As I entered training camp, I was nervous about what it was going to look like. I grew up in a conservative non-denominational church. Raised hands weren't all that uncommon, but I had never heard or learned anything about the charismatic aspects of prayer, worship, and life. Speaking in tongues, listening prayer, and "healings" were foreign concepts to me.
So before I arrived, I read about these spiritual gifts throughout the New Testament. I prayed for discernment, that I might be able to judge between what was of God and what was human fabrication.
Yet even after reading the Biblical accounts, when I arrived at training camp, and the worship music began, and people started singing, clapping, and dancing around me, I was a bit skeptical. Was there a point? Was it for attention? I had a hard time focusing and went to sleep that night uncomfortable and unsure if I had made a good decision.
However, the next day, our speaker, Ron Walborn, told us a story. He and a friend had heard that there were a lot of cool things happening at a certain church, so they decided to visit. Once the message was given, some church leaders began praying over the attendees – that they would be baptized in the Spirit. As they began to pray, those being prayed for would literally fall over as they became filled with the Spirit. Finally, they came to Ron and though they prayed and prayed and he wouldn't fall over. They continued for some time, trying to force him to fall, but he wouldn't, so they finally moved on to his friend. After they had prayed for a while, his friend fell over. Ron watched this happen and was curious, so as his friend lay there on the ground, he learned down and asked him if he had actually fallen in the "baptism of the Spirit". The friend admitted that he had just fallen because they were persistent and really wanted him to.
It was a "courtesy fall". He fell because everyone else was falling.
How often does this happen in our own churches because we've misconstrued what "Spirit-filled" means? Worship doesn't look the same for everyone because everyone is different. And if it does look uniform, then we're doing something terribly wrong.
Later that night, as we worshiped together, I experienced the most intimate time that I have ever had with my Savior; that place was drenched in His presence. As I took a moment and looked at the faces of the racers around me, some dancing, some fallen to their knees, some with hands held high, and some quietly swaying, I was captured by the beauty of my precious Father.
My heart nearly burst from the beauty, the simplicity, and the rightness of that moment.
Because, in that moment, church background – Pentecostal or Baptist, Catholic or Protestant, Charismatic or Conservative – didn't matter. In that moment, all that mattered was Jesus.
*Photo credit to Isa Caszatt
