I'm not Pentecostal but...

[GustheMule]

I attended an Assembly of God service Sunday. During the service a guy about my age came up and said the following: "I've never really done this but God wants me to tell you something. He loves you and he's not gonna leave you and He's still in the miracle business."

As a Baptist, I was kind of taken off guard. That kind of thing doesn't happen in my own church.

The thing is I have had a long time crisis of assurance. I have wondered if I was really saved because my life just doesn't seem like a victorious Christain one. I don't have a sense of God's presence. It seems ludicrous to say that I "know God."

So his words were very uplifting. I have often gone to sleep crying wishing that I could hear God himself say this to me.

However, I don't anything about the practice ofwhat he did or the messenger. And I was wondering if he just saw me, a visitor sitting by myself and thought that it was a message that anyone should hear OR did God really give him that exact message to tell me.

As a non pentecostal I was wondering about messages like this. Is this called prophesy? Is it stressed in pentecostal churches or are members only encouraged to give a comforting spiritual word to guests. I mean I believe that it is in fact very possible for God to have given him this message for me, but why hasn't he given it to me directly since I have long been pleading for it?
Any responses would be helpful.

Thanks, Adam Smith

 

[jeolmstead]

I attended an Assembly of God service Sunday. During the service a guy about my age came up and said the following: "I've never really done this but God wants me to tell you something. He loves you and he's not gonna leave you and He's still in the miracle business."

As a Baptist, I was kind of taken off guard. That kind of thing doesn't happen in my own church.

The thing is I have had a long time crisis of assurance. I have wondered if I was really saved because my life just doesn't seem like a victorious Christain one. I don't have a sense of God's presence. It seems ludicrous to say that I "know God."

So his words were very uplifting. I have often gone to sleep crying wishing that I could hear God himself say this to me.

However, I don't anything about the practice ofwhat he did or the messenger. And I was wondering if he just saw me, a visitor sitting by myself and thought that it was a message that anyone should hear OR did God really give him that exact message to tell me.

As a non pentecostal I was wondering about messages like this. Is this called prophesy? Is it stressed in pentecostal churches or are members only encouraged to give a comforting spiritual word to guests. I mean I believe that it is in fact very possible for God to have given him this message for me, but why hasn't he given it to me directly since I have long been pleading for it?
Any responses would be helpful.

Thanks, Adam Smith

The answer to your question is yes. God can and does speak prophetically through others. It is however more important to hear God yourself.

You said you are not a Pentecostal or Charismatic so my assumption is that you have not experienced the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2.

Most of us here have and have found this a great enhancement in our lives and walk with Christ. I encourage you to seek God yourself. Ask Him to reveal this dimension to you. Ask God is Jesus’ name to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

There are many diverse views (even on this forum) but all who follow Christ would agree that it is a good thing to be filled up with the Holy Spirit.

God bless

John O.

 

[KleinerApfel]

I believe that it is in fact very possible for God to have given him this message for me, but why hasn't he given it to me directly since I have long been pleading for it?

How wonderfully responsive our Father is to the heart's cry - sending you to the right place at the right time to receive His message of love!

Why didn't He speak directly to you?

He does, all the time, but maybe you are so used to thinking He doesn't care for you, or that you can't be good enough, that your mind drejects those sweet thoughts without even taking the time to examine them?

I was unable to receive the signal He was beaming to me because I wasn't tuned in, and no amount of pleading helped because He was already doing it! I had to learn to recieve, and it took me a long time and a lot of love from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

None of us hears perfect reception all the time, but the body works together like an organism - each part fulfills this or that function, and together we make more sense than spearate. The more parts of the body are operating healthily, the greater the benefit to all of us.

I agree with John O - keep asking for more, and definitely ask the Lord to baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

BTW, I'm just wondering what brought you to attend that service?

God bless you, love Sue

 

[BarbB]

Hi Gus. Welcome to CF and to the Spirit-filled forum! John and Sue had good answers for you. I know that my sister-in-law frequently has encouraging messages (words of knowledge) for other people. She "hears" them in her heart, tests them and then delivers. They are always uplifting.

1CO 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. [8] To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,

 

[GustheMule]

How wonderfully responsive our Father is to the heart's cry - sending you to the right place at the right time to receive His message of love!

Why didn't He speak directly to you?

He does, all the time, but maybe you are so used to thinking He doesn't care for you, or that you can't be good enough, that your mind drejects those sweet thoughts without even taking the time to examine them?

I was unable to receive the signal He was beaming to me because I wasn't tuned in, and no amount of pleading helped because He was already doing it! I had to learn to recieve, and it took me a long time and a lot of love from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

None of us hears perfect reception all the time, but the body works together like an organism - each part fulfills this or that function, and together we make more sense than spearate. The more parts of the body are operating healthily, the greater the benefit to all of us.

I agree with John O - keep asking for more, and definitely ask the Lord to baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

BTW, I'm just wondering what brought you to attend that service?

God bless you, love Sue

Sue, Thank you for responding to my message. You also responded on the Calvinism page. Wow! a reformed pentecostal!

The reason I didn't attend my normal Baptist church is because I wanted to see if things really were different --more New Testament like at the church. I was wondering whether i was really saved and the passage from Romans chapter 1 about eh gospel itself being the power of God that saves (and I interpret that to mean when Paul preached the gospel to people (as much foolish as it might seem that some crucified Jew was Lord and God over all) they got saved. There is also a similar passage in one og the Thessalonians about his word coming with the spirit and power.

I had never been in a Pentecostal Church and I thought if I go here and the spirit is present and I hear the gospel I might just get saved!
Although Jesus was celebrated, the gospel wasn't much preached but the Holy Spirit was surely active. However, I'm not sure He was more active than in my normal church , the people were just more demonstrative--which I think is good.

Thanks for your concern. I hope you will pray for me.

 

[Godslilgurlalways]

God speaks to you, but it may not be in the way you are looking for him. God comes in the way you least except it

 

[christianmomof3]

God often speaks to us through other members of the Body. He also speaks through us to others. That is one of His ways of speaking to us. To prophesy is not to predict the future, but to speak for Christ and to speak forth Christ - it is Christ speaking through us.
I think that what happened to you was that the Lord was speaking to you. Be assured that God loves you. You are saved and He will never leave you.
Enjoy Christ!

 

[GodDreamer]

Hi Adam! welcome to the pentecostal thread! well it sounds like it was a word from God....God sometimes uses people that we don't know real well to tell us things that we really need to hear because we know they're not bias, and they don't know what's going on in our lives...so it can only point to God....

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

God speaks to us all the time. It is just that we don't hear Him. He can speak to us in all sorts of different ways: through His Word, through our meditations, through other people, through circumstances, etc. There is no limit to how God can speak to us.

Remember the story about the guy who fell overboard from his boat and was drowning. He cried out to God to save him. Presently someone came along in a row boat and offered to take him on board. The guy said "No thanks. I am waiting for the Lord to save me." Then along came a helicopter, but the guy said to the pilot, "No thanks. I and waiting for the Lord to save me." Presently he drowned and found himself in the presence of the Lord. He said "Lord why didn't you come and saved me?" The Lord replied, "What are you talking about? I sent a rowboat and a helicopter, but you refused them."


The moral of this story is that God many times uses natural means to communicate with us. We are not always listening to the obvious because we are looking for something more 'spiritual'.

Therefore, if you went into a church and someone came up to you and gave you an affirming word, and it meant a lot to you and built you up, you can safely say it was the Holy Spirit who was communicating with you through that person.

 

[KleinerApfel]

Sue, Thank you for responding to my message. You also responded on the Calvinism page. Wow! a reformed pentecostal!

The reason I didn't attend my normal Baptist church is because I wanted to see if things really were different --more New Testament like at the church. I was wondering whether i was really saved and the passage from Romans chapter 1 about eh gospel itself being the power of God that saves (and I interpret that to mean when Paul preached the gospel to people (as much foolish as it might seem that some crucified Jew was Lord and God over all) they got saved. There is also a similar passage in one og the Thessalonians about his word coming with the spirit and power.

I had never been in a Pentecostal Church and I thought if I go here and the spirit is present and I hear the gospel I might just get saved!
Although Jesus was celebrated, the gospel wasn't much preached but the Holy Spirit was surely active. However, I'm not sure He was more active than in my normal church , the people were just more demonstrative--which I think is good.

Thanks for your concern. I hope you will pray for me.

Hi again Adam,

I responded in the Calvinist forum because i'd tracked you down there - I never usually go there! LOL! Wonder if anyone over there responded - I'll go and see in a minute.

We're allowed to respond with encouragement and friendship in each others areas here - just not argue with each other's doctrine.

I came to a charismatic expression of faith by the long route:
As a child, I went to occasional Church of England (Anglican) services with family, but none of us had living faith.
As a young mother I went to a toddler group with my child, based in an Evangelical church, and they told me the true Good News for the first time. Stayed there 3 years after being saved, then moved house and had no option but a traditional Anglican church for 9 years. Towards the end of that period I've been seeking more of the love and power of God in my life, and this forum has contributed enormously to that journey.
Recently I was moved on by the Lord into a Pentecostal church in a nearby town.
Who knows where I'll end up next!


Do you think you'll return to that lively church for more?
We'd love to encourage you and pray for you here - keep in touch!

God bless you, love Sue

 

[irenemcg]

You know sometimes God has to use others to get our attention for despite what we say we may not be listening too well! I believe God was speaking to you in a way that would get your attention Gus.

 

[victoryword]

I attended an Assembly of God service Sunday. During the service a guy about my age came up and said the following: "I've never really done this but God wants me to tell you something. He loves you and he's not gonna leave you and He's still in the miracle business."

As a Baptist, I was kind of taken off guard. That kind of thing doesn't happen in my own church.

The thing is I have had a long time crisis of assurance. I have wondered if I was really saved because my life just doesn't seem like a victorious Christain one. I don't have a sense of God's presence. It seems ludicrous to say that I "know God."

So his words were very uplifting. I have often gone to sleep crying wishing that I could hear God himself say this to me.

However, I don't anything about the practice ofwhat he did or the messenger. And I was wondering if he just saw me, a visitor sitting by myself and thought that it was a message that anyone should hear OR did God really give him that exact message to tell me.

As a non pentecostal I was wondering about messages like this. Is this called prophesy? Is it stressed in pentecostal churches or are members only encouraged to give a comforting spiritual word to guests. I mean I believe that it is in fact very possible for God to have given him this message for me, but why hasn't he given it to me directly since I have long been pleading for it?
Any responses would be helpful.

Thanks, Adam Smith

I think it could be either a prophecy or a word of knowledge. One thing I know, the Lord definitely wanted to get something across to you. Sounds like you need to make that leap over to us Pentecostals

 

[nephilimiyr]

I attended an Assembly of God service Sunday. During the service a guy about my age came up and said the following: "I've never really done this but God wants me to tell you something. He loves you and he's not gonna leave you and He's still in the miracle business."

As a Baptist, I was kind of taken off guard. That kind of thing doesn't happen in my own church.

The thing is I have had a long time crisis of assurance. I have wondered if I was really saved because my life just doesn't seem like a victorious Christain one. I don't have a sense of God's presence. It seems ludicrous to say that I "know God."

So his words were very uplifting. I have often gone to sleep crying wishing that I could hear God himself say this to me.

However, I don't anything about the practice ofwhat he did or the messenger. And I was wondering if he just saw me, a visitor sitting by myself and thought that it was a message that anyone should hear OR did God really give him that exact message to tell me.

As a non pentecostal I was wondering about messages like this. Is this called prophesy? Is it stressed in pentecostal churches or are members only encouraged to give a comforting spiritual word to guests. I mean I believe that it is in fact very possible for God to have given him this message for me, but why hasn't he given it to me directly since I have long been pleading for it?
Any responses would be helpful.

Thanks, Adam Smith

Hi Adam! I have a somewhat similar story. I'm new to Pentecostalism/Charismatic.

At the beginning of this year I was baptised in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. For the first couple of weeks life was great, I really felt the power of God doing things inside me that I never thought possible. I was changing my thought patterns around and it was making a big difference in me because those sins that plagued me before just seemed like they had up and left. I felt such a great need to just praise and worship God.

Slowly but surely however my weaknesses were starting to take over again and to make a long story short, I was once again feeling defeated as a Christian but this time the condemnation I placed on myself was even greater. I was thinking, gee if I can be baptised in the Holy Spirit and still have problems with keeping sin out of my life then there really is no hope for me. God may save me in the end but I will have to answer to everything I've done and it wont be pretty.

Then one Sunday we had a guest singer come to sing for us. She was from Texas so I never saw or knew her before. After the service was over I starting talking to her about buying her cd. She was good! We stood there and made some small talk when out of the blue, for no reason at all, she looked deep into my eyes and told me in such a loving and caring voice not to be so hard on myself. Because it came from nowhere I just stamered a bit and said "oh really". She smiled and said yes, that that was what she was seeing and she moved her hand up and down in front of her to I think indicate that she was getting this in her spirit.

I was alittle freaked out over that so I thanked her for telling me that and went home. On the way home however her words started to sink in and I realized that that was exactly what I needed to hear. Up to that point I was really not liking myself too much because I was thinking I was throwing the gift of the Holy Spirit away yet just those few words she spoke to me made all the difference.

Since that day, which was only about 4 months ago, I haven't looked back since. I do believe that God speaks personal messages to us through each other. I know this to be true. God meet me when I needed Him and He used another person to get the message to me. I don't believe this because of what someone taught me, or from what my church taught me, or by studying some theological point, but because it was illustrated to me, in my life, by a real experience through a complete and utter stranger who shouldn't have known anything about me nor anything that I was struggling with in my life....but she knew...

Paul said that some will prophesy, that wasn't just for the early Church but it is for today also!

 

[ahmunmun]

I'm glad that you came to us to ask your question. I know that some Christians of other denominations are uncomfortable talking about spiritual gifts like prophesy, but I can see that you are taking a big interest in it.

I often ask the same question myself. Why doesn't God reveal something directly to me? Why does He have to get a third party to do it? One answer I got is that God often wants me to question the word I get. A better way of saying that is to test the spirit, as the Bible teaches us. When I test the spirit, God often reveal to me a lot more than I could imagine, and then I could find out what part of the prophesy is really from God and what part is a possible mistake by the prophet (because it isn't in line with what I heard from God myself). Basically, God does want to talk to you but He also wants you to practice testing the spirit.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Svt4Him]

Did it edify you? Did it make you appreciate God more? Did it make you want to seek God? Did it reveal God as a loving God?

If so, who would be interested in doing that, the devil, the person who doesn't know you but is a liar, therefore a child of the devil, or God using one of His messengers to speak the truth?

 

[gracee]

hey!i'm glad we are having this here..you've pretty much said it all..and so i say yes and Amen to everything! i have had pretty much the same experiences.glorify God!Let His power fall and His voice be heard!!!

 

[swifteagle]

I know you want God to speak directly to you but...in a way He did!

1) He moved upon you to seek out a church
2) Where He moved upon someone with an obedient heart
3) And He delivered a PERSONAL message directly to you!

Wow ~ He sure went to alot of trouble to show you how much He loves you.

And, don't worry, you ARE saved!

"... that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9