For those
of you who don’t know here is a synopsis of what has been going on in my life
for the past few months:
In
September of 2011, I was contemplating my place in life, the church, and in
general in the Christian world. I read a portion of scripture which nagged me.
I read Mark 16:15-18. I was put into a “cocoon” of metamorphosis as Del Tackett
(from Focus on the Family’s “Truth Project”) so readily calls it. God was
wanting me to change and so he allowed me to be in this cocoon.
I
read Mark 16:15-18, where it says: “…these signs shall follow those who
believe…” and then it lists the signs, and my cocoon was formed. I realized
that in my life, these signs did not follow me and I questioned why. It so
happened, that we were having a guest speaker in October that did have signs
following him. Pastor Louw Ronquest from South Africa had been wanting to visit
Manning for a couple of years and finally the opportunity came.
I
was interested in what Pastor Louw would be saying. When he came it was evident
that the signs listed in Mark 16 did indeed follow. One of the other scriptures
that Pastor Louw used was 1 Corinthians 4:20: “For the kingdom of God does not
consist in talk but in power.” Also, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5: “My speech and my
message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in
the power of God.” These were some of the verses that I pondered over the past
8-9 months.
Then
Louw did the unthinkable, he invited me to join him in Zambia in March 2012 for
supernatural training. How was I supposed to go to a foreign nation and preach
the power of God and have signs follow after the message when I was unsure of
the whole thing myself. This left me in a place of feeling slightly intimidated
by the whole process.
The
trip to Zambia did occur with four others from Manning and it was an awesome
time. We did see many things occur outside of the natural. The theme of the
time in Zambia was “Naturally Supernatural, Supernaturally Natural” and it did
occur. I won’t go into the examples of this right now, maybe in a future
update.
Our
church has begun bringing back the evening worship service. We began at the end
of January 2012 and have basically used this extra opportunity to purposefully
seek after the heart of God and what He is wanting to do for Manning Family
Worship Centre and for our community as well.
The
prayers of the Zambia team were that the things we learned in Africa were not just
for the Africans but that we would come back and be able to minister to the
people of Manning. These prayers are being answered.
Our
services in the evening have been tremendous times of meeting with God. We sing
a little, speak a little, and pray a lot. Sometimes there have been dynamic things
happening. Other times it has been quiet reflective moments. But we always pray
for each other in some way or the other.
That
is the background to this blog update. On Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012 at the
evening service, I spoke with one person about being baptized/filled in the
Holy Spirit. There was a matter of semantics and definition of terms that we
could have gotten into because of different upbringings, however, we decided to
bypass all the words and just let God do.
We
went to the front to pray. I called others, that had the filling of the Holy
Spirit, to pray as well. Our focus was unapologetically to see the gift of
tongues imparted. As we were praying, the person was mouthing words but they
seemed to be English words. Those around us who were praying, myself included,
in our “heavenly” language. It seemed the person was distraught over what was
going on, whether with us, or within their mind. So I casually mentioned, “Whatever
words are in your head, no matter how strange just speak them out.” The person
started speaking very quietly, but the words were in English. I encouraged them
to speak them out once again and the person stopped letting words come out.
At
this point, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and my doctrine of the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues was blown out of
the water.
It
was amazing.
Here’s
what happened:
The
Holy Spirit told me to speak to this person with these words: “The fun part is…
English is a tongue!”
As
soon as I spoke those words to this person, the tongue was loosed and they
began praising God loudly and boldly, … in ENGLISH!
Directly
after this, I asked the person how they felt. The answer: “I don’t know.”
Later
I spoke to the person and they said that they knew how they felt … completely
full. And I agreed that they looked like they were full. Of the Holy Spirit of
course.
So
why is it that we are always expecting to be speaking in tongues in a language
other than English? Why is it that when someone speaks in a native language of
some other country it is looked at as supernatural, but when we speak in
English, under the same influence of the Holy Spirit, it is looked at as a
natural occurrence. Of course, prophecy being exempted in this case. Think about
it for a minute. In other countries, where English is not the primary language,
it would be considered tongues, but for some reason, here it is not.
How
many people are walking around in the world, feeling like second-class
Christians, speaking with more boldness and power than most Christians, and yet
they are as full of the Holy Spirit, or more than, these others but classified
as not being baptized in or full of the Holy Spirit?
Could
it be that we have been doing the Christian world a disservice? I know the
chances of “imitators” is greater with doctrine such as this, but isn’t it so
with any of the spiritual gifts?
I
encourage you, especially if you have been seeking after the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit – continue doing so. And when you are in that situation and you
have the mindset of speaking in English and not in some other form, DO IT and
don’t be discouraged, be encouraged, because the Holy Spirit HAS TOUCHED YOU.
For those of you who do have another language, continue praying in that
language as well, because the Holy Spirit has touched you too.
I
would also like to encourage all of you to continue seeking God for a different
language, simply because I think it is cool. However, when it comes to praying
in ANY language, be it English or otherwise, don’t just speak words. Grab hold
of the Holy Spirit and add FAITH to the words and see what God can do!
GRAB
HOLD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and DO SOMETHING!
Just a thought ... in a Field of Roses
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