Reflecting on India and what all happened there one thing stands out to me, the Holy Spirit. I have been diving into researching what being baptized in the Holy Spirit means. The church I grew up in spoke of the Holy Spirit being apart of the trilogy of God, but nothing else. So after my team mates had been talking about it and we were reading through Acts I got curious. I watched a few pod casts, read through Acts some more, and talked with my team mates.
A female staff member at Covenant Worship (Bekah), and her friend did a Holy Spirit led worship with us. At the end they opened the floor up for prayer, I prayed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Later that evening I was talking with Becca on my team about it and I realized that I had already received it. I had been praying for it all week, but I already had it. I had an amazing encounter with God at training camp for the World Race and was a different person after that. The Word started coming to life; it was no longer just words on pages, I could see God in them. I could find Him in every story.
Taking part in slum ministry in India, where we literally walked in and prayed for people we had never met seemed scary to me. However, words just started to pour out of me. They are not my own.
Our next to last slum ministry we were sitting in one of the homes on the floor and I prayed for one women, the word alcoholism popped into my head, so I prayed that who ever in her family or anyone else in the room who was suffering with that be released from it. The team finished praying for her and another women raised her hand to received prayer. She talked to our translator and told him that her husband was a drunk and she wanted him to be released from that. FREAKY!
A few days later, squad mate was going through a really hard time. She was thinking about going home and was just so down and out. A group of us prayed over her and a dandelion popped into my head that then turned into a flower. Then a caterpillar crawling on the ground that turned into a butterfly flying above a city came to mind. The caterpillar is of the world and of flesh and the butterfly was made new in Christ and flies above the world of flesh, closer to Heaven. I told her she was the caterpillar that turned into the butterfly flying closer to Heaven. After we finished praying for her she pulled me aside. She told me that butterflies had been prophesied over her many times. I then told her I had a wildflower at first, but then it changed into the butterfly picture. She looked at me with shock in her eyes and told me that she had been called Wildflower by many in her life and church family for years. It was then that I realized that the Holy Spirit was truly inside of me and that He was directing me words and thoughts. He was giving me pictures for people who needed them. He was giving me situations people were walking in. Amazing is an understatement!
I can honestly say that I am so filled up right now! I am filled with Christ and His Spirit! I am so full of joy and so blessed and honored to be holding such a precious gift. I pray that my heart will forever be a delightful dwelling place for the Lord. I strive to be the voice for God. I want my mouth to be His mouth. The world needs to hear from Him and we are the vessels that get to be the body for Him, the hands, the feet, the mouths.
Month 1 of the World Race I received the Holy Spirit. My prayer life took off, my desire to be in the Word flourished, and my love for God and His people grew tremendously. If all this happened in month 1 of the race there is no telling what else is to come. I don’t plan on being the same person that I was just a short month and half ago when I get home and I am ok with that. The person God has always seen me as is taking shape and it is beautiful and perfect and I am willing to let Him mold me in any way He pleases.
“Holy Spirit you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.”
