Opening, the Holy Spirit is here

Processing and praying over training camp……

Growing up in certain churches, there was something I couldn’t explain, something missing. And God started showing me what it was three years ago. I didn’t know what the Holy Spirit was. And that was dangerous ground for me to be in, for the Holy Spirit is never to be taken lightly. 

He was something I believed in, but couldn’t explain, couldn’t feel, didn’t know how to talk about. When God started giving me the opportunity to explore Himself, He started showing me who He was/is. There were so many questions running through my head, a hunger to know more about this God that was STILL alive and what that truly meant……fast forward three years and two months, and God opened up more for me to see and not just hear…

“Holy Spirit” stuff has been, may I say, awkward for me to be around. The first time I saw someone put their hands up during worship I thought they were crazy. I have been scared to raise my hands in worship-even though the Holy Spirit kept asking me- until this last week where I finally just did it. I obeyed. I raised my hands in the international sign for surrender, sang at the top of my voice, and gave it to Him. This was how He was asking me to worship Him and oh how sweet it was. 

God has been the great healer in my life especially in the last year. He has taught me to lay down before Him broken and completely shattered before Him. What a painful but beautiful place to be. He has almost completely healed evidence of when I gained 45lbs binge eating-lost about 35lbs in the last winter without trying. Healing can be and is both spiritual and physical. I had heard about healings before. But I grew up more skeptical-anything spiritual was put on the judgement seat which isn’t all a bad idea. BUT there is a Holy Spirit, AND He is still alive and active, many people just don’t know what that means. 

To say it simply, there was a racer at training camp who struggled with migraines weekly and actually was struggling with one during one of our sessions. Our speaker called her up, prayed a bold prayer over her and through the Holy Spirit healed her migraine. I didn’t know what to say or think. There she was crying sitting against the edge of the stage saying her migraine is gone, she couldn’t believe it. The same power lives in us and Jesus promised us that we can do this because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. 

Speaking in tongues. Honestly, I am still trying to understand this. Sometimes it simply means just babble to me. But that’s why there is also a gift of the interpretation of tongues- makes sense right? I don’t believe you have to speak in tongues to be a Christian. Honestly, I think it is really neat to listen to-at least the people I have heard. It is their way off worshipping and connecting to God. Kinda like when in between a verse in a song you spontaneously sing “oh oh oooooh”. I still can’t really speak in tongues. It isn’t my gifting, and that is ok. Tongues can also mean languages, and I don’t have the gift of learning those either. 

ATL stands for “ask the Lord” which is something we practiced for an afternoon to prepare for several full months on the field. It literally is purely asking the Holy Spirit what He wants you to do, where He wants you to go, and when. To practice, everyone got a water bottle, and we were supposed to give it away to someone who needed it. We broke into our teams and went to town. My team went to an outdoor mall. Just walking, we started to pass a man sitting on a bench and something within me said “that one”. We went over and Hudson started the conversation by complementing his dog, the man warms up and has a deep conversation, he knew Jesus was active in his life and he clung to that hope. Seeing him cry through his story made my heart ache. Walking past a parking lot, we spotted some goodwill men sitting out waiting for donations.  Stirred, we walked over. The older of the two immediately became nervous, moving his hands around, shifting in his seat, abruptly answering questions. The Holy Spirit started asking me to fight for him, put a hedge around him and pray that his heart be softened all of this happening while some of my other teammates were having some deep conversations with the other man. Then another teammate walked up to this older man and asked him something (have you ever felt forgotten). She held his hands and prayed for him and as this happened I could see him relax and start to breathe normally. One more water bottle to go. For a while-we had been walking for over an hour and a half at this point- I felt like I needed to leave my bottle somewhere. I didn’t know where, so we prayed about it, and the Holy Spirit gave me a vision of putting it on a bench that was by a stop sign. We looked all over for a stop sign until we finally found one. I placed the water bottle on the bench. Kinda a weird thing to do. So we thought we should pray over the water. Right before we prayed, my teammate got stung by a wasp—-odd, yes. We prayed over the water bottle and left. Who knows what God wanted to do with that water. Ask the Lord is something we practiced because in several countries we are going to, we don’t have an assigned ministry, it is simply an ATL month of the Holy Spirit showing us where to stay, where to go, who to talk to, and what to do. What a challenge to grow more in tune with His voice!

I grew up in a church that only did infant baptisms. I never saw a believers baptism. It wasn’t talked about, and didn’t feel comfortable asking about it. 

The last night of training camp, I saw 20, and I have no words to describe it. It was so very new for me to watch. The joy that those men and woman had in Christ was overwhelming. The community that showered them with hugs as well as the high pitched screams from the freezing hose water. I still want to get baptized someday, but it doesn’t feel like it is time yet. 

Holy Spirit is here living in me. I don’t have to ask Him to come. He is always here and He wants to work through me, through you for His glory. I am thrilled to walk with Him and become more in tune with His voice daily. What an amazing adventure Abba has me on!