TESTIMONIES OF OUR FAMILY RECEIVING
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I've
noticed lately that many Christians do not know
what some of us are referring to when we speak of
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Many think our
'charismatic' worship is just emotion or
something we conjure up similar to the
enthusiastic crowds at ball games who shout and
wave their hands about while often jumping to
their feet to cheer.
Although
my father was a Presbyterian Minister I was led
to the Lord at age 22 by a Spirit-filled
Assemblies of God lay minister and his wife.
Through them I learned of the experience called
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. I did not
receive it at the time of salvation. Two years
later I was serving as Director of Christian
Education at a Presbyterian Church. After I had
been seeking the Lord for a deeper experience of
Him this same couple visited me from a distant NC
city and laid hands on me praying that I would be
filled with the Holy Spirit. And I dramatically
received the infilling . There were no outward
signs but I seemed to be floating on clouds in
the heavenly places as I walked down the street
or attended to my duties. This continued for
about 3 days. >From then on I did not have to
memorize my daily group prayers which we offered
together at our church staff meetings. And
witnessing to others of His saving grace began to
flow easily.
I
was aware of the phenomenon of speaking of
tongues from the book of ACTS and in books I read
of the modern day Christian experience of it but
I did not receive it at that time. Later I prayed
for it and tried to speak in tongues without
success. It was just words I was producing and
not the Spirit's utterances. So I began to pray
more regularly to receive this gift. And a few
years later I had a dream in which this same
couple who led me to Christ came for a visit and
laid hands on me and I saw flaming tongues of
fire around my head.
At
this time also a booklet by Mrs. Gordon Lindsay
of Christ for the Nations Institue came into my
possession. It was about receiving the Baptism
with the Holy Spirit. She explained that there
were 2 parts to it. The first was receiving the
infilling. The second was co-operating with the
Holy Spirit and speaking out the syllables He
gave in another language until one was securely
fluent in the Spirit-given language or languages.
She mentioned that some Christians receive the
first part but never or much later receive the
2nd part. I knew that was my own situation.
When
the couple who had led me to the Lord soon came
and prayed for me to receive tongues and after
reading Mrs. Lindsay's book it was the timing of
the Lord. I was enabled to speak out with another
language with the power of the Holy Spirit. I
remember I continued to do so while walking up
and down in the quietness of my father's
Presbyterian Church for a long time and from then
on was enabled to exercise this initial sign of
having received the infilling whenever I wanted
to or was Spirit-led to. I was never given the
public ministry gift of tongues which I
Corinthians Chapters 12 and 14 say that some
receive. Later after our family retired to live
at Montreat, NC I heard that quite a few members
of our former church received the Spirit's
infilling and unfortunately there was a church
split with those who received it having to leave
and join or found another church.
Years
later after I met the man who had become my
husband who was serving life in prison the same
couple who led me to Christ led him to Christ and
subsequently I told him of the Holy Spirit
infilling. He listened with acceptance and one
day in his prison a fellow inmate, a black
Christian, asked him if he wanted to be prayed
for to receive the Holy Spirit infilling and he
said yes. He was prayed for and received it then.
He did not want and does not believe that tongues
was necessarily part of this experience. He did
accept I Corinthians Ch. 12:30 as meaning that
not all Christians will speak in tongues. There
are quite a few other gifts but this testimony is
not to go into these at this time but only into
the initial infilling.
When
our son Matthew who was age 7 and had been saved
for 2 years heard that his father had been
baptized with the Holy Spirit he asked to receive
this also. Our minister was too busy whenever I
thought of asking him to pray with our son so I
never got around to it. One day a Stewardship
representative from the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries
visited our home since my mother was always
requesting the advice of Ministries about estate
planning. I asked him if he ever prayed for
people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and he
said that he did. When I explained that Matthew
wanted to be prayed for he laid hands on
Matthew's head and as he was praying for him
Matthew almost fell to the floor under the power
of the Spirit but caught himself as he did not
know what was happening.
That
night during his prayer time … in faith Matthew
thanked the Lord for giving him the Holy Spirit's
power. He did not pray in tongues and since
earlier he had expressed that he did not want to
in case he should be over-powered by the Spirit
and speak aloud in tongues in school resulting in
his being embarrassed I did not mention tongues
to him.
A
few nights later while he was in his bed and I
was nearby in the living room but close enough to
hear and see him I felt God's power pervading the
house. He called me in and when I went to him he
said he was disappointed that he had not received
the ability to speak in tongues when he was
baptized with the Spirit. I told him that I
thought he did not want to but he assured me that
he did.
I
had recently heard a taped message by Barbara Ann
Chase, the charismatic former Catholic nun who
was a well-known convention speaker. She
explained a method to enable children to come
into the fullness of the Spirit with the
accompanying sign of speaking in tongues. She
said to begin singing Jesus Loves Me with them
and tell them that when they were aware of
unfamiliar sounds coming in to their minds that
they should substitute those sounds for the
English words in the song and sing them out loud
to the same tune as Jesus Loves Me.
I
told Matthew that we could try that. So we began
to sing and the power of God was even more
manifest. I gradually used my prayer language to
sing the words of the song and Matthew gradually
began to sing in a prayer language. The manifest
presence of the Spirit grew even stronger…so we
continued this way for a long time. And for years
afterward he and I would pray in tongues together
during our daily devotional time together.
However eventually he began to feel that this was
just a rote habit and also he began to become
interested in the things of this world. He has
never prayed in tongues again or desired to
although he is now 27 years old but he has been
touched by the Spirit occasionally in visible
ways.
May
this testimony of our family encourage others to
seek all that our Lord has available and to
understand more fully how it is appropriated.
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