We need both the fire of the Spirit and the light of the Word. Unfortunately, many believers and churches have made this an either-or rather than a both-and by tending to be either Spirit-centered or Word-centered. Power without sound teaching is vulnerable to shallowness and lack of discernment; doctrine without power is vulnerable to dryness and spiritual torpor. But when power and truth, deed and word, experience and explanation, manifestation and maturity, are combined in our personal and corporate lives, the Spirit is welcomed and Christ is glorified.
A balanced Spirit-filled spirituality seeks to unite the mind and the heart instead of setting them in opposition. When we love God with our minds and with our hearts, faith and feeling unite and mutually reinforce each other (see 1 Peter 1:8-9). The coldness and brutality of truth without love and the sentimentality and sloppiness of love without truth both fall short of Paul’s vision in Ephesians 4:15: “But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” An adequate theology of grace encompasses cultivation of the mind and formation of the heart; it affirms not only the intellect and the will, but also the dimension of intuitive and experiential apprehension. The body of Christ consists of believers who encounter the Holy Spirit in differing ways due to their unique temperaments and life experiences. All of us profit when we welcome the balance that this diversity offers.
Taken from Ken Boa's Handbook to Spiritual Growth.
