What I am about to tell you is a really crazy story. I don't know how to explain it, quantify it, or reason with it, and none of that matters to me. What does matter is that it happened.
10/23/2011 (around 10:30 PM)
Seventeen months ago (to the day) I began praying for the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in my life. Today that prayer was answered.
On that day, May 23, 2010, the day traditionally celebrated as Pentecost and the day before I began my mission trip to Kenya I was given a divine appointment from God with a man who had been anointed by the Holy Spirit and inspired me to give serious consideration to the possibility of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible and a direct encounter with the Holy Spirit to become a part of my life. Ever since then, my desire and prayer for these gifts have increased. I have come away disappointed many times after asking God to anoint me with the Spirit but I was persistent and unwilling to give up on the idea that what was possible in the early church should be possible for me today. Many of those times I thought that I had just neglected sanctification too much in my life and that is why God had not given me the experiences I had asked for. But today, it happened.
Drew Martin, my roommate and ever so dear friend had been sharing recently an example of the power of God in his life that had completely destroyed lust in his life. This is amazing gift and manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and of itself, but it fails to compare with what it would result in. I have recently begun to experience a far stronger hatred for lust than normal, but so often I had failed to over come it through prayer or will. I saw the work God had done in Drew's life and wanted it for myself, so that I could be purer and more holy and more pleasing to God. I knew that some gifts of the spirit are passed on by the laying on of hands, so today when we were together in the apartment after watching the Princess Bride at Lauren's I asked Drew if he would come into my room, lay his hands on me, and pray that God would give me the same gift of complete freedom from lust. What followed was indescribable. I will try to describe it anyway.
Around a minute into his prayer the Holy Spirit came into the room. I don't mean to suggest that He wasn't there before, but I do mean to say that came into the room giving us an experience of his holiness, love, and power in far greater magnitude and quality that either of us have ever dreamed of experiencing. As He entered, I began breathing very deeply and trembling, paralyzed at His presence. Drew felt the same and began to acknowledge the Spirit in the room in his prayer. He was praying much louder than at first and couldn't control it. Soon I began to feel Drew's hands on my back become hotter and hotter. I thought that if God wanted to, he could use those hands to melt into me and kill me. Even more impressive than the sensations was the overwhelming feeling of simultaneous joy and fear at His presence. I now understand by experience the fear people had from angels and how joy and fear can be felt so easily together in the presence of God. The entire event was amazing and crazy. We were being anointed by the Holy Spirit. I must say that this baptism was much cooler than the one with water. After about 10-15 minutes the Spirit settled down on me though Drew continued to experience it for around 5 more minutes. We then sat together marveling at the beauty and terror of God's presence and the amazing gift we had been given. Then we read a few passages of Scripture that speak of the Holy Spirit and its gifts and power. We have truly experienced the power of God and will never be the same. This is one of the most important things that has ever happened to me. I will not forget it.
This all sounds crazy. The most amazing part of it was not that God can reveal himself to people, but that He chose to reveal Himself to me. I'm just a kid who splashes around in spiritual puddles far more than I dig deep wells in God's love. However, I am so thankful and truly blessed.
What is even greater than this, based on the scriptures and stories of other people's encounters I am led to believe that this may only be the beginning. God will probably manifest His power in us in other ways soon. I am excited and eagerly anticipate seeing what God will do next. I am His lowly servant, I pray that He will use me.
10/23/2011 (around 10:30 PM)
Seventeen months ago (to the day) I began praying for the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in my life. Today that prayer was answered.
On that day, May 23, 2010, the day traditionally celebrated as Pentecost and the day before I began my mission trip to Kenya I was given a divine appointment from God with a man who had been anointed by the Holy Spirit and inspired me to give serious consideration to the possibility of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible and a direct encounter with the Holy Spirit to become a part of my life. Ever since then, my desire and prayer for these gifts have increased. I have come away disappointed many times after asking God to anoint me with the Spirit but I was persistent and unwilling to give up on the idea that what was possible in the early church should be possible for me today. Many of those times I thought that I had just neglected sanctification too much in my life and that is why God had not given me the experiences I had asked for. But today, it happened.
Drew Martin, my roommate and ever so dear friend had been sharing recently an example of the power of God in his life that had completely destroyed lust in his life. This is amazing gift and manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and of itself, but it fails to compare with what it would result in. I have recently begun to experience a far stronger hatred for lust than normal, but so often I had failed to over come it through prayer or will. I saw the work God had done in Drew's life and wanted it for myself, so that I could be purer and more holy and more pleasing to God. I knew that some gifts of the spirit are passed on by the laying on of hands, so today when we were together in the apartment after watching the Princess Bride at Lauren's I asked Drew if he would come into my room, lay his hands on me, and pray that God would give me the same gift of complete freedom from lust. What followed was indescribable. I will try to describe it anyway.
Around a minute into his prayer the Holy Spirit came into the room. I don't mean to suggest that He wasn't there before, but I do mean to say that came into the room giving us an experience of his holiness, love, and power in far greater magnitude and quality that either of us have ever dreamed of experiencing. As He entered, I began breathing very deeply and trembling, paralyzed at His presence. Drew felt the same and began to acknowledge the Spirit in the room in his prayer. He was praying much louder than at first and couldn't control it. Soon I began to feel Drew's hands on my back become hotter and hotter. I thought that if God wanted to, he could use those hands to melt into me and kill me. Even more impressive than the sensations was the overwhelming feeling of simultaneous joy and fear at His presence. I now understand by experience the fear people had from angels and how joy and fear can be felt so easily together in the presence of God. The entire event was amazing and crazy. We were being anointed by the Holy Spirit. I must say that this baptism was much cooler than the one with water. After about 10-15 minutes the Spirit settled down on me though Drew continued to experience it for around 5 more minutes. We then sat together marveling at the beauty and terror of God's presence and the amazing gift we had been given. Then we read a few passages of Scripture that speak of the Holy Spirit and its gifts and power. We have truly experienced the power of God and will never be the same. This is one of the most important things that has ever happened to me. I will not forget it.
This all sounds crazy. The most amazing part of it was not that God can reveal himself to people, but that He chose to reveal Himself to me. I'm just a kid who splashes around in spiritual puddles far more than I dig deep wells in God's love. However, I am so thankful and truly blessed.
What is even greater than this, based on the scriptures and stories of other people's encounters I am led to believe that this may only be the beginning. God will probably manifest His power in us in other ways soon. I am excited and eagerly anticipate seeing what God will do next. I am His lowly servant, I pray that He will use me.