Holy Spirit = Creepy??

1st Corinthians 2:9-10

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, to mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit."

Baptism...

Acts 2:2-3

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."

"All you have to do is put up your hands, and ask the Holy Spirit to come."

To say that I had reservations about this 'Holy Spirit character' prior to coming on the World Race is an absolutely ridiculous understatement.

I had heard through the Christian grapevine that the World Race was a bit 'charismatic.' 

Semi panicking, semi joking, I gasped to all of my friends "what is going to HAPPEN to me there? Am I going to come back speaking in tongues or foaming at the mouth or something crazy?" (Because to me, you couldn't have the one without the other.) 

But as I was sitting in that room warily looking around... the speaker said some magic words that drew me in like a moth to a flame.

"Haven't you ever wondered if there's anything more to being a Christian than this?"

My hands were up, I was singing the words to the worship song and over and over, saying "Alright Holy Spirit... come on... lets do this." 

Without warning, my feet started tingling. It wasn't an 'asleep' tingle, it was more of a shake... and it moved from the bottom of my feet all the way up to my waste. 

It wasn't a scary tingle either... it was a good tingle. A tingle that reminded me that there is something much bigger and more powerful than me. 

Prophecy... 

Acts 2:17

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."

We walked into a compound to meet four African women, sitting on little stools, washing dishes. 

Our translator asked if they had time for us to hang out and share the Gospel with them, and they said yes. 

Another, younger woman walked out of the compound with a man and then came back to sit down and listen. 

We began to tell them about Jesus when all of a sudden I made eye contact with the younger woman.

Without really knowing why, I started to speak.

"You know... God has more for you for your relationships than you're living right now. Your body is precious and you should have a man that honors that and that treats you well, and doesn't just want you for what your body can give him." 

And then for some reason, I felt like we should read the story of the adulterous woman to her. (John 8:1-11)

As we were walking out of the compound awhile later, my translator looked at me shocked... 

"Stephanie... how did you know that woman was a prostitute?"

1st Corinthians 14:1

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."

Tongues...

1st Corinthians 14:18

"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you."

It was summer time, and I was sitting on the floor of my living room, bawling. I couldn't have even pinpointed why... all I knew was that in that moment I needed to pray. But for the first time in a long time, words were failing me. (This doesn't happen very often.)

It was in that moment that I decided I wanted to speak in tongues.

At training camp I sat down with a staff member and asked them to very slowly break down this crazy 'tongues thing' for me. She started out with 'it's not scary and it's not weird...' I was listening...

She explained that it's a spiritual language between you and God. That it's a way that the Spirit living in you, prays directly to God, expressing what you want to say, but can't. He intercedes on your behalf when words fail you. (Romans 8:26).

I was later told that speaking in tongues is God prophesying over you things that your mind can't even understand yet. 

1st Corinthians 2:13

"This is why we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." 

1st Corinthians 14:4 says, "he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself."

The note on my study bible says "Personal edification in the area of the emotions, of deepening conviction, of fuller commitment and greater love." - I could definitely use all of those.

I was on board...

So the day after Christmas, I sat on the kitchen floor of an American missionary couple that we met. The couple, along with my teammates prayed for me that I'd speak in tongues.

I had my knees tightly held to my chest, and I buried my face, wanting to avoid the eyes of everyone around me. 

They told me to speak... just begin to speak, and to speak in faith. So I did.

At first, I thought I was making stuff up... I kept lifting my head and, only half joking, asking my teammates if I was supposed to be passing out or foaming at the mouth. They would laugh and roll their eyes and say "Stephanie...NO!" and then I'd put my head back down and go back at it. Words were coming out of my mouth at will, but they just weren't words that I recognized. 

There was no foam, my head didn't spin around and I wasn't possessed or anything.  It just sounded like a different language, quiet and sweet, and soothing in a way I never expected. 

All of me wanted to doubt what happened, but I didn't have time. In the next two days I prayed for two of my friends and they prayed in tongues too. 

Like it or not... this was real... and it was kind of awesome. 

Healing...

Matthew 10:1

"He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness."

We walked into a room that looked like every other African living room, concrete with a set of curtains and some tacky fake flowers, and sat down to wait.

A few minutes later, an old woman walked into the room.

'Walked' is a stretch.

She hobbled in, dragging one of her legs, holding herself up on the crudest set of crutches I've ever seen. Her face was screwed up in agony, and she barely got herself the five feet to a chair before slowly and painfully lowering herself into it.

Without missing a beat, we got to work, praying for healing. 

A half an hour later, I was holding the woman's hand as she took her first pain-free steps across the floor. She walked 15 feet heading straight for the door. She stopped there, looking out at the world she had been missing, before turning and walking again. 

James 5:15-16

"The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up... the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

There's more...

Before coming on the race, I thought that speaking in tongues not only wasn't biblical, it was creepy. 

I thought that healings no longer occurred- that it was just something that happened in 'Bible times' before real doctors came into the picture (pre Z-pak).

When I heard the word 'prophecy' I thought of Jamaican Miss Cleo that advertised her 'prophetic' services on late night television. 

Prior to coming on the race, I was living life as if good behavior came mostly from my own will power. 

I thought that Christians should help people, but that all you could do with a sick person is to bring them chicken noodle soup. 

The most I ever saw God move was while I was sitting on my bed each morning and reading my Bible. I thought that if I felt a bit warm and fuzzy and maybe got a tingle or two, that I was on the right track.

And this is not at all how it's supposed to be.

John 14:12

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father."

Looking back through scripture that I've read a million times, I can't believe I didn't see this before! The Holy Spirit is literally the means through which we are able to live as followers of Christ. 

He cannot be ignored! He's more than necessary... he's imperative. 

We can't do anything on our own power. Jesus didn't even act out of his own power. When he came to earth, he left the whole God-package behind him. When it says 'he became man' he literally became a man, with all of the limitations and capabilities we have (or don't have...). 

He was just a man and was only able to do miracles through the ability that God gave him. 

John 14:10-11

"Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

And then he immediately after says 

John 14:20

"On that day you will realize that I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

1st Corinthians 3:16

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

We were never meant to do this on our own. Jesus said that it was better for him to leave this earth so that the Holy Spirit (the councilor) could come. Think about that... it was BETTER to have Jesus leave the earth than to have him stay, because the Holy Spirit was going to come into each of us in his place.

And now we are filled with the SAME power that raised Christ from the dead. 

Romans 8:11

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

The most amazing thing that I'm finding out this year is that this Holy Spirit thing is not scary. I have not developed a thick southern accent (accessorized by some big hair and the phrase 'Gawd bless you honey child!') and I still to this day have yet to foam at the mouth.

Haven't you ever wondered if there was more to being a Christian than this?

There is.