If you were raised in a Baptist church like me then the Holy Spirit is or was a stranger or at least a distant relative in your life. I’ve read the book by Francis Chan about the Holy Spirit being forgotten and it’s true. But after reading that book, I still wasn’t sure how to experience the Holy Spirit or even what it looked like to really hear from God in a real way.
I read Acts 2:2-4 that says, "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
I want that to happen to me. And after experiencing the Holy Spirit, in all of His glory, for the first time there was no turning back. The experience first happened at training camp for the World Race. The Holy Spirit has since been ever more abundant in my daily life before the Race, while on the Race and will be for the rest of my life.
I see Him now.
Now before this I had been to a few churches were they spoke in tongues, ran around the church because they were “filled with the Spirit” and to a church where the pastor put his hand on someone’s head and they fell to the ground.
It freaked me out.
Bunch of crazies is what they are.
Sometimes I am still freaked out by what I experience when the Holy Spirit comes upon me.
First of all, I was laughing at the people running around the building. Wondering what the heck they were doing and why they thought they needed to run around the building. Actually, I still don’t understand that at all.
Speaking in tongues was just weird; I had never heard anyone speak that way before. It sounded like a bunch of gibberish and it got a little too loud for me. I liked church to be quiet, reserved. There have been a few times when I have seen pastor’s lay hands on people and they drop to the ground. The first time I saw it as a little kid, I thought to myself… They must be acting. They have to be playing around, how is this even possible.
I tell you all this to let you know, I too, thought the Holy Spirit was a little freaking weird. And I struggled with why anyone would want to go to a church like this or if that was even a part of Christianity.
Are Spirit filled Christians too radical?
That’s a question I have asked myself.
Now, I find myself amongst their ranks. Wholeheartedly seeking Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit in a new way and the Christianity I was living before wasn’t my lifestyle, it was my religion. I seek new attributes of God’s character, learn from the ways Jesus spent time with His Father and the ways the Holy Spirit wants to use me to do things that are supernatural.
I have the gift of prophecy, tongues, and healing.
Each of these gifts are supernatural. They are unexplainable, yet they are a part of our daily Christian lives. They are essential to our churches, our friendships and our intimate relationship with the Father.
I'll be uploading part two in the 17th!
