My Story Of Receiving The Holy Spirit

 Happy Friday Everyone!

Image- Mine

    I hope you are all having a wonderful morning today! I wanted to share my story of receiving the Holy Spirit. Now I am not sure what you have heard about my Friend, the Holy Spirit, but He is such a wonderful person to have in your life! He will help you, guide you, instruct you, give you peace and joy in the most difficult circumstances and situations. He will reveal God's word to you in ways you never knew. He is very kind, gentle, and very sensitive to our words and actions. He will let you know if you have grieved Him in any way. By the way if you don't know what the word grieve means, let me enlighten you, it means to annoy. That's right, you heard me correctly, annoy. I found this out a few months ago and thought wow, the Holy Spirit gets annoyed just like us! So if you would like to know more about my Friend, the Holy Spirit and how we were introduced, keep reading to find out more! 

    So I was about 21 years old and I was so excited about what the Lord was doing in my life. I remember I was sitting in church and the pastor said he was going to do a study on receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I became very curious. I had grown up in church where the Holy Spirit was free to do whatever He wanted and I remember people used to shout, run around the sanctuary, or fall out in the Spirit. In my personal Bible study, I learned that the reason why people would do things like that is because that's how the Holy Spirit would lead them and we must be very careful not to judge or ridicule. God becomes pretty mad when someone does this. As I began studying about the Holy Spirit, I knew right away that I not only wanted Him in my life, but that I needed Him. Jesus set the pattern for us, He couldn't fulfill His ministry without the Holy Spirit and if Jesus needed Him, then you and I need Him so much more! 

   I remember, it happened on a Sunday evening, everyone was invited to come the altar to receive the Holy Spirit. I was one of the first ones to come and they told me that when they started praying, that my mouth would begin to move, but it was the Holy Spirit taking over my mouth to begin to speak the heavenly language. As they began to pray, sure enough, my mouth began to move up and down uncontrollably, it was exciting and a little unfamiliar to me. The problem was no words came out. They prayed and prayed and my mouth moved, but no words. Well I went home a little disappointed and the enemy is always working and I could hear him say, "There's something wrong with you." I pushed the thought aside and thought whatever, I am going to speak in tongues when the Lord wants me to. Have you ever noticed that when things don't go as planned or expected, the enemy always shows up and says something about us that is contrary to God's word. He is such a liar, he was in the beginning, he is now, and he will always be a liar even to the very end. 

  Now I found out a few years later, the reason why I didn't speak in tongues that night is because God wanted me to seek Him with all my heart. Well I can tell you that's exactly what I did, I became determined and I prayed almost every moment I thought about it, Lord help me to speak in tongues. Days went by, but about a month later, I had come home from church that morning. I finished eating my lunch and I came into my room, I was standing and had my hands lifted up and said, "Lord, I want to speak in tongues today, I am not leaving this room until I speak in tongues." As soon as I said those words, it was as if something hit me to my core and I fell to my knees and I finally began to speak in tongues. You talk about joy and relief! I was so excited and overjoyed, I told everyone! That night at church, I gave my testimony of speaking in tongues and I felt so relieved. That night, I journaled my experience to remember it and I thanked God several times that night for allowing me to receive the Holy Spirit, the gift that Jesus promised long ago to His disciples. I had received His precious gift and I pray that you will also!

     Friends, the Holy Spirit has changed my life and He continues to change my life. He is such a wonderful Friend and He loves us just as the Father in heaven and Jesus loves us! Jesus knew we wouldn't make it in this life without the Holy Spirit, that's why He sent Him. Where Jesus left off, the Holy Spirit picked up where He left off. He is doing the work of the Father, in order to do this, He must make disciples out of us to spread the Gospel, we can't do that without the Holy Spirit. He is vital to our walk in faith, without Him, we would all be lost. So I pray today that if you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that you would begin to seek God about it and that He would order your footsteps. I also pray that my testimony blesses and encourages you today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!