About a month ago, a young lady reached out to me to ask for prayer and deliverance. My sister in the Lord, Linda went with me. We were able to minister to this young lady. Following the session, the lady told me that when I started to pray her body became extremely hot. At the end, she said she felt very light and free.
A few days later I received a text in which she says, "Hi John! Thanks for reaching out. I have definitely seen a change, I've been dreaming almost daily after being delivered and never remembering dreams prior to that. God is speaking to me. I have peace."
To my surprise, this lady shows up at the revival meeting. I was really surprised but happy to see her there, especially considering she comes from a conservative church that does not exercise the spiritual gifts. I was filled with joy she was there.
I had a change to pray over her during the ministry time and saw later she was receiving prayer from Daniel. I texted her the next day.
This is the transcribed from my IM chat with her:
John: Hi. did you stay for Saturday meeting? It looked like you had an encounter with our awesome Holy Spirit.
Lady: Hello! We did book two nights here in Rifle. We'll definitely be back tonight. It was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit manifested. I did feel the Holy Spirit but when Daniel came to me I didn't fall back. He said I had walls built up and asked if I surrendered and I did. I want to experience that. I will keep pressing in. Did you feel that right away?
John: Hi. I am surprised Daniel made such a comment. It is not necessary to fall back to experience the power of the Spirit. Each person is different. In all my years I think I have gone down less than the 5 fingers on a hand. Maybe 2 or 3 times. I have shook before. I have been lit up like a fire before. The most common is to fall but it is not necessary. Don't fall just because...
You said you felt hot when Linda and I were with you. Don't chase a feeling...if anything, chase HIM. If or when you sense His presence, just sit and allow yourself to be covered...just the joy of resting in His presence.
I will say that moment before Daniel said His presence filled the room, I definitely felt a huge surge of power come over me...so I knew what he said was true. And I can feel power flow through me to others a lot of the time. I hope that is helpful. Don't fall for the sake of falling. Please. I know you are a woman of God...and walk with him.
Soak in his presence as much as you can....because chances are you may not experience that kind of atmosphere when you get back to your home church. The Holy Spirit moves or "shows up" when the community of believers are in 1 mind, unity, focus of worship on the Lord alone. That is not a recipe but it is most common. It concerns me that you may feel you did not receive if you don't fall.
Believe and receive and allow your heart to be changed and that you grow even closer to the Lord. By all means...press in!!! Be blessed and filled with the Holy Spirit!!!
Lady: Thank you so much, your words were very encouraging. I thank God for leading you to share that with me. I truly did feel a heat like I've never experienced before. It's just the enemy trying to discourage me. I know there is nothing wrong with me.
thank you for sharing your experience. God bless you and may He continue to use you. May He be glorified tonight once again, all glory to Him! Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary: It is concerning when those that minister make comments that could unintentionally hurt a person. Falling (being slain) by the power of the Holy Spirit is not a pre-cursor to a person's heart being open to receive from the Lord. Some people fall, some people don't. I actually prefer at times for a person to be seated when we pray for the sole purpose of removing the fall experience. This does two things.
1. It removes from me the "indicator" that Holy Spirit power has impacted the person. (prevents pride from welling up...stops that "look what God is doing through me" scenario)
2. It removes from the other person the "indicator" that Holy Spirit has come upon them. It stops the chasing of an "experience".
There are "other" ways to determine the Holy Spirit is touching a person. If for any reason a person falls, my hope is the person comes to the truth that God, through Holy Spirit is powerful and loving. My desire is they know He can change a situation in a moment. To be clear, I am not against people falling. What I am more interested in is the fruit produced once the person gets up off the floor.
A few days later I received a text in which she says, "Hi John! Thanks for reaching out. I have definitely seen a change, I've been dreaming almost daily after being delivered and never remembering dreams prior to that. God is speaking to me. I have peace."
To my surprise, this lady shows up at the revival meeting. I was really surprised but happy to see her there, especially considering she comes from a conservative church that does not exercise the spiritual gifts. I was filled with joy she was there.
I had a change to pray over her during the ministry time and saw later she was receiving prayer from Daniel. I texted her the next day.
This is the transcribed from my IM chat with her:
John: Hi. did you stay for Saturday meeting? It looked like you had an encounter with our awesome Holy Spirit.
Lady: Hello! We did book two nights here in Rifle. We'll definitely be back tonight. It was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit manifested. I did feel the Holy Spirit but when Daniel came to me I didn't fall back. He said I had walls built up and asked if I surrendered and I did. I want to experience that. I will keep pressing in. Did you feel that right away?
John: Hi. I am surprised Daniel made such a comment. It is not necessary to fall back to experience the power of the Spirit. Each person is different. In all my years I think I have gone down less than the 5 fingers on a hand. Maybe 2 or 3 times. I have shook before. I have been lit up like a fire before. The most common is to fall but it is not necessary. Don't fall just because...
You said you felt hot when Linda and I were with you. Don't chase a feeling...if anything, chase HIM. If or when you sense His presence, just sit and allow yourself to be covered...just the joy of resting in His presence.
I will say that moment before Daniel said His presence filled the room, I definitely felt a huge surge of power come over me...so I knew what he said was true. And I can feel power flow through me to others a lot of the time. I hope that is helpful. Don't fall for the sake of falling. Please. I know you are a woman of God...and walk with him.
Soak in his presence as much as you can....because chances are you may not experience that kind of atmosphere when you get back to your home church. The Holy Spirit moves or "shows up" when the community of believers are in 1 mind, unity, focus of worship on the Lord alone. That is not a recipe but it is most common. It concerns me that you may feel you did not receive if you don't fall.
Believe and receive and allow your heart to be changed and that you grow even closer to the Lord. By all means...press in!!! Be blessed and filled with the Holy Spirit!!!
Lady: Thank you so much, your words were very encouraging. I thank God for leading you to share that with me. I truly did feel a heat like I've never experienced before. It's just the enemy trying to discourage me. I know there is nothing wrong with me.
thank you for sharing your experience. God bless you and may He continue to use you. May He be glorified tonight once again, all glory to Him! Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary: It is concerning when those that minister make comments that could unintentionally hurt a person. Falling (being slain) by the power of the Holy Spirit is not a pre-cursor to a person's heart being open to receive from the Lord. Some people fall, some people don't. I actually prefer at times for a person to be seated when we pray for the sole purpose of removing the fall experience. This does two things.
1. It removes from me the "indicator" that Holy Spirit power has impacted the person. (prevents pride from welling up...stops that "look what God is doing through me" scenario)
2. It removes from the other person the "indicator" that Holy Spirit has come upon them. It stops the chasing of an "experience".
There are "other" ways to determine the Holy Spirit is touching a person. If for any reason a person falls, my hope is the person comes to the truth that God, through Holy Spirit is powerful and loving. My desire is they know He can change a situation in a moment. To be clear, I am not against people falling. What I am more interested in is the fruit produced once the person gets up off the floor.
Comments