When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?

[JayJay77]

I know several ppl praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe we can boost faith by talking about our experiences.

I'll go first.

In Dec. of 1993, I was at Discipleship Camp in Turner Falls, OK, praying one night after the service for about an hour.

Finally, I began to murmur some words God had given me in my spirit. Man, was I afraid it was just me. By faith, this became my new prayer language. I was 16 years old.

I love praying in tongues. Can you imagine? God praying through you? Nuts.

 

[Ainuhina]

mine's a longer story

I grew up in the Lutheran church and later in a free-evangelical one (which I'm still attending)...but I spend most of last year in the UK and I went to a charismatic Baptist church there....

my first time attending one of their services was a shock they were standing, lifting hands, waving flags and praying in tounges I wanted to run and hide somewhere....but something kept me coming back I think it was cause there was something there that I didn't know from my church back home...something more alive...it's hard to describe it...anyway....I started asking questions about their "behaviour" at church - about why they lift hands, why they wave flags and what all this praying in tounges was about....they answered me and I started to check it all out with the Bible....

it took me a few months to figure it all out and coming froma rather conservative background even when I discovered that something like the Holy Spirit did really exist (and that we could have him with us and get al sorts of help and other gifts) I still was scared and didn't tell anyone...

secretly my host family had been praying for me to receive the Holy Spirit for quite a while by then and asking me about it as well - but I always found a way not to

anyway...one day in September last year they took me along to church membership meeting...and all of a sudden I had this funny language going on in my head imagine...they were discussing the FINANCES!!! LOL

I hoped it would go away till the next mornign but it didn't - so not wanting to embarass myself by telling anyone about it (I really thought they would think I had gone nuts ) I bought a book about praying in tounges....

one evening a few weeks later my host dad and I were talking about what books we were reading at that time and I told him about the praying in tounges one...he tought it odd that I was reading something like that and asked a lot of questions about it and so at some point I told him the whole story....he got really exited and on Sunday he got me to talk to the preacher at church about it (he did the talking since I didn't know how to put it)...we went into one of the councelling rooms at church and the two of them prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit in full...

I didn't feel anything while they were praying...but: the room was on the side of the building where you don't get any wind and it had double glasing...yet we could hear something rattle (I think it was the dried flowers in the corner) as if there was wind somewhere...we couldn't feel the wind though and when we left church I felt a bit funny...like I wasn't really there but there - hard to describe it....

I still couldn't pray out loud in tounges at that point...and I didn't until about a month ago and I've only done it once so far guess I still have to overcome my conservative "you-do-not-pray-in-tounges" upbringing at times I still think I'm nuts for doing it and admitting to it if asked guess a few of the people in church who know think so as well LOL

 

[onelamb]

Awesome, Ainuhina--here's mine:

I had "heard" of this-(the Baptism in the Holy Spirit), but I didn't attend a church that taught it-and I just wasn't sure what was right and what wasnt'. For awhile, I believed it was something real and for me, then I'd hear another preacher and go the opposite way-first believing, then not believing it-finally, I began to seek the Lord Jesus Christ on this matter-and asked Him to teach me if it was right or wrong. Over a period of about 4 months He taught me through the scriptures that He wanted all of His children to receive-so I asked Jesus to baptise me in the Holy Spirit-but for quite a while-nothing happened-no bolts of lightning, nobody moved my mouth for me, and I just couldn't quite "get it". Then one night I had a dream and woke up praying in a language I didn't know. But

dense as I am-I still wasn't convinced. (I thought it was just a dream) A couple weeks later-I was praying alone in my dining room and asked Him "once again" to baptise me. I had a short "vision" for lack of a better term-of Jesus walking toward me-I was so humbled I couldn't look up at Him-but could clearly see His sandaled feet and the Hem of His garment-He had His Hand outstretched-and when He laid His Hands on my head-I fell to the floor on my knees-praying in a language I didn't know-the room drifted into the background and there was only Him. He is Love-manifested.
He changed me from someone who was "religious" to someone who absolutly fell in love with the King of Kings. Totally different relationship.

JESUS is the One who baptised me in the Holy Spirit---

"there is coming one who is mightier than I, it is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit"

As far as the "gift" of tongues-where one speaks in a church service-and the interpretation comes forth.===about a year or so after that-the Lord used me in that gift. I maybe have been used in that gift 6 or 7 times in my life-but tongues, as prayer and praise-much more often.
Jan from PA

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

The Holy Spirit infilled me in a dream in which I saw Jesus, that I awoke from to find myself surrounded by love for 3 full days and nights. That was when I first felt really saved and it brought me to realize how much I needed to come out of a very bad lifestyle. Praise God!

 

[JayJay77]

Wow! Man, if no one else's is, my faith is being increased!

Ainuhina, this is only the beginning! I'm so relieved in situations where I don't know how to pray for something (or someone), which is quite often....because then I can pray in tongues and let God pray for me. Isn't that awesome?

OneLamb: that was incredible. That would have been so cool.

Evangelica, thanks for the post! Isn't God awesome?

Let's hear more! Anyone else?

 

[JayJay77]

Just keepin this at the top of the list.

When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?

 

[Ainuhina]

Ainuhina, this is only the beginning! I'm so relieved in situations where I don't know how to pray for something (or someone), which is quite often....because then I can pray in tongues and let God pray for me. Isn't that awesome?

yep that's what I find too....before one of my excuses for not praying was that I didn't know what to pray not any longer

and it nly is the beginning...now I'm back in Austria and I hope people in my church here will start to see what I've discovered as well just that any change is really slow here

 

[JayJay77]

Nice, A. Keep it up! Change happens slow wherever you are.

 

[davidj16]

When my paladin became level 70 in WoW and slayed the foul demons in the outlands. Then changed my spec to holy.

 

[JayJay77]

Anymore testimonies?

 

[Mixolydian]

A couple weeks later-I was praying alone in my dining room and asked Him "once again" to baptise me. I had a short "vision" for lack of a better term-of Jesus walking toward me-I was so humbled I couldn't look up at Him-but could clearly see His sandaled feet and the Hem of His garment-He had His Hand outstretched-and when He laid His Hands on my head-I fell to the floor on my knees-praying in a language I didn't know-the room drifted into the background and there was only Him. He is Love-manifested.
He changed me from someone who was "religious" to someone who absolutly fell in love with the King of Kings. Totally different relationship.

JESUS is the One who baptised me in the Holy Spirit---

Amazing story. I got saved in an AofG church in 96 and immediately started praying for the baptism but didn't receive anything. It was pretty devastating to me as a new Christian. I was taught that salvation is of faith and that you likewise receive the Baptism by faith. It left me wondering if I had really been saved since I didn't have the faith to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I strayed from God and didn't start going to church and seeking again until 2004. I still haven't received the baptism. The last time I prayed for it was a special service geared towards that end. I prayed and prayed and prayed but nothing. A lady prayed with me and said that she had a prayer language for me and all I had to do was repeat after her. She said some word, I repeated it and she claimed the baptism for me. I know absolutely that it hadn't happened. The incident left me with less faith.

Has anyone else waited as long as I have or had a similar experience (or lack of one I suppose, to be accurate)?

 

[windcatcher]

It was about 1994 I think. I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the initial being-filled with the Holy Spirit.

Strangely, I knew something would happen that night. I have prayed that God would fill me with His spirit the night before. And I was expecting a miracle for the next day.

I am one of those who spoke in tongue later on though some Pentecostal believers do not think it could happen. Anyway, being filled with the Holy Spirit was the very starting point for me to understand the spiritual realm. It did change my whole spiritual aspects. When the Spirit of God moves on you, you will never be the same!!

 

[Hisbygrace]

I was filled with the Holy Spirit in Dec. 1995....
As I was on my knees asking Jesus to forgive me for
come into my life the sins in my life and to make His home in
my heart. The moment I finished praying and began to rise
I felt everything that had been hidden deeply within me flow
out of my body and His spirit and love takes it's place.

 

[havana16]

Hello out there I am still relatively new to the fourm but glad to have found this! I was raised a catholic and then strayed from the church I was bord with it about 5 years ago I accepted Christ as my persnal Savior over the phone with a Assembly of God pastor Icamer to the church and strted hearing about baptism in the Holy Spirit It scared me at first but soon wanted to receive it at the teachings of the Pastor I have been prayed over several times and I have never received this wonderful gift yet I do agree with the previous eply as a new Christian it does make you doubt and wonder what is wrong with yourself as to why alot of others receive and you do not. I know that it is a gift and God can givr it to who He wants but I know I have salvation thru Christ so I can rest assured of this I do still want this gift but I have not been persistance in asking I think I still have some of thatb Catholic theology in my deep inside that is ok because someday the Lord will not give up on me even if I do! Praise the Lord!

 

[Musky Hunter]

I pray in tongues very regularly. I start singing praise songs and pretty soon I just run out of lyrics and just keep praising God, anyway.

I did this for years before I realized I was praying and singing in tongues.

 

[.roseblood.]

I was filled with the Holy Spirit at a youth Bible Camp. The
evangelist made the call for all who wanted this gift. I
soon found myself the only one seated, and went forward so
as not to draw attention to the fact. People all around me
were being filled and speaking in tongues.

After about 5-10 minutes, I found myself surrounded by people
who had all been moved by the Holy Spirit to circle me and pray
in tongues. It wasn't long when, for the first time, I understood my
sin nature to be at odds with God and repented. As the tears
flowed, the Holy Spirit filled me... the joy was overwhelming!
His power and faithfulness have be my anchor ever since.

 

[JayJay77]

windcatcher, Hisbygrace, Musky Hunter & .roseblood.-
Thanks for your replies! Your testimonies are awesome.

Mixolydian, & havanah16-
Don't give up! I first prayed for tongues at 15 years old, and had a similar experience with Mixolydian...repeating some words. It wasn't the Holy Spirit. I turned away from God (while still going to church out of force from parents), and didn't seek Him until a year later at Discipleship Camp.

I consider this date the point I received the gift of the Holy Spirit, but it wasn't until I was 18 that I prayed by myself with tongues on a continual basis.

Keep it up! Don't give up!

 

[stormdancer0]

I was researching speaking in tongues to try to DISPROVE it to a Pentecostal pastor I'd met. It took me about 6 weeks, and I ended up with a 6-7 page research paper (I research stuff out of boredom sometimes) that proved in my mind that it was real. I prayed and received the Spirit before I ever stepped into a Pentecostal church. Scared the you-know=what out of me. But it also left me floating on air for several days. When I ran into that pastor again, I gave him my journal from that night - all five, shaky pages of it. That was almost two years ago. He still hasn't stopped laughing at/for me. (He is my pastor now.)

A similar thing happened when I was praying a few months ago during an altar call. I knew something was going on, but I didn't know what. I had two women praying with me, and felt a gentle almost wind-like push on my chest. I actually opened my eyes to see who had touched me. No one. This happened twice. When I felt the Spirit falling away from me, I prayed that if it was Him, please, do it again. I'll go in whatever direction He wanted me to. Immediately, it came again, a little stronger. I went with the push about an inch, and the next thing I know, I'm opening my eyes, staring at the ceiling, saying "Whoa! What was THAT??" I was aware of the music, the others praying, and that I was falling, but it's kind of like being aware you're wearing shoes. It's there, but it didn't have any relevance.

Of course, Pastor Scott still laughs about that too. He says he's laughing in delight, because everyone else there has been in Pentecostal church for their whole lives. Everything's new to me. I guess, in retrospect, my reactions WERE funny. I love my God!!

'Course, my mother still thinks I'm in a cult. . . .

 

[JayJay77]

Nice! Thanks, Stormdancer! That's why the Pentecostals were called "holy rollers!"

 

[stormdancer0]

I pray in tongues very regularly. I start singing praise songs and pretty soon I just run out of lyrics and just keep praising God, anyway.

I did this for years before I realized I was praying and singing in tongues.

I have a question - One of my pastors believes that you should only speak in tongues when the Holy Spirit directly controls it. The other says we should speak out in faith and trust that it's not coming from our own brains.

Which one, in your opinion, is right? I can speak in tongues of my own will, but it means much more - and affects me much stronger - when the Spirit takes control. But that's only happened a few times. When I do it, it doesn't "feel" right.

And how do you give the Spirit that control more? Is it greedy to want the Spirit to manifest Himself in me?