John 16: 5 Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (Comforter) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.”
When I was growing up, I was raised in one of the quietest and least demonstrative denominations there was. Congregational singing was encouraged, but we didn’t clap our hands in church, we didn’t raise our hands in church, and sometimes it seemed as if we rarely even smiled in church! We were drowning in decorum. The problem was that when I read the book of Acts, it didn’t look anything like my home church. I was a bright inquisitive kid, the kind of kid that would ask embarrassing questions in Sunday School. And burning inside me was this question: does God really do miracles today? Nobody could answer me; looking back, some of my Sunday School teachers probably had the same question, but they couldn’t find an answer either. Part of our problem was our view of the Holy Spirit: we were taught that God gave the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to get the early church going, but after that, the Holy Spirit just kind of disappeared. Never mind that Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would be our Comforter and would stay with us always. Most of us probably imagined the Holy Spirit as some kind of gray fog that sort of oozed around. Not a particularly encouraging or inspiring concept!!!
I went away to a denominational college and lost my faith in a Christian Doctrines class. The professor was teaching that Jesus really didn’t do miracles, that those were just interesting myths. Of course, there were eye witness accounts, but could you really believe THOSE people? And so, my expectations about the power of God sank even lower. And that’s the way things stood until the spring of 1978 when everything changed in a few hours one Saturday night.
That Saturday had begun wretchedly! I was working a half day as a surgery resident, but looking forward to a special outing with friends that afternoon. Unfortunately, the friends canceled, leaving me at loose ends. Feeling disgusted and frustrated, I went to a local Christian bookstore and bought several books; if I couldn’t enjoy myself outdoors, I could at least indulge in an orgy of reading. What I failed to realize was that the Holy Spirit was nudging my arm so that all the books I selected involved true stories of people who took steps of faith and who then saw God moving mightily in their lives. I then went home and read steadily for about eight hours.
The last book I read was “Prison to Praise” by Merlin Carothers. Carothers was a Methodist U.S. Army chaplain who was ready to quit the ministry when he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and saw God begin to do miracles in his life. Carothers ended the book by explaining that one could pray and ask God for this gift. Feeling totally stupid but also desperate, I prayed a simple prayer: “God if you are really there, God if this guy is not lying, please do this for me!” The first time I prayed, nothing happened! Boy! Was I disappointed! But then I re- read Carothers’ description and realized that I should pay attention to any words that were forming in my mind. God was NOT going to pry my mouth open! I prayed again, and I could feel some syllables forming themselves in my mind. When I opened my mouth , a beautiful flowing language came out. I felt that I could have stopped at any point, but the longer I prayed in this language, the more joyful and peaceful I felt. And I felt CLEAN! It was as if God turned me inside out, scrubbed all the crud off, and turned me right side out again. That was the beginning of an adventure that has continued ever since.
Up until that time, I had never heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, nor did I know the term “charismatic.” I literally knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, but I was hungry to learn more. I later learned that there were many manifestations of the Holy Spirit, of which speaking in tongues was only one. While some charismatic denominations insist that one must speak in tongues to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, I have found that God doesn’t like being put in a box and that God will choose how to show Himself if we only give Him a chance. And the Holy Spirit does not force himself on anybody. When the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost, they were already praying together “in one accord,” in other words, their hearts and minds were prepared. And a prayer language is not always the first gift that God gives. Some people are afraid of speaking in tongues. That’s OK. God has other gifts He will give, and if you do not speak in tongues right away, that does NOT mean that God has not given you His Holy Spirit. God gives you what you need most. Perhaps you need discernment as your first gift. God knows your heart.
God will not disappoint you. Tomorrow we can study more about the Holy Spirit, but for today, let’s pray.
PRAYER; Father God, we thank you that you give good gifts to your children. Please send the Holy Spirit to all who read this. In the mighty and precious Name of Jesus. Amen.
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