Forgive me for the length of this blog post but I cannot help but write it as long as it is. I know that if you take a few minutes to read the whole thing that you will not regret that you did.
Have you ever racked your brain over a riddle? You know when you think about it and think about it and think about it, and then finally you get the answer? You remember that feeling of realization, right? The feeling of knowing the truth about the riddle and that if you heard it ever again that you will know the answer. You know what I am talking about. Well that’s what The World Race training camp was like for me.
During training camp many wonderful things took place. I was able to meet my squad, I was able to meet my team (the 7 people I will be travelling with), I was able to eat different foods and sleep in crazy situations (no bathrooms, losing our tents, etc.), I was able to laugh and have fun, and I was able to learn about what I will be doing next year. All of these things are great but the most important thing that I was able to experience was to feel the power of the Holy Spirit like never before.
My Squad
May 20th, 2013 will go down as one of the most impactful days I have ever experienced. That night I heard a talk by one of the speakers about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Well this seemingly was not new to me because I have learned all about how the Spirit gives us the power to live a holy life and to overcome sin and temptation that comes against us.
All of these things are true but the reality is that until the night of the 20th there was an aspect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I was missing out on.
That night the speaker told us how the Spirit comes in power and gives us authority to heal, give prophecy, speak in tongues, as well as do the things that I already mentioned.
I would be lying though if I did not say I was not skeptical about what this man was preaching. I know the scriptures say that healing is real and that the Lord gives us prophecies but I thought that for whatever reason the Spirit did not do those things in and through us anymore. I could not acknowledge the power and the authority of the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in us.
As the speaker was closing his talk he implored us to stand and ask the Spirit to come into us with “expectancy without agenda.” So wanting to prove that I was right about how the Spirit moves (not in visible power to heal, rather in the power to make us aware of our sin and help us overcome it) I decided to stand and ask the Spirit to come expectantly but I absolutely had an agenda; however, God also had an agenda.
As I stood there in the dimly lit worship room with over 200 people around me I asked to Spirit to come into my heart. I lifted my head slowly towards the ceiling with my eyes closed. I extended my hands with open palms to the sides of my hips.
Only moments passed when something began to come over me. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It felt like warmth and power coming into my soul. At this point my hands began to shake ever so slightly. My heart began to pound within my chest and my whole body began to quiver.
I had never felt anything like this before and as I stood there I told God, “I will not fall down! I will not be slain in the Spirit! I do not see it in the Bible and so it is not from God and I WILL NOT FALL!!!”
Then it happened. My body swayed uncontrollably and without knowing if anyone was behind me I dropped to the floor. I could not stay standing up! The Spirit came upon me with such power that I could no longer control my own body. I fell onto the cold, hard concrete floor with no control of my body.
After I fell I began to convulse. I could not control anything in my body. My fists clenched and unclenched, my arms shot back and forth across my body, my shoulders pushed into the ground. Everything in me was exploding with heat and convulsing as the Spirit possessed my body and spirit.
After a while I began to calm down and regain control of my muscles. Soon enough I was able to open my eyes and sit up.
I had told God no and he hit me with more power than I have ever experienced. He showed me the truth about the power of the Holy Spirit.
I was given a revelation of the physical power of the Holy Spirit to do supernatural things in our lives. I felt the Spirit of God move in bone breaking, body convulsing power and as I result I concluded that if he can do that he can do much greater things as well.
I now know that there are legitimate times that God will heal the blind, cast out demons, cause the paralyzed to walk, and much more all through you and me.
So why do I tell you this? Mainly because I think many of you are living exactly in the place that I was before the Spirit of God brought me to the ground. Many of you doubt the Spirit to give people real visions and prophecies, to speak directly to our spirit, to give someone the ability to speak in tongues, and even to heal the physically needy in your lives.
I know this because I was there. I doubted. I watched people die without being healed. I thought that I knew that the Spirit no longer did miraculous things except extremely rarely and not through us. I went into this meeting exactly in that place and came out the other side a changed man by the power of the Spirit.
I know many of you may doubt me right now but I am telling you with all of my heart that it was real. If there was a heart not open to receive the Spirit in that room it was me. I told God that he was not allowed to bring me to the ground by his indwelling of me!
Yet despite all this, in the matter of moments God shattered all of my doubts, he broke all of my preconceptions, and he brought me to a place of humble submission to the reality that the Spirit moves in power and that I need to get onboard with that reality.
So where are you at as you read this? Do you doubt the power of God to do the miraculous in your life?
I want to challenge you not to live in the darkness that the enemy has placed over us any longer. We have not only been given the Spirit of God to overcome sins in our life but also to heal the sick, preach to the lost, raise the dead to life, and declare the awesome, overwhelming, knee buckling power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
God has shown me the answer to the riddle of the Holy Spirit and he wants to show you too. Won’t you walk in it?
