The Holy Spirit. Controversial topic, but one that I am absolutely fascinated about. He is my absolute favorite topic of conversation. This week has especially been a powerful week for me, encountering Him in new ways and growing deeper in my understanding of Him. While spending time in God’s word, I felt Him lead me to write to you exactly who I have found the Holy Spirit to be and how I have come to know Him.
First, let me start with a clarification. The Holy Spirit is God. He is not a “thing.” He is not a “powerful force.” He is not a “still, small voice.” He is not a “super-conscience.” He is God: the Almighty, the All-Knowing, etcetera ad infinitum. He operates WITH power. He can speak THROUGH a still, small voice. We all have to be careful not to mistake the “channel” for the Source.
Disclaimer: my story is completely unique to me and by no means is it a formula for authentic relationship with the Lord. That’s something we all must find on our own. However, He is still the same God for all of us. He just likes to personalize His encounters with us. His love is almost romantic in a way, and I mean this in the traditional meaning of the word (not the seductive connotation that it has adopted). By this, I mean that He approaches us full of wonder and mystery, always trying to “outdo” Himself in showing His love for us, always striving to make us realize just how uniquely loved by Him we are (because, after all, we are unique individuals).
Let me back up a minute.
January 26, 2010. That was the day that I first encountered the Holy Spirit for myself. Now I have mentioned in a previous blog post that I grew up attending a Pentecostal church, so you can well imagine what this might mean. My encounter with Him was explosive, as is the norm in that environment. I spoke in a language I had never even heard before and was filled with such an indescribable joy that I couldn’t contain my excitement. Even to this day, I have no words to describe that feeling. I would jump up and down, throw my hands up in the air and shout out a voice of praise to the Father. I didn’t care if I lost my voice, and I didn’t care how ridiculous I looked or sounded. All I cared about was worshiping Him and spending time in prayer.
Right about now, you are probably very skeptical and maybe even freaked out by my claim. “Andrew, are you serous? I kind of doubt that.” To which I ask, “What part of that is doubtful? That the Holy Spirit can operate that way or that He revealed Himself to me that way?” I’ve asked myself those questions a million times as well. But I tell you, as sure as my name is Andrew Galea, that encounter was a real one, and I am forever grateful. After that day, my life did a TOTAL 180. THAT was my saving moment. THAT was when Jesus became real to me. And it must have been a real conversion because even in the darkest times of my life (depression, loneliness, confusion), I have not been able to shake the absolute certainty that God is real.
I am BY NO MEANS an expert on this subject. Again, this is just my mind trying to make sense of these supernatural experiences. Still, what I have come to understand is that praying in tongues is the PUREST FORM of prayer. If it is authentic, there is no evil intention behind it because it does not come from us but from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26, ESV), thus giving our mouths the words to speak where our understanding (even of our own struggles) fails. This kind of prayer edifies your soul. Now if we know that the Holy Spirit is the very definition of purity, we know that He does not have any part in that which is evil. I could only ever experience this supernatural language when my heart and the Lord’s heart were one. Whenever I spoke in tongues, I felt “acceptable” to God (for lack of a better word). There is no place for doubt in our salvation or acceptance by God because you experience it full force. So in my “new-believer” mindset, I felt affirmed.
Side-note: I KNOW that we are only made acceptable in His sight because of the sacrifice of Jesus. He died once and for all, and it is by His justification of our lives that we can ever hope to approach the Father. This is rational confirmation of our salvation. But we are part irrational beings, meaning that sometimes our FEELINGS and our KNOWLEDGE do not always align. So for me, speaking in tongues was an irrational confirmation, one that only me, myself, and I could experience in that moment.
“Ok. So is this something that all of us have to experience in order to be saved?” I don’t think so.
*Record scratch*
Oooooh. I can tell that some people do not agree with me on this (as if this whole post wasn’t controversial enough). This is a HUGE topic of debate within the body of Christ (regardless of denomination), and I have heard arguments for many sides. I could probably expound upon why EXACTLY I believe it isn’t a requirement for salvation, but I will just leave it at this: who can say without a shadow of a doubt that they fully understand the way that God thinks and works? Can’t He reveal Himself in many different ways? If someone does not speak in tongues but speaks a prophetic word, does this disqualify them from the saving grace of Jesus? Surely not. The Holy Spirit is GOD. When has humanity ever been able to accurately explain God or the way that He works? Never.
Personally, I believe God ALLOWED me to experience this expression of the Holy Spirit not because it was truly necessary for my salvation. I think He revealed Himself in that way because that was what I “needed” and expected. What a loving God we have, One that takes our preferences into consideration. Still, He works through our weakness and lack of understanding of Him, bringing us ultimately into a deeper understanding of Him and relationship with Him. I’m so thankful for this experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything, but I am glad to know that God is approachable by anyone, and the gift of the Holy Spirit (literally God dwelling inside us and empowering us to do the impossible, not just the good) is FREE and FOR EVERYONE. If nothing else, always remember this: God reveals another aspect of Himself to us when He believes we are most ready to receive it and/or have the greatest need for such understanding.
After that fateful day in January, I began to experience God in ways I had not even imagined possible. One such way was through (what I believe to be) visions. I would experience “strong feelings” about something or someone, often times accompanied by an image. For example, I once “felt” a green beam of light connecting me to another person, and with that, I had to strong urge to tell them that God had a really unique purpose for their lives. Those “visions” have happened several times throughout my life, with increased frequency in the last few months. A few times, I have “felt” a specific word pop up in my mind, often without any real explanation (for example, the word “silence”). When I spoke up and said these words to the individual(s) in mind, I was met with surprise that I had used that specific word, because that exact word happened to be pressed upon their own hearts as well.
Through these experiences, I have realized that God chooses to speak through us whenever we are obedient to follow through with the direction that the Holy Spirit gives us. He can speak through you, or He can speak through someone else. He can always find another way, but it brings Him great joy to manifest His power through you. He works despite our weaknesses and unworthiness, and that just makes it all the more powerful!
One of the most “difficult to explain” ways I believe I have encountered God was through listening prayer. This is something I was unfamiliar with before this year, but it was instrumental in my eventual decision to apply for the World Race. It can be complicated to explain, but at its core, listening prayer is intentionally meditating on the Lord until He speaks something to you. Very “Quaker-like,” I know. But it makes sense. Prayer is how we communicate with Him. Communication in any relationship works two-ways, and your relationship with the Father is not different. Listening prayer is us consciously giving God an opportunity to answer.
When I began this journey, one of the first questions I asked Him was, “God, what do you have to say about me?” At first, I didn’t really hear anything, but the next morning, when I woke up, my mind was being flooded with words. I started to write them down, not knowing what word was going to come next. It was like my mind was a funnel: as soon as I had a thought, it came right out. I had no time to process it. I was filled with a sense of importance, like the words that were coming were too important to NOT write down (and again, my mind was completely blank of any independent thought). That probably sounds like a scary thing: to be so out of control, like a spectator in your own mind. But let me tell you, the end result was IN.CRE.DI.BLE. The words I received, after I read back over them, were some of the most encouraging words I could have ever received from anyone. They spoke specifically into my life, and often times in ways I had NEVER thought of before. Really unique. Really encouraging. Really NEW.
All the glory to God for all of this! I am so blessed to have witnessed Him at work, whether through others or through myself. The channel may be different, but the message is the same: “Our God is in control. Steadfast, unmovable. Nothing’s impossible for our God reigns.”
The truth is, regardless of where you stand on the workings of the Holy Spirit, all of us (myself included) have the inclination to fall into the trap of thinking that we are the “chosen one” and that everyone else is wrong in their thinking. Really, it’s kind of similar to the Pharisee way of thinking. They thought they knew how the Messiah would come to earth. They thought they knew better than Jesus about what the heart of God was really like. They thought they knew how God operated. But when Jesus came to earth, He shook everything up. Jesus did not come how people thought He would. He worked with the marginalized in society. He healed people on the Sabbath. Who’s to say He doesn’t STILL work in ways contrary to our logic and traditions in society? God does not think like we do, so He does not behave like we do. His logic far surpasses our own, so we (in our limited knowledge of the world) should not speak for Him but instead let Him do the speaking.
Ultimately, what I want us all to consider is that there are an infinite number of aspects of God that we may not have ever encountered before. There may even be something none of us have ever encountered. Let’s all stop limiting God by only “allowing” Him to operate in ways we are comfortable/familiar with. God can operate in any way that He chooses, and none of us should try to decide how God can or should reveal Himself to humanity.
I pray this encourages your spirit just as much as writing these thoughts out has encouraged mine. In all things, be blessed!
AG
