Howdy from Colombia!
Some of what I am about to say might not make sense to you unless you have read or understand the book of Acts, 1st Corinthians as well as the Gospels from the Bible. This will get deep. If you do not understand or disagree with me, please let me know. Here we go!
Since coming on the World Race, I have read several books. Most of which were fiction and lead to very little growth and were just used as a distraction. The few Christian based books that I have read moved me to this point in my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The books I have read are The Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster and When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson.
You do not need to have read the Bible to get the gist of what I will say, but it significantly helps in the understanding and gives background and context to what I have to say.
There are 9 spiritual gifts listed in 1st Corinthians 12. Paul talks about wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, distinguishing or discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, and miraculous powers. Chapter 12 verse 7 states, “Now to each one the manifestation of the [Holy] Spirit is given for the common good, [NIV].” Paul explains that Christians have been given these gifts because God wants us to use them.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus healed the sick, drove out demons, preached about the coming Kingdom and helped those in need. In all 4 Gospels, we see that Jesus does the miraculous by commanding the paralyzed to walk, spitting into a blind man’s eyes, and resurrecting Lazarus from the dead. In similar fashion Luke wrote about Peter, John, Paul, Titus, and many others and their similar encounters with the Holy Spirit and what He did for others.
You may ask, why I say the Holy Spirit is the one involved in these encounters. Well, at Jesus’s baptism the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, descended upon Jesus and is, in part, the reason for his ability to do great works as a human being. The other part is that he is God in the flesh, who relied on the Holy Spirit to do work. After His death, the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples and they were able to go out and perform these same miracles (Acts 2). These gifts were freely given as a means for those baptized in the Spirit to further the Kingdom and show how powerful God really is.
The two books I mentioned before talk of these miracles happening in the here and now. They are not works of the past that stay there. These acts of God through the Holy Spirit brought down through Jesus’s crucifixion are meant for every time period!
This radical way of thinking is expressed throughout each book. The Celebration of Discipline talks about using each discipline as a way to become closer to God and have encounters with Him. When Heaven Invades Earth talks about bringing the Spiritual realm into our reality.
As a Christian who grew up in the church, this was mind blowing to me. I had not been taught about the Spiritual Gifts and the fruit they produce for the Kingdom. Miraculous healings, speaking in tongues, and prophecy seemed like ancient practices that were no longer a part of the faith and practices of being a Christian. I am happy to say that is dead WRONG!
Jesus didn’t just teach or heal the sick or just drive out demons. He taught and healed the sick and drove out demons. He did all of these things in junction with the others. My upbringing in the church failed to teach me that or I failed to learn it. Either way, this concept that God gives us gifts to help further His Kingdom on earth, was and is mind boggling!
I have come to the realization that I shouldn’t just want these miracles to happen, I should expect them to happen. Why? Jesus’s example teaches us it should. Also, why should all of these wonderful things not happen anymore? Why shouldn’t people be healed of stage 4 cancer? Why shouldn’t people be saved from the brink of death? Is that too scary, too supernatural to handle?
Have we, as Christians, come to the point that we are too afraid to risk relying on God to do these things in our lives? Well, what happens if we fail? The better question is, what happens when we succeed? What happens when Heaven in fact does invade earth? What happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us instead of having to work in spite of us? What could we accomplish on earth because of our listening and obedience to God?
I have learned that being baptized in the Holy Spirit brings on wonderful spiritual gifts and adds to the frequency and longevity of experiencing God in my life. Before I was re-baptized, I prayed to able to speak in tongues. Something that I had never experienced before and something that was completely foreign to me. Eight months later, here I am saying and professing that I often pray in Arabic. God has also revealed things to me in prayer in Arabic!
While in Guatemala, I began to fervently pray for words or signs from God. He gave me, “Shaleh aleh Allah, Allah Halom.” Roughly translated this means, “The Shawl of God, God’s Dream.” It took me many nights of listening prayer to get the meaning behind this. I didn’t discover the meaning until 6 weeks later when I was in Honduras.
One night through prayer, God told me through the Holy Spirit that He has a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11) and that He is going to raise me up by putting His shawl on me. A shawl in the biblical sense is a sign of God’s power or reverence. The people anointed with shawls were likely elders or leaders for the 12 tribes of Israel as well as priests during and after Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. That moment was the moment that lead to my baptism. I am now baptized in both fire (the Spirit) and the water.
Since then and especially after my re-baptism, I can profess the good works that God has done in my life. Now that I pray and communicate with God in tongues, I want to be a healer. I want to not only participate in, but lead Spiritual healing. I want to use and develop my spiritual gifts to the point where I am relying on the Holy Spirit more than what I hear and see.
I want the radical experiences that Jesus had to be my norm, just like it was his norm. I want to bring the Kingdom of Heaven crashing down on the earth with such force that it shakes the very gates of hell.
It’s all fine and dandy to say all these things and to want to do all of these things, but I must also live my life in such a way to do these things. I must learn to rely on God and the Holy Spirit more and more. I must learn to listen to what they have to say and do what they ask of me. That is what I hope and pray for.
I understand that some may not understand this, nor feel the same way I do about these things. I have slowly over time come to accept these ideas and concepts as truth and it is a truth I want to live out for the rest of my life.
Shameless plug for fundraising.
I have friends that still need to raise funds to continue their trip. If you wouldn’t mind donating to their accounts or praying for them, I would greatly appreciate it! Their links are the following.
karissarodriguez.theworldrace.org
katrinapalazuelosrico.theworldrace.org
missygeiszler.theworldrace.org
As always, thanks for reading! I miss y’all!
