I spent most of the day on Saturday with a group of people @ the Halifax Vineyard doing some talks on what it means to be filled with Holy Spirit. It was part of the Alpha Holy Spirit Weekend, and I had such a great time!
The premise was simple: Jesus wants to empower all of us by His Spirit so that we begin to do the things that he does. After the teaching time, we invited the Holy Spirit to come and some incredible things took place:
-The weight of God's presence rested on one woman so powerfully she was unable to move at all. As she stood there she experienced the love of Jesus washing over her. For months prior to this encounter she had suffered from a chronic infection, but as people surrounded her and prayed, she felt the power of God surge through her body and the pain and infection left immediately.
-Another young woman who just gave her life to Jesus, was filled with the power of God and energized with the tremendous joy that only comes from His Presence. She had no pre-conceived notions about how you're supposed to react when God comes close to you; she simply experienced the Holy Spirit touching her, and was absolutely revolutionized by His power.
-Prophetic words of encouragement started flowing and God spoke into their lives in ways that resonated powerfully.
Then last night we did a youth gathering for the high school and junior high group. I talked a little on hearing God's voice and developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit, then we modeled the ministry by giving prophetic words. The Spirit of God broke into the room and kids were empowered! They began prophesying to one another, and got words of knowledge for the sick.
A girl was there who has not really engaged a lot with the God stuff in the past. She responded to a word of knowledge from a junior high kid named Zack, and as we prayed for her, the power of God came on her. Her injured ankle was immediately healed and it was so much fun watching her wondering where her pain went! She moved her ankle around, got a confused look on her face and said, "It was just hurting when I walked up here- now it's better!" I got to share with her about the mercy of Jesus and she was profoudly impacted.
Kids were still getting words and praying for each other as their parents arrived to pick them up, and it hit me that this mandate to equip the whole church in every generation is one of the greatest things we could ever join up with! Just do it everywhere you go, and before long you'll be ruined for anything else!
