(About a 5 min read…)
When I was 28 I attended a small church in Wisconsin where I had spent most of my adult life… my late wife was raised Pentecostal which often made for interesting conversations between us…
I wanted to know the Truth… I wanted to know answers and during this stage of my life, I thought that a smaller, more family focused church might have what I needed…
We attended for a few years… I got involved in music… like I usually would do… and did my best to play the part…
This small Pentecostal church believed in something I knew nothing about… the Holy Spirit… so I was intrigued to say the least…
I was attending a evening prayer meeting one night… the room was hot from the yelling and wailing for God to move… my shirt was soaked within minutes and the smell of body odor wafted the room of about 20-30 people…
One man at the meeting took a moment to invite people to speak in tongues… so i sat quietly and watched… “interesting” I thought to myself… I asked the man what I needed to do to recieve this new discovery that I had just witnessed…
He began to explain the necessity of travailing… a word that was not in my vocabulary… “travailing?” I questioned… “what’s that?”… he went on to explain that the kingdom of heaven was taken by violence and the violent take it by force… meaning that we had to pray REALLY hard so God will turn His ear to us… I thought to myself”… umm… ok?…
For the next 9 months I worked so hard, prayed so hard, I fasted for 30 days on water, another 30 days on juice and then during the 8th month… I fasted 40 days on juice… I was SOOO sure that if I showed God how serious I was about this gift I wanted that he would hear my prayer… but by the end of a long grueling 9 months of starving myself… I was down 40 lbs and defeated…
The next Sunday after I broke my fast… I went to church early… I thought that prayers were more powerful and spiritual if I did them at church… i entered the sanctuary… got on my knees behind the drum set… and gave up… I said “ok… you win… I give up… your word says that you want me to have your Holy Spirit more than I want it…” immediately, I transcended… as I was kneeling there was an overwhelming peace that covered me and the force of a waterfall from above that pinned me to the floor… I began crying and immediately began speaking in an unknown tongue…
I’d like to say that my life was different after that day… and it was in some ways… but for the next 2 months I battled daily and nightly demonic manifestations around me…
Fear gripped my heart… and I stopped operating in this new found gift for nearly 17 years…
The Theif only comes to steal, kill and destroy… but Jesus gives life… for years I walked in emptiness… until I encountered the Truth…
Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a powerful gift that equips you for living that abundant life… don’t waste years waiting like I did… if you would like to know more, DM me!
Michael
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