praise-a-go-go dancers.

8. The ear-shattering amp.

9. The “jump-start” glossalalia.

I have experienced this many times in churches which don’t even believe in the ‘gifts’ so it may be an American pastoral problem in general.

Also I have been at a service where there was a ‘song that never ends’ and no one really wanted it to since the Spirit was really in it. I have also endured what Grady is talking about which is was a ‘formula’ trying to make something happen that the Holy Spirit really isn’t in.

The one listed here that has always bothered me the most is the ‘jump-start’ on tongues. Personally that was tried on me and I didn’t get it then but latter one morning when I tried to order breakfast at a restaurant. So much for my highly educated respectability. I laugh every time I think about how I struggled that morning to order my eggs and sausage.